Virginia Marion Broome Waterer (1920- ) was born to Charles McKinne Broome Jr. (1885-1951) and Marion Routledge Broome (1892-1996) in Spartanburg, South Carolina. The family moved to Atlanta, Georgia in 1923. Waterer attended local public schools, graduating from Girls High School of Atlanta in 1938. She then attended Wesleyan College and graduated from the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, in 1942. During World War II, Waterer served in the United States Air Force, first as a Link instrument trainer for United States Navy flyers and then as a pilot in the Women Air Force Service program. In 1944, she received an honorable discharge from the armed services and married Major John B. Waterer; the couple had a son, John Anthony Waterer (1947- ) and divorced in 1951. After the divorce, Waterer continued her education at the High Museum School of Art and at Georgia State University. She worked in interior design and formed her own firm in 1968, retiring in 1992.