Cleo Virginia Andrews (1923 - 1986)

Born 6 Jun 1923 in Portsmouth, Virginia, United States

Ancestors

Died 19 Dec 1986 at age 63 in Virginia Beach, Virginia, United States

Problems/Questions Profile manager: Staci Golladay [send private message]

Biography

Cleo Andrews is Notable.

Virginia Cleo Andrews, better known as V.C. Andrews, was born in Portsmouth, Virginia, the youngest child and only daughter of Lillian Lilnora (Parker), a telephone operator, and William Henry Andrews, a tool-and-die maker.[3] She had two older brothers, William Jr. and Eugene. Andrews grew up attending Southern Baptist and Methodist churches.[4] As a teenager, Andrews suffered a fall from a school stairwell, resulting in severe back injuries. The subsequent surgery to correct these injuries resulted in Andrews’s suffering from crippling arthritis that required her to use crutches and a wheelchair for much of her life.[1] However, Andrews, who had always shown promise as an artist, was able to complete a four-year correspondence course from her home and soon became a successful commercial artist, illustrator, and portrait painter, using her art commissions to support the family after her father's death in 1957.[5]

V.C. completed a four year correspondence course from her home and soon after became a successful commercial artist, illustrator, and portrait painter.

Later in life, Andrews turned to writing. Her first novel, titled Gods of Green Mountain, was a science fiction effort that remained unpublished during her lifetime but was released as an e-book in 2004.[6] In 1975, Andrews completed a manuscript for a novel she called Flowers in the Attic. "I wrote it in two weeks," Andrews said.[7] The novel was returned with the suggestion that she "spice up" and expand the story. In later interviews, Andrews claims to have made the necessary revisions in a single night. The novel, published in 1979, was an instant popular success, reaching the top of the bestseller lists in only two weeks. Every year thereafter until her death, Andrews published a new novel, each publication earning Andrews larger advances and a growing popular readership.

Every year, until her death, she published a new novel. The only series to be fully written by V.C. Andrews was the Dollanganger series and the stand alone book, My Sweet Audrina. The Casteel series is the last known series to have been started by Andrews before her death and completed by her Ghost writer, Andrew Neiderman.^[1]

Her novels are usually grouped into a series of five books. The first three are usually about the main character, who is usually female. The fourth book is usually the character's child or another family member that tells of what happened after the death of the main character. The fifth acts as a prequel to tell of where the main character comes from. The Orphans miniseries was the first to not follow the original formula, leaving the Hudson and DeBeers series as the last to follow it.

"I think I tell a whopping good story. And I don't drift away from it a great deal into descriptive material," she stated in Faces of Fear in 1985. "When I read, if a book doesn't hold my interest in what's going to happen next, I put it down and don't finish it. So I'm not going to let anybody put one of my books down and not finish it. My stuff is a very fast read." In an interview for Twilight Magazine in 1983, Andrews was questioned about the critics' response to her work. She answered, "I don't care what the critics say. I used to, until I found out that most critics are would-be writers who are just jealous because I'm getting published and they aren't. I also don't think that anybody cares about what they say. Nor should they care."[8]

Andrews died of breast cancer on December 19, 1986, in Virginia Beach, Virginia.[9] After her death, her family hired a ghostwriter, Andrew Neiderman, to finish the manuscripts she had started. He would complete the next two novels, Garden of Shadows and Fallen Hearts, and they were published soon after. These two novels are considered the last to bear the "V.C. Andrews" name and to be almost completely written by Andrews herself.

Sources

1. ↑ Wikipedia

• "Family Tree," database, FamilySearch (http://familysearch.org : modified 11 April 2023, 21:05), entry for Virginia Cleo Andrews (PID https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/4:1:GZQL-V2Q ); contributed by various users.

See Also

1. The Complete V.C. Andrews
2. "United States, GenealogyBank Obituaries, 1980-2014," database with images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:QVSY-TKC5 : accessed 11 May 2016), Ms Virginia Cleo Or Vc Andrews, Great Lakes, Ohio, United States, 21 Dec 1986; from "Recent Newspaper Obituaries (1977 - Today)," database, GenealogyBank.com (http://www.genealogybank.com : 2014); citing Akron Beacon Journal, born-digital text.
3. "United States, GenealogyBank Obituaries, 1980-2014," database with images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:QK4N-HJGP : accessed 2 January 2022), Virginia C Andrews in entry for Mrs Lillian Parker Andrews, Norfolk, Virginia, United States, 04 May 1993; from "Recent Newspaper Obituaries (1977 - Today)," database, GenealogyBank.com (http://www.genealogybank.com : 2014); citing Virginian-Pilot, The, born-digital text.
4. "Virginia, Death Certificates, 1912-1987," database with images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:QVY5-4L3B : 16 August 2019), Virginia Cleo Andrews, 19 Dec 1986; from "Virginia, Marriage Records, 1700-1850," database and images, Ancestry (http://www.ancestry.com : 2012); citing Virginia Beach, , Virginia, United States, entry #, Virginia Department of Health, Richmond.
5. "United States Census, 1930," database with images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:X78N-LT9 : accessed 2 January 2022), Virginia Andrews in household of William H Andrews, Rochester, Monroe, New York, United States; citing enumeration district (ED) ED 196, sheet 40B, line 55, family 582, NARA microfilm publication T626 (Washington D.C.: National Archives and Records Administration, 2002), roll 1455; FHL microfilm 2,341,190.
6. "United States Census, 1940," database with images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:VTMH-JBK : 27 January 2020), C Virginia Andrews in household of William H Andrews, Lee Ward, Portsmouth, Portsmouth City, Portsmouth City, Virginia, United States; citing enumeration district (ED) 116-19, sheet 3B, line 48, family 56, Sixteenth Census of the United States, 1940, NARA digital publication T627. Records of the Bureau of the Census, 1790 - 2007, RG 29. Washington, D.C.: National Archives and Records Administration, 2012, roll 4317.
7. "Virginia, U.S., Birth Records, 1912-2015, Delayed Birth Records, 1721-1920"
   (Ancestry Record 9277 #580181 : requires subscription, accessed 28 March 2024)
   Cleo Virginia Andrews born on 6 Jun 1923 in Norfolk, Virginia, USA
   citing Virginia Department of Health; Richmond, Virginia; Virginia, Births, 1864-2015; Certificate Number: 1923029255.
8. "1950 United States Federal Census"
   Ancestry Sharing Link (free access)
   (Ancestry Record 62308 #110992021 : requires subscription, accessed 28 March 2024)
   Virginia C Andrews (23), single daughter, in household of William Andrews (54) in Portsmouth City, Portsmouth, Virginia, USA. Born in Virginia
   citing National Archives at Washington, DC; Washington, D.C.; Seventeenth Census of the United States, 1950; Year: 1950; Census Place: Portsmouth City, Portsmouth, Virginia; Roll: 1902; Page: 9; Enumeration District: 117-76.
9. Find a Grave (has image)
   (Find A Grave: Memorial #8531 : accessed 28 March 2024)
   Memorial page for V.C. Andrews (6 Jun 1923-19 Dec 1986), citing Olive Branch Cemetery, Portsmouth, Portsmouth City, Virginia, USA (plot: I-187); Maintained by Find a Grave.
   "Daughter
   Author".