THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Wednesday, February 21, 1996 TAG: 9602210012
SECTION: FRONT PAGE: A10 EDITION: FINAL
TYPE: Editorial
LENGTH: Short : 40 lines
The throng that overflowed Portsmouth's Monumental United Methodist Church for the funeral of Arthur J. Lancaster Jr. came in sorrow over a community's loss but also in thanks for all he did in his 77 years.
That many were there bespeaks that ``Junie'' Lancaster did much. Unselfishly. Enthusiastically. Enduringly.
For example, about a dozen members of the Bennetts Creek Rescue Squad came as a group, the squad's emblem standing out on the white shirts of their uniforms. Six members served as pallbearers. Their rescue vehicles were part of the procession from church to cemetery.
And appropriately so. The group exists because of Lancaster, who was described as the driving force behind Bennetts Creek Ruritan Club's founding of the rescue group in Suffolk. As with other benefactions, his idea came out of a human response: After witnessing a fatal car crash, Charles H. Parkerson recalled, ``He felt so helpless. He just said, `We've got to have a rescue squad on this side of town.'''
His community involvement took many forms. He served on the board of Maryview Medical Center, supported Holiday House, a residence for mentally retarded and handicapped children in Portsmouth, and, with his wife Millie, gave the Children's Museum of Virginia in downtown Portsmouth their train and toy collection, valued at $1 million.
But he is most widely recognized as the man who created Winter Wonderland, a dazzling holiday display of lights and animated toys, at Coleman Nursery, which he formerly owned. Visiting the ever-growing display in Portsmouth's Churchland section is a Christmastime tradition in Hampton Roads.
His main legacy, then, is clear. For children - and at Christmas they really are of all ages - ``Junie'' Lancaster left 200,000 points of light. by CNB