Grace Phillips Pollard

Grace Phillips Pollard. . , Grace Phillips Pollard was the wife of John Garland Pollard, governor of Virginia from January 15, 1930 to Jan 16. 1934. She is the only Portsmouth woman to serve as the First Lady of Virginia and the only one to die while her husband was in office. Her family first lived on Dinwiddie Street and later on Court Street. She attended Mrs. Alice Jenkin's School in Portsmouth and the Norfolk College for Young Ladies. She married Governor Pollard in 1898, at Monumental Methodist Church in Portsmouth., The couple moved to Ginter Park, now a part of Richmond. They had four children and while he practiced law she presided over the Ginter Park Women's Club. At the club, she proposed the planting of dogwoods, the state tree, in the local parks. At Williamsburg, she organized a garden club and planted dogwoods on the campus of William and Mary while her husband was dean of the Marshall-Wythe School of Government and Citizenship., Mrs. Pollard suffered from arthritis and was confined to a wheelchair during much of her husband's tenure as governor. However, she still managed to supervise the planting of dogwoods and boxwoods on the grounds of the state capitol and the governor's mansion. When she died a local paper referred to her as "A woman whose touch made everything beautiful". Today, thanks to Mrs. Pollard's example and efforts, dogwoods line Virginia's highways., She is buried here in her family plot, which was restored in 1989 by the Green Pine Garden Club of Portsmouth. They also maintain the section.