Virginia Campbell Downs, age 92, passed away on October 10, 2017 at Victoria Home, in Ossining, New York. Known to many as "Ginny," she was beloved by her family and friends. A prolific writer, she documented the unique history, culture and people of Vermont's "Northeast Kingdom" through books and feature stories. The daughter of Raymond Eaton and Helen Colvin Campbell, Virginia Campbell was born and raised in Lyndonville, Vermont. She graduated as valedictorian from Lyndon Institute and received a bachelor's degree from the University of Vermont. She was an editor of the UVM newspaper, Vermont Cynic, and graduated cum laude and Phi Beta Kappa in 1946. After graduating from college, Virginia moved to New York City, where she worked as a trade publication editor. She also took flying lessons, obtained a pilot's license, and flew at least one solo flight performing stunts - to the astonishment of her parents. In 1953, Virginia married John Downs, a St. Johnsbury, Vermont lawyer and the founder of the law firm Downs Rachlin Martin PLLC (DRM). They had four children - Barbara, Margaret, Peter, and Tom. Virginia was passionately devoted to her family and friends, her garden and the natural beauty of the Vermont countryside, her community (local and statewide), and her writing. While raising a family, she was actively involved in community activities in St. Johnsbury and Lyndonville including the St. Johnsbury school board, the Cub Scouts as den mother, the St. Johnsbury Athenaeum, Fairbanks Museum and Planetarium, Lyndon Historical Society, among others. She led a summertime Chautauqua festival in the Lyndon area. Virginia Campbell Downs was an accomplished writer over a period of more than 50 years. She authored a number of books, including Life by the Tracks: When Passenger Trains Steamed Through the Notch (Phoenix Publishing, 1983); Mansions and Meadows: Lyndon the Way it Was (Lyndon Historical Society, 1991); Voices from the Kingdom (Fairbanks Museum and Planetarium, 1997); and, with co-author Denise Brown, Luther B. Harris: A Prison Story (Vermont Civil War Enterprises and Lyndon Historical Society, 2006). Virginia also wrote feature stories for Vermont Life, Yankee Magazine, the Boston Globe and other publications. She studied oral history at the University of Vermont and wrote numerous oral histories, profiling residents of the Northeast Kingdom and, later, fellow residents of her retirement home in Shelburne, Vermont. Virginia Downs is predeceased by her husband, John, and their daughter, Barbara. Virginia is survived by three children - Margaret Downs, of New York, New York, Peter Downs, of Bronxville, New York, and Tom Downs, of Oakton, Virginia. She also is survived by four grandchildren - Evan and Ava (Peter and his wife Debra's children), and Robert and Joseph (Tom and his wife Jennifer's children).