Flo Crisman Neher Traywick

Flo Crisman Neher Traywick, 96, of Lynchburg, departed this life on December 8, 2020. She was the widow of Lt. Col. Heber Venable Traywick, who passed away in 2006.

Mrs. Traywick spent her entire life as a resident of Lynchburg, aside from nine months in 1945 as a bride at Ft. Benning, Georgia, and three months in 2015 during which she “wintered” in Richmond.

Mrs. Traywick was a prominent figure in Republican party politics in the 1970s, 1980s and 1990s. In 1986, she became the first woman in Virginia to be nominated by either party to run for the House of Representatives. She also ran for the House of Delegates in 1976.

Statewide Republicans elected Mrs. Traywick four times to serve as Virginia’s committeewoman on the Republican National Committee, where she rose to the position of vice-chairwoman of the Southern Region. During her 16 years on the RNC (1984-2000), she brought attention and campaign funds to Republican candidates in Virginia, most notably securing an early infusion of cash to the gubernatorial campaign of George Allen that was thought to have been critical to his winning election in 1993. When she retired from the RNC, the Party held a dinner in her honor at which she was toasted by two governors, two U. S. Senators, two Congressmen and the Speaker of the House of Delegates.

She visited the White House regularly as the guest of presidents Reagan, George H. W. Bush and George W. Bush. She and her husband flew on Air Force Two when then-Vice President Bush appeared on behalf of her Congressional campaign. She especially enjoyed taking her sister, Betty Luby, to a small dinner at the White House at the invitation of President George W. Bush.

Mrs. Traywick worked in the General Assembly offices of several Republican legislators, including former Speaker of the House of Delegates Vance Wilkins and former Delegate (Majority Leader), now-Congressman Morgan Griffith.

After raising her family, Mrs. Traywick finished her college education, begun at Hollins College in 1941 and completed at Randolph-Macon Women’s College in 1979. She graduated magna cum laude with a degree in classical civilization.

She was a past president of the Oakwood Garden Club. She was a member of the Colonial Dames of America, the Daughters of the American Revolution, the Colonial Dames of the XVIIth Century, and the Daughters of the Colonists. She served on the boards of the Lynchburg Humane Society, the Academy of Music, the Lynchburg Symphony, Court Street Methodist Church, and the Lynchburg School of the Arts. She was the oldest member of Oakwood Country Club, having joined as a child in 1934.

President George H. W. Bush appointed Mrs. Traywick to serve on the White House Commission on Presidential Scholars. President George W. Bush re-appointed her to the commission.

Governor Jim Gilmore appointed her deputy commissioner of the Virginia Department for Aging. Governor John Dalton appointed her to serve on the Committee for the Refurbishment of the Executive Mansion.

Her favorite projects, aside from politics, were the Lynchburg Humane Society and the Lynchburg Academy, where she served on the board. She secured the donation to pay for a new roof on the Academy Theatre in the 1990s, thus preserving the deteriorating building long enough for future boards to fund the eventual renovation and expansion.

Mrs. Traywick made gallons of mincemeat each Christmas, using her great-grandmother’s recipe. In her 80s, she established Flo’s Bakery, LLC, which sold her mincemeat to upscale restaurants in Virginia. She remained frustrated that the crush of government regulations limited the growth of the company.

She remained keen on public affairs all her life, writing letters to the editor on a wide variety of topics from bicycle lanes (opposed) to removal of monuments (also opposed). She stayed on top of the DGIF for years when she felt the bag limit for black bears threatened the sustainability of the population.

She took up tennis at 35 and became an accomplished player. She took up riding, determined to make an appearance in the hunt field with her husband, who was Master of Fox Hounds for the Bedford County Hunt.

She loved animals and was a familiar sight on Rivermont Avenue walking one of her fuzzy Keeshond dogs. She was a cat lady and visitors to her home always left with souvenir fur from her long-haired Himalayan cats.

Mrs. Traywick is survived by her children, H. V. Traywick, Jr. of Richmond, Robin Bolling Traywick Williams (Charles) of Crozier, Virginia, and Crisman Neher Traywick (Jill) of Richmond, as well as five grandchildren: Sarah Brack Traywick Smith (Logan) of Denver, Joseph Grantham Traywick (Maggie) of Richmond, Katherine Bolling Williams of Washington, D.C., Riley Ellis Traywick LeVines (Gene) of Umatilla, Florida, and Crisman Neher Traywick, Jr. of Mt. Pleasant, South Carolina. She is also survived by two great-grandchildren, Alice Noe Traywick and Robert Grantham Traywick.

In lieu of flowers donations may be made to the Lynchburg Humane Society 1211 Old Graves Mill Road, Lynchburg, Virginia 24502.

The family will receive visitors at Tharp Funeral Home, 220 Breezewood Drive, Lynchburg, VA 24502, on Friday, Dec. 11, 2020 from 2-4 p.m. and 5-7 p.m. Interment will be private.

Tharp Funeral Home & Crematory, Lynchburg, is assisting.