Lillian Miles Bellamy

Lillian was born in Drakes Branch, Virginia (Charlotte County) on December 11, 1935—delivered by her maternal grandmother who was a midwife. She is the daughter of William James Miles and Jannie Betty Wilkes Miles.

She is survived by her husband Paul L. Bellamy, Jr. for 56 years, daughter Nikki D. Bellamy Johnson and son-in-law David M. Johnson, son Paul L. Bellamy, III, brother George Robert Ridley, three grandchildren, Pearis L. Bellamy, Paul L. Bellamy, IV, and Dylan Miles-Bellamy Johnson, and numerous nieces, nephews, other relatives and friends.

Lillian attended Organ Hill Elementary School which was a couple of miles from her home and Our Lady of Victory School in Brooklyn, NY. However, most of her years were spent at the three-room schoolhouse known as Organ Hill. After leaving Organ Hill in seventh grade, she spent the next four years at Central High School in Charlotte Court House, Virginia, where she graduated second in her class, she received a scholarship to Virginia State College, but opted to attend Bennett College, a women’s college in Greensboro, NC, where she majored in French and English. After her first year at Bennett College, she was given almost a full scholarship. The remainder of her tuition and financial needs were provided by her mother who did domestic work.

After graduating with honors from Bennett College in 1958, Lillian taught French and English in Dillon County, South Carolina. The following year, with the recommendation of her favorite professor at Bennet, Dr. Hobart Jarrett, she was employed by the Fairfax County School System in Northern Virginia. She retired from Luther Jackson Intermediate School as a French teacher (a Level I teacher who successfully participated in the Merit Pay Program) in 1991. Her teaching career began at Luther Jackson, the only Black high school in the county, and ended with retirement from there 29 years later after it had become a truly international intermediate school with students representing more than 40 countries.

During her sojourn at Luther Jackson, Lillian spent a summer perfecting her French by studying at the Universities of Bordeaux and Toulouse in Southern France; met her husband Paul L. Bellamy, Jr. of Suffolk, Virginia; bought a home in Vienna, Virginia; and had two children: Nikki and Paul III. As a life member of the Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority Incorporated, Zeta Chi Omega Chapter, Lillian continued her commitment to providing educational scholarships for children and youth as well as participating in community service projects for the benefit of seniors and those less fortunate.

Lillian traveled to most corners of the world: France (numerous times), Switzerland, Liechtenstein, Denmark, Sweden, Austria, Belgium, Germany, Italy, Sicily, Amsterdam, England, Scotland, Spain, Portugal, Malta, Corsica, West Africa, South Africa, Egypt, Mexico, Brazil, Greece, Turkey, Japan, Guadeloupe, Panama, Israel and China. She was frequently accompanied by her family or a group of students. France and Spain were most often her destination; however, visiting West Africa, the home of most of our ancestors remains the highlight of all her travels.

Lillian is the author of seven nonfiction books: My Love Affair with the French: A Personal History, Defaming Teddy, Fanning Island, Jacques: Le Chien Terrier et son Amie Chanel, Two Frenchmen Hitchhiking Across 1946 America (a translation from the French), An AKA’s Post Boule Tour of South Africa, and China: People and Places.

In addition to her husband, two children, and three grandchildren, Lillian leaves to cherish her memory her brother George Robert Ridley, nieces Johnnie Dinkins and Jacqueline Mosley, nephews Samuel and Michael Dinkins and a host of other relatives and friends.

I hope that all I have known will remember me as their teacher, friend, and role model.

All my love,

Fannie Lillian Miles Bellamy