Leverle Edythe Sappington
LeVerle Edythe Hochstetler Sappington, age 94, slipped away peacefully in the presence of her family at her home at Bridgewater Retirement Community (BRC) very early Monday morning, August 28.
LeVerle was born December 4, 1928, on a small farm in Holmes County, Ohio, the fifth of six children to John Melvin Hochstetler and Florence Arvada Penrod. When she was young, the family moved to neighboring Wayne County, near Apple Creek, where she attended Frog Pond School, a one-room school, with her Amish neighbors. She graduated from Paint Township High School in Mt. Eaton as valedictorian for her class of eight students. In the fall of 1946, LeVerle left her small community for Manchester College in Indiana where she met her future husband, Roger Sappington, in the freshman registration line.
LeVerle and Roger married on June 5, 1949 in her home congregation of Paradise Church of the Brethren near Wooster, Ohio. The young couple completed their degrees at Manchester in 1951 and 1952. While Roger attended Bethany Theological Seminary in Chicago, LeVerle taught at Mannheim Elementary School until their first child was born. In the summer of 1953, the family bought a trailer and with baby in tow moved to Durham, North Carolina where Roger continued his education at Duke University.
In 1955, the family moved to Beaverdam, Ohio, where LeVerle became a preacher's wife when Roger accepted the call to ministry at the Pleasant View Church of the Brethren. In 1957, a second child was born and in the spring of 1958, they moved to Bridgewater, Virginia, where Roger became a history professor at Bridgewater College.
It was in Bridgewater where LeVerle developed her leadership skills in children's education. She attended an Interdenominational Laboratory School in 1961 in South Carolina and subsequently served as Children's Director at Bridgewater Church of the Brethren, led training sessions, taught vacation Bible school, served as Craft's Director at Brethren Woods, led a Cub Scout Den, and served on numerous church committees and activities over the years.
In 1970, when her youngest two children were of preschool age, she began work on her Master of Arts Degree in early childhood education at Madison College (now JMU). She also returned to teaching preschool at the Bridgewater Church of the Brethren, then private kindergarten with the Mother's Cooperative in Harrisonburg and then public school at Linville-Edom Elementary School when kindergarten finally joined the public schools of Virginia in 1974. She retired from teaching in 1987.
Her volunteer activities continued as she served on the Board of Directors for the Bridgewater COB Child Care Center and as coordinator of the PAL Visitation program at BRC for 17 years. In 2012, she finally moved to BRC. LeVerle was a talented artist and musician and loved learning new things. After moving into BRC, she bought a mountain dulcimer and joined a beginners' class. In order to stay connected to her family and community she learned to communicate using a computer, iPad, smart phone and Apple Watch. When mobility issues kept her from volunteering by foot, she volunteered by making phone calls to other volunteers to remind them of their shifts at the Village Barn thrift shop project at BRC.
LeVerle loved people and lived according to her deep and abiding faith in God and the goodness of people. Beginning with her responsibilities for her nieces and nephews at home on the farm and continuing with her own children, grandchildren and those she taught, she demonstrated her lifelong passion of loving and caring for all people. She was known as a gracious and caring lady with a positive and generous attitude.
LeVerle was predeceased by her husband, Roger, in 1989, her parents, three brothers, Galen, Carl and Earl Hochstetler and their wives, Ruth, Pat and Helen, a sister, Beulah Hochstetler Kiener and her husband, Andy, and two nephews, Merle Kiener and Kenneth Hochstetler.
LeVerle is survived by her four children, Charlotte Sappington Brazeau (Tony), David Sappington (Celeste), Paul Sappington (Sandra), and Mark Sappington. She is also survived by a brother, Wayne Hochstetler (Sandy), eight grandchildren, Jenny, Sean North (Mandy), Chris, Andrew, Michael, Alex, Matthew, and Kellen Sappington, 2 step-grandchildren, David Brazeau (Lisa), Karla Brazeau Creed (Chris), five great-grandchildren, Tyler and Kailea North, Dominic and Finn Brazeau, and Craig Creed, and numerous nieces and nephews.
A service to celebrate LeVerle's life and faith will be held on Saturday, September 30 at 4:00 at the Bridgewater Church of the Brethren. In lieu of flowers, memorial contributions may be made to the Bridgewater Church of the Brethren Child Care Connections Center, 420 College View Drive, Bridgewater, VA 22812.
