Donor Honor Roll

Royster Lyle Jr. (1933-2007) and Pamela Hemenway Simpson (1946-2011) are the spiritual leaders of Historic Lexington Foundation. They were here practically from the beginning and their legacy of leadership and energy continues to motivate us when work needs to be done.

Each was a multi-term president of HLF and as a team they researched and wrote HLF's landmark book, The Architecture of Historic Lexington (1977), still in print and still definitive. For 31 years Royster, an HLF founder in 1966, was a guiding force at the George C. Marshall Research Library on the Virginia Military Institute, and Pam was an eminent architectural historian, professor and dean at Washington and Lee University.

In their memory, their numerous friends and admirers created a memorial fund that sponsors restoration of historic buildings in Rockbridge. Much of the activity noted on this website benefitted from the Lyle-Simpson Fund. We are grateful to them and to the donors who sustain their vision.

Theodore Carter DeLaney Jr. (1943-2020), or Ted to the world, was Lexington's Horatio Alger, rising from custodian to department head at Washington and Lee. But more than that, he was an academic, historian, mentor, and public conscience. His left an indelible mark on the community and on Washington and Lee. After his death his friends created an HLF fund that focuses on Evergreen Cemetery. The improvements HLF has been able to make there are in considerable part thanks to the DeLaney Fund.

Margaret Cole Davis (1919-2019) was a quiet, steadfast supporter and benefactor of Historic Lexington Foundation who made gifts and left a substantial bequest that have supported some of the Foundation's ambitious restoration programs.

Notably, in 2020, HLF helped restore the exterior of the Gospel Way Church of God in Christ, which in the 1870s had been built for Lexington's Catholic parish, St. Patrick's. The Davis fund also allowed HLF to upgrade the building's electrical system, which in turn strengthened Gospel Way's vital food bank activities.

The Board of Trustees of Historic Lexington Foundation is honored to announce we have received a significant bequest from the estate of Al and Marian Carlsson.

The Carlssons were married in 1952 and moved to Lexington in 1961 when Al joined the faculty at VMI, where he was a professor and later appointed as registrar. The Carlssons were married for sixty-seven years until Marian's death in 2019; Al passed away in 2024. As longtime Lexington residents, they enjoyed reading, gardening, entertaining, concert-going, traveling, and volunteering. As supporters of HLF, for many years they regularly donated to the annual fund. The Carlssons' very generous bequest will further enable HLF to acquire and protect historic properties in our community while serving as wise stewards of our resources. We are very thankful for their friendship, their community leadership, and their many gifts.