Viola G. Holdsworth | Teacher, 76

Viola Geverd Holdsworth, 76, of Springfield, Delaware County, an educator for 50 years, died of emphysema Tuesday, Dec. 7, at Springfield Hospital.

Mrs. Holdsworth began teaching elementary students in the Lansdowne-Alden School District and then taught in the Wallingford School District. In the early 1960s, she joined the staff at Richardson Middle School in the Springfield School District. She taught math and science to fifth graders and then was a full-time substitute for several years. After retiring in 2007, she volunteered at the school.

For 25 years during the school year, Mrs. Holdsworth worked on Saturdays at the Swarthmore McCabe Library. She spent summers at her family's vacation home in Ocean City, N.J., where she and her husband, David, had met on the beach. They married in 1958.

Mrs. Holdsworth graduated from Lansdowne High School when she was 16 and earned a bachelor's degree from Westminster College in New Wilmington, Pa. She later earned a master's degree from Temple University.

In addition to her husband, she is survived by daughters Lydia Broome and Charlotte Gallagher; son David Jr.; and seven grandchildren.

A funeral will be at 1 p.m. Saturday, Dec. 11, at O'Leary Funeral Home, 640 E. Springfield Rd., Springfield. Friends may call from 11 a.m.