Portsmouth-Amy A. Giles, 69, passed away Sunday, November 21, 2021 at Maryview Medical Center.  She died of complications from lung cancer which she had doggedly fought for six years.

Amy was born in Portsmouth, Virginia, the daughter of the late Loyed W. and Marion A. Gardner, and lived her entire life in Portsmouth, a true P-town girl. Amy lived her early childhood years in Westhaven and her teenage years in Lynn Shores. She graduated from Woodrow Wilson High School in 1970 and went on to study at Chowan College in Ahoskie, NC before beginning her lifelong career in the legal profession. First serving briefly as a legal secretary and then as a clerk for the Civil Division, Portsmouth General District Court, she retired about a decade ago as Deputy Clerk.

Amy married later in life.  First introduced to her future husband, Ed, at a Cock Island (sailboat) Race party by a mutual friend in 1994, she married Ed in 1998 and spent 23 blissful years in their West Park View home on the banks of Scott's Creek. Amy was a lifelong doll collector and enjoyed bidding for dolls on eBay. She also enjoyed shopping for clothes, footwear, and costume jewelry online. In her early years she was known as an accomplished seamstress, sewing many of her own school clothes and outfits for friends. She also enjoyed baking, could turn out a perfect souffle and liked grilling steaks. Amy was also a voracious reader, finishing many books each week. Besides what might be considered typical feminine interests, Amy spent years crewing for Ed in Portsmouth Boat Club "Barnacle Series" sailboat races and often joked that she had the bruises to prove it.  Later she accompanied Ed to High Speed Performance Driving Schools around the Southeast and even gamely participated in one herself in their BMW M3. But mostly she just enjoyed the road trips, seeing new places, staying in motels and hotels, dining out and meeting new people..

Amy was a gregarious, sociable person who loved people, especially her three lifelong girlfriends she's known since childhood: Jamie, Lucy and Susan. Especially Jamie Lassiter, who was born one week after Amy, grew up across the street in Westhaven, lived and worked around the Commonwealth, but came back to Portsmouth and lived down the street in West Park View until she sadly predeceased Amy several years ago. Until becoming too ill to participate, Amy loved getting together for monthly "girls night out" dinners with her informal group of mostly West Park View women and their friends and relatives, who adopted the dragonfly as their symbol. They called themselves "The Dragonistas."

Amy is survived by her husband, Edmund H. Giles, Jr.; her brother, David Gardner and his wife Pat; and several nieces and nephews and their children.

The family would like to thank Amy's oncologist, Dr. Daniel Otienza and the dedicated and loving staff at Virginia Oncology Associates, Harbor View for giving Amy six additional years of life she would not have had without their expert care.  They also thank her pulmonologist, Dr. Leah Zunega, Bon Secours Pulmonary Specialists, and her radiologists, Dr. Judith Blevins and Dr. Song Kang for their kindness, excellent treatment and encouragement.

Due to the Covid-19 pandemic, the family is foregoing any formal viewing, indoor memorial, or church service.  Instead, Amy will lie in repose in the chapel at B. W. Foster Funeral Home, 1926 High Street, Portsmouth where friends, family, associates and acquaintances can pay their respects and say goodbye between 10:00 a.m. and 4:00 p.m. Thursday, December 2 ^nd , and 10:00 a.m. to 12:00 Noon Friday, December 3 ^rd . A graveside remembrance will be held 2:00 p.m. Friday, December 3rd, at Olive Branch Cemetery, followed by a burial service officiated by Rev. Betty Burnell of Westhaven Baptist Church. Condolences may be registered at BWFosterFuneralHome.com.