Former Vienna Resident, Business Owner Mary Wilkerson Dies

VIENNA, VA — Mary Elizabeth Wilkerson, a former Vienna resident who was active in the community as a business leader, died at age 67.

Wilkerson died in her home on June 3 with her four children by her side. She had fought cancer for two and a half years.

Born in Washington, D.C. on Nov. 8, 1956 to Marjorie Lou Waggoner Wilkerson and Hylton Ellis Wilkerson, Wilkerson's family has a long history in Vienna. Her grandmother was the first businesswoman in Vienna, owning Gladys S. Waggoner Ice and Fuel Company. Her parents Hylton and Marjorie Wilkerson began their commercial painting business in Vienna, Wilmar Contractors, Inc., where she worked when she was younger.

After spending nine years as a child in Vienna, Wilkerson then lived with her parents at Belle Grove, a Fauquier County home they restored. She attended Marshall Elementary and Marshall Junior High until a fire closed the school, and then graduated from Fauquier High School. She attended University of Virginia for a year and a half before returning home to work locally.

After getting married and starting a family, Wilkerson returned to Vienna. She continued her family's tradition as business owners and opened Vienna Massage Therapy in the mid-1990s. Because she became a single parent, she also wanted to stay at home to raise her four children. She worked with local and state officials to change laws to allow running her massage therapy business from a home office. She is credited with opening massage therapy as a legitimate profession and worked to remove discriminatory laws against massage therapy.

Wilkerson served for 10 years on the Town of Vienna's Community Enhancement Commission, including six years as chair. She was also the American Massage Therapy Association legislative committee chair and active with the Vienna Chamber of Commerce.

She later returned to her family land in Fauquier County, serving on the Board of the Marshall Business and Residents Association since 2009, many of those years as president. In recent years, she worked for Home School Legal Defense Association, as she began homeschooling all four of her children in the 1980s.

Mary is survived by her children, sons W. Michael Wilkerson (wife Rebecca) and Daniel Ellis Wilkerson, daughters Stephanie Fried (husband Greg) and Mary-Elizabeth Wilkerson, as well as four grandchildren.

Friends and visitors were invited to a memorial event on June 9 at Hall Funeral Home in Purcellville, and funeral services were held June 10 at Cornerstone Chapel in Leesburg followed by burial at Marshall Cemetery in Marshall, Virginia.

The family is accepting flowers or contributions to the Marshall Business and Residents Association, P.O. Box 533, Marshall, VA 20116 or HSLDA, PO Box 5000, Purcellville, VA 20134, Check memo: Wilkerson - Memory Gift.