Bonnie Worsham

Bonnie, born in the Eastern Shore of Virginia spent her early years in Northern Virginia, moving to Bedford in 1979.  For many years she and her husband spent the winter months in their home in Key West, Florida.

Bonnie was the only child of her parents but had a close and dear lifetime friend that lived across the street while growing up.  This friend had a grandmother that lived in Lynchburg, and as a child, Bonnie visited often with her friend.  Bonnie met and married her husband in Northern Virginia, who was born in Martinsville but raised in Lynchburg, so she has many ties to this area.  Bonnie’s only child Bob and daughter-in-law (Bob and Kathy) moved to Lynchburg when Bob purchased Parker Dental, now Dental Doctors, on Old Forest Road several years ago.  Her family has also included several families of miniature Dachshunds.  At one time she owned an entire family of 6, all of whom lived out their lives with the Worsham’s, each one being loved as a member of the family.

In Northern Virginia Bonnie worked with her husband in his industrial contracting business as corporate secretary and office manager.  During this time, she earned a pilot’s license, real estate license, and raised her son, Bob.

Her avocation developed in 1979, when she and her husband purchased an historic home, “The Cedars,” built in the mid-1800s, in Bedford County.   Bonnie spent hours doing research on the home and the history of the Cifax community, which culminated in a book, The Cedars of Cifax, published in 1997.  Due to her extensive work, the home and Cifax were placed on the Virginia and National Register of Historic Places.  Having completed the research, Bonnie donated the records she had collected to the Alderman Library at the University of Virginia.  Not long after that, The Cedars was sold, and Bonnie and her husband purchased another historic home in the City of Bedford.  This house, the Ballard-Worsham House on Longwood Avenue was designed by Stanhope Johnson and built in 1915 by John Ballard.  The house was lived in by the daughter of the Ballard’s and in need of restoration.  After another period of research and restoration the Ballard-Worsham was placed on the Virginia and National Register of Historic Places.

Bonnie has had many hobbies over the years.  For fun she had constructed a 1-inch to 1-foot architectural replica of “The Cedars” which she furnished with reproductions of furniture that would have been appropriate for the mid-1800s.  She loves to read, especially biographies and historical fiction.  She loves decorating, traveling and genealogy.  She has been an avid flower and vegetable gardener and has been involved with several garden clubs in the area, as well as President of the Bedford Garden Club, Bedford Council of Garden Clubs, and Vice-President of Garden Thyme Club in Forest (which she helped found.)  She is a lifetime member of the Virginia Federation of Garden Clubs.  She served as Vice President and Board Member, as well as Docent, for the historic antebellum home in Bedford, Avenel.  Her love of historic homes led her to volunteer among the first Docents at Poplar Forest, Thomas Jefferson’s home-away-home.  Bonnie is a lifetime member of the Bedford Historical Society.  She has worked on several city council elections and hosted the French delegation during the construction and dedication of the D-Day Memorial.  She has just finished serving as Regent of the James River Chapter of the Daughters of the American Revolution and past co-chair of Wreaths Across America which is sponsored by the DAR.  Bonnie is a member of Saint John’s Episcopal Church here in Lynchburg.