Gena and Bill Davidson

The Davidsons’ drive from their home on Old Trents Ferry Road to Westminster Canterbury may be short, but their plans to move to WC have been long in the making.  As members of St. John’s Episcopal Church, they, along with many others, actively assisted with the establishment of Westminster Canterbury Lynchburg in 1975; and they knew that one day it would be their home.

Bill, born and raised in Lynchburg graduated from Virginia Episcopal School followed by earning a B.A. degree from Hampden-Sydney College in Hampden Sydney, VA.  He served as a supply officer for three years in the United States Navy stationed in Norfolk, Virginia.

Gena, born and raised in Columbus, Georgia, graduated from the city’s high school and four years later received a B. A. degree with a major in elementary education from Wesleyan College in Macon, Georgia.  She moved with a classmate, Lucy Guggenheimer Ross (a fellow Riverside resident), to Virginia Beach to teach at an elementary school.

 Ask Bill how he and Gena met, and he will simply say that luck helped him find a Georgia peach in Virginia Beach.  They married in 1967, and moved to Lynchburg, a perfect place to raise three sons:  Scott and Beth live in Los Angeles, California; Clark and Sari reside in Steamboat Springs, Colorado; Neal and Emily call Lynchburg home.  From these marriages, the Davidsons have six grandchildren, or as they say, “Six very special grandchildren.”

In addition to working as an elementary school teacher, Gena taught nursery school at Randolph Macon Women’s College (today Randolph College) for a few years.  She also earned a M.Ed. from Lynchburg College (today University of Lynchburg) studying both gerontology and teaching.

Gena has a long list of volunteer activities with several Lynchburg organizations and describes her many years of hands-on assistance at Daily Bread as especially rewarding.  At St. John’s Episcopal church Gena was instrumental in the founding of its day school and its operation over several years.  For relaxation and fun, Gena reads and plays duplicate bridge.

Out of the Navy and back in Lynchburg, Bill had worked as an investment advisor for 20 years when in 1987 he joined forces with Edgar Garrard to establish Davidson and Garrard, a provider of wealth management services.  Bill retired in 2002, and since then has devoted a lot of his time to his recreational passion, golf.  When not on the golf course, Bill is usually either reading or playing bridge.

When the Riverside sixth floor residents are settled in their apartments, Gena and Bill, if not the two with the biggest smiles on their faces, will definitely be the two to tell everyone how thankful they are that their last move keeps them in their neighborhood of many years.