ALEXANDRIA—Lelia Ashton Tebbs Ghiglio passed away February 17, 2020, at Mount Vernon Hospital in Northern Virginia following a debilitating stroke she suffered in November.
She is survived by her daughter, Laura Ghiglio Meincke (Pete); grandchildren, Brett and Kaitlyn of Lorton; sister, Rebecca Tebbs Nunn (Spike); and niece, Cathy Tebbs Christopher (Al) of Kilmarnock; and niece Ashley Nunn of Raleigh, N.C.
She was predeceased by her husband, Col. David Jeremiah Ghiglio (USA Ret), parents, Stuart and Laura Tebbs; brother, Stuart Tebbs Jr., and nephews, Michael Tebbs Nunn and Douglas Arthur Nelson Nunn.
Lee, as she preferred to be called, graduated from Kilmarnock High School at the age of 15 and from Mary Washington College of the University of Virginia when she was 19. In high school, she was on the May Court and in college, she was on the dean’s list all four years. During the summers, she worked at the telephone office in Kilmarnock as a telephone operator.
After majoring in psychology in college, she took a position as a social worker in Chesterfield County, moving later to the job of probation officer in the City of Richmond where she attended T.C. Williams School of Law.
In her mid-twenties, she began the career that she loved, which was teaching fifth grade. She began her teaching career at Fort Belvoir and had the opportunity to teach in several schools across the Fairfax County School System. She taught there well into her 70s. After she retired from teaching, she was a substitute teacher in Fairfax County for many years teaching special needs children.
For the past seven years, Lee resided at Montebello, a condominium community in Alexandria, where she served on the social committee and brought many cultural activities to the residents there. Up until her stroke, she volunteered weekly for the American Red Cross, played both party and duplicate bridge, and was a frequent hostess to her friends for intimate dinners. She also volunteered weekly at a homeless shelter in Alexandria.
A memorial service will be held for her at 11 a.m. Thursday, March 5, at Aldersgate United Methodist Church in Alexandria, with a reception to follow. Later in the month, there will be a celebration of Lee’s life at Montebello by her friends. Her final resting place will be next to her husband at Arlington National Cemetery. The date for that service is to be determined.
