Retired Circuit Judge Virginia Q. Beverly, 83, died Tuesday of pancreatic cancer at the McGraw Center for Caring of Community Hospice of Northeast Florida. A funeral Mass will be 10:30 a.m. Tuesday at Holy Family Catholic Church, 9800 Baymeadows Road. Judge Beverly was appointed to the bench by Gov. Reubin Askew in December 1976 and was sworn in early in January 1977. She started her career in North Carolina and, after relocating to Jacksonville, became an assistant U.S. attorney in 1965 before becoming the first woman to join the Milam, Martin and Ade law firm. After her retirement, she continued to serve as a senior judge through September 2004. In May, Judge Beverly welcomed her son, one of her four children, to the bench. She swore in new Circuit Court Judge Thomas Beverly in a ceremony. “They gave me the opportunity to give you some advice on the career you have begun,” she said. “But I’m not going to. You know what you have to do.”