Virginia Gautier Montgomery

Virginia Gautier Montgomery, 91, of Penney Retirement Community, passed away Tuesday, October 14, 2008. She was born on April 16, 1917 in Miami, FL, the daughter of Thomas Nicholas Gautier and Claire Adams Gautier. She attended the local public schools and graduated from Florida State College for Women (now Florida State University) in Tallahassee with a degree in elementary education. After teaching in Miami in the Dade County School System for several years, on June 16, 1942, she married the Rev. John N. Montgomery and moved to Clewiston, FL, where Mr. Montgomery began service as pastor in the Presbyterian Church in Clewiston. Mrs. Montgomery moved when her husband volunteered to serve as a chaplain in the U.S. Navy. During those years, Mrs. Montgomery moved to where he was stationed, or in the case when he was overseas, she lived with her parents and siblings in Miami. During all of these years, she taught first grade in the local schools. After the war, the Montgomerys moved to Green Cove Springs, FL where John served as pastor of the First Presbyterian Church. There was no manse available when the Montgomerys arrived in April, so they lived at the Penney Farms Retirement Community while a manse was renovated for them. The manse included housing upstairs and spaces downstairs for the Sunday School and a Hospitality House for the service men. Many Navy personnel were in the Green Cove Springs area as the Navy “mothballed” WWII Navy ships. The Montgomerys drew the servicemen into the fellowship of the church and helped host those who came to the Hospitality House for meals, for a place for socializing and to meet family members who visited from out-of-town. Several current members of the Green Cove Church, including the Goodrich Family and Mrs. Mary Zellner of Penney Farms have memories of the Montgomerys when they served the Presbyterian Church there. It was while living in Green Cove Springs that Virginia and John adopted a son named John Nelson Montgomery, Jr., called “Jack.” Three years later, serving a church in Cincinnati, Virginia and John adopted a daughter who was named for her mother and grandmother, Claire Virginia Montgomery, called “Claire.” Jack and Claire have both predeceased their parents. Mrs. Montgomery was always employed in the schools as a teacher, as a first grade teacher. She often claimed that she could teach no higher grade because she would not be able to do the arithmetic! She was a much loved teacher, by her students and by their parents. After moving with Mr. Montgomery to serve several pastorates in Florida, the Montgomerys were formally retired, but served an interim pastorate in Aruba for several years. Mrs. Montgomery is survived by her husband and his siblings who live in Pennsylvania and her siblings, Tom and Clara Gautier of Pasadena, CA, Linnie Lou and Allen Jernigan of Penney Retirement Community, Mae Gautier/Norman Thomas of Pasadena, CA and Joe and Miriam Gautier of Dunnellon, FL, as well as dozens of nephews and nieces and great nephews and great nieces and cousins. There will be a memorial service for Mrs. Montgomery at The Solarium at Penney Retirement Community on Friday, October 17, 2008 at 4:00 pm. Burial of Mrs. Montgomery’s ashes will be in Florida National Cemetery in Bushnell, FL, where both her son’s and daughter’s ashes are buried. Please sign the family's online guestbook at www.broadusraines.com. Cremation arrangements are under the care of Broadus-Raines Funeral Home, 501 Spring Street, Green Cove Springs, FL (904) 284-4000.