Obituaries

Willard Dunbar Hoskins III, 86, beloved by family and friends, passed away peacefully on Tuesday evening, December 9, 2025, in Newport News, Virginia, surrounded by family. He will be remembered and missed dearly for his kindness, steadfast nature, and generosity of spirit.

The older of two children of Dr. Dunbar Hoskins and Mrs. Genevieve Harris Hoskins, Will was born in Lynchburg, Virginia, on May 10, 1939. Following his graduation from E. C. Glass High School in 1957, Will matriculated to the Virginia Military Institute, earning a bachelor’s degree in history in 1961. Upon graduating, he was commissioned a second lieutenant in the United States Marine Corps, serving for three years and departing with the rank of captain. While stationed at Camp Lejeune, Will met and fell in love with Patricia Ansley of Wilson, North Carolina, whom he married in 1963.

In 1964, Will enrolled at the University of Virginia Darden School of Business, graduating with a master’s of business administration degree in 1966, and after three years of work at a furniture manufacturing company in Bedford, Virginia, he began his career as a financial advisor at Mason & Co. in Newport News. In 1976, Will accepted a position with Merrill Lynch, where he would serve clients for nearly four decades before retiring.

Will believed in civic engagement, and over the course of his longtime residency in Newport News, he held leadership positions at First Presbyterian Church, the Warwick Rotary Club, Hidenwood Presbyterian Church, and the Virginia Living Museum and was an active supporter of the Mariners Museum as well. In 1996, Will was appointed to a four-year term on the Board of Directors of the Virginia Small Business Financing Authority. He was also honored with the Silver Beaver Award by the Colonial Virginia Council of the Boy Scouts of America, which is conferred on adult volunteers of exceptional character and a significant history of service to the scouting program.

Beyond work and volunteerism, Will was dedicated to his children and grandchildren, supporting their commitments and passions throughout their childhoods and spending time with them at every opportunity as they grew older. He especially loved activities with family and friends, whether swimming, fishing, shooting skeet, taking walks, playing chess, or playing golf. He was also a proud Keydet and Cavalier, rooting faithfully for the athletic programs of his alma maters and maintaining close bonds of friendship with his “brother rats” and Darden classmates throughout his lifetime. Links to people and places through family trees, friendships, and shared experiences always compelled Will. He thrived on connection.

Will Hoskins was a positive, modest, and warmhearted man. He took pleasure in small things — a change in the weather, the ritual of a meal, the discovery of something new — and he was tirelessly patient, uncomplaining, and measured. He listened well, read widely, and took careful inventory of wisdom and inspiration. The spaces Will inhabited often abounded with books, newsletters, folders, binders, notes, and correspondence. From these, he would source words of guidance or encouragement to share with family and friends, into whose mailboxes envelopes with Will’s distinctive slant handwriting would occasionally arrive out of the blue as welcome reminders of his love and as invitations for conversation. He was constantly thinking of others.

One of Will’s personal planners includes a page on which he once appended the words of “A New Day” by Heartsill Wilson, cut and pasted from a separate document and dated June 27, 1966, in the margin:

This is the beginning of a new day. God has given me this day to use as I will. I can waste it or use it for good. What I do today is important, because I’m exchanging a day of my life for it. When tomorrow comes, this day will be gone forever, leaving in its place something that I have traded for it. I want it to be gain, not loss; good, not evil; success, not failure; in order that I shall not regret the price I paid for it.
Immediately above these lines, written in Will’s unmistakable script, are the words of the Second Epistle to Timothy, chapter four, verse seven: “I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith.”

Will is survived by his wife of 62 years, Patricia Ansley Hoskins; their four children, Catherine (Chris) LaCivita of Powhatan, Virginia, Susan (Chris) Fairfax of South Dartmouth, Massachusetts, Genny (Guy) Beaver of Yorktown, Virginia, and Ruth (Jay) Rainey of St. Louis, Missouri; nine grandchildren; and his brother William (Anne) Hoskins of Chapel Hill, North Carolina.

A memorial service in celebration of Will’s life and legacy will be held at 11:00 a.m. on Saturday, January 10, 2026, at Hidenwood Presbyterian Church with a reception to follow. Contributions in Will’s memory in lieu of flowers may be made to the Hidenwood Presbyterian Church Memorial Fund.

Arrangements are under the care of Peninsula Funeral Home, 11144 Warwick Blvd., Newport News, VA 23601.