Virginia Hollis Hand (1900-1995)

Philanthropist and co-Founder of Callaway Gardens. Noted for her interest in conversation and gardening, Mrs. Callaway, along with her husband, textile manufacturer Cason Jewell Callaway (1894-1961), established Callaway Gardens in Pine Mountain, Georgia. She was the daughter of Judson Larrabee Hand, a member of the Georgia General Assembly, and his second wife, Florence Mae Hollis, of Pelham, Mitchell County, Georgia. Her sister, Alice Hinman Hand, married her husband's brother, Fuller Earle Callaway, Jr. Along with her husband, Cason, Mrs. Callaway, a self-taught horticulturist, devoted her time to environmental preservation, education and appreciation of nature in a natural environment. After her husband's death in 1961, her took the helm as Chair of the Ida Cason Callaway Foundation, overseeing the operation of Callaway Gardens. In 1988, she was recipient of the American Horticultural Society's Catherine H. Sweeney Award. Originally buried at Hillcrest Memorial Cemetery in La Grange, Georgia, she was re-interred in the Callaway Family Mausoleum in Blue Springs at Pine Mountain, Harris County, Georgia.