Alex Green Tours Markham (2014)

About the Film

A picture of a small Virginia town in the stories of a man who lived and worked in Markham, VA for 96 years. This footage was taken in 1994.

Obituary

Alexander Gibson Green Jr., 96, a lifelong resident of Markham, died Sunday, May 12, 2013, at his home, Green Acres.

Alex Green was born Oct. 20, 1916, a son of the late Alexander and Lizzie Stribling Green of Markham. Mr. Green worked as a farmer, as the Markham postmaster and as the manager of a general store in the village. He served on the board of directors of The Fauquier Bank and its parent company, Fauquier Bankshares, from 1950 until 2005. Mr. Green also served more than 50 years on the board of the Loudoun Mutual Insurance Co. He graduated from Randolph Macon Academy and VPI (now Virginia Tech). After World War II, in which he gained the rank of major, Mr. Green returned to Markham to run his cattle farm, Medley, and the Markham Cash Store with his partner, Paul Pierce. When he sold Medley in the 1950s, he built his home on property that had been a corner of Hartland, his birthplace, where his brother Henry Green still lives. His house was filled with the antiques he and his late wife, Mary Blake Green, collected during their 52 years of marriage and he had continued the quest. Mr. Green was a charter member of Leeds Ruritan Club, where he served as a past president and received a certificate for more than 57 years of perfect attendance. For 65 years, he was in charge of Old Leeds Cemetery, where he is buried, and he was a lifelong member of the Markham United Methodist Church. In 1955, he was appointed postmaster of Markham, a post previously held by his father, Alexander Gibson Green, and his great-grandfather, who received his appointment in 1865. U.S Supreme Court Chief Justice John Marshall was his great-great grandfather. An unassuming, gentle gentleman and something of a “clothes horse,” he was once spied mowing his grass in a button-down shirt and tie. A creature of habit until his recent illness, Mr. Green generally took his dinners with his brother Henry Green at the Salem Restaurant in Marshall and breakfast and lunch at the Apple House in Linden. Mr. Green’s survivors include his brother, Henry C. Green of Markham; three children, Mary Blake Green of Markham, Courtenay Marshall Green Mullen and husband Walter of Fairfax and Alexander Gibson Green III and wife Rebekah of Leesburg; two grandchildren, Rebekah Green Wright and husband Robert of Charleston, S.C., and Jaquelin Blake Green Watson and husband Matthew of Atlanta; a great-granddaughter, Kennedy Blake Watson, and numerous nieces, nephews and cousins. His wife, Mary Blake Green, died in 1991.

The funeral took place Saturday, May 18, at Markham United Methodist Church, with interment at Old Leeds Cemetery.