Lydia Aston
Longtime Greensboro resident, community activist
Lydia Aston died peacefully Thursday, December 26, 2013, in Baltimore, Md.
She was born in Preston County, W.Va., March 19, 1925.
Mrs. Aston was a graduate of West Virginia University School of Nursing and the first woman to graduate from St. John’s College, Annapolis, Md. She received her master’s degree from University of Pittsburgh Graduate School of Public Health.
Her professional career with the federal Department of Health, Education and Welfare allowed her to create several Appalachian health clinics, including clinics in Greensboro/Glassworks; Blacksville, W.Va.; and Centerville. When Ted Kennedy came to West Virginia in the 1970s to view impoverished conditions in rural Appalachia, Mrs. Aston was his personal guide.
During the 1990s, she was instrumental in saving the Historic District of Greensboro from condemnation and demolition when the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers unleashed their plans for the new Rices Landing Lock and Dam. Her nearly 10-year resistance to the Army Corps can now be seen in the flourishing and beautiful Historic District in Greensboro.
Over a span of many years, Mrs. Aston and her family were responsible for the restoration and preservation of several important historic buildings in Greensboro: the original Reppert House, Boughner’s log cabin store and the Williams and Reppert House, these all being buildings built originally by Greensboro’s legendary pottery manufacturers.
Mrs. Aston enjoyed gardening and flowers, life on the Monongahela River, music, especially Bach and Italian arias, books ranging from regional histories to Gabriel Garcia Marquez, and movies, especially Westerns and Italian films by Fellini, Pasolini, Leone and De Sica.
Surviving are two daughters, Maggy Aston of Greensboro and Molly Aston of Crownsville, Md.; two sons-in-law, Robert Richards of Greensboro and Howard Prior of Crownsville; three grandchildren, Mary Aston-Richards of Greensboro and William Prior and Sam Aston, both of Crownsville; six sisters; and five brothers.
She was the wife of the late William Aston, formerly of Greensboro.