Virgina Spicer Weliky

Virginia Spicer Weliky, 89, died peacefully at the Medical Center of the Rockies February 9, 2017. Virginia was a long-time resident of Estes Park, Colorado and took great joy in viewing the mountains and particularly Longs Peak from her home. Prior to moving to Colorado, she grew up in Ashland, Virginia, went to graduate school in New York, and raised four children in Massachusetts, Pennsylvania, and New Jersey, finally achieving her goal of living in the mountains when she and her husband, Irving, retired to Estes Park. Virginia was active in the Newcomer’s Group, the Women’s Club and chaired the Scholarship Committee for many years. She took great pride in education, having graduated as Salutatorian of her high school class and earning Phi Beta Kappa honors from Randolph Macon College in Ashland, Virginia. After college Virginia enrolled at Columbia University for Teachers’ Education, and then taught high school science in Petersburg Virginia. She returned to New York to enter the Sloan Kettering Memorial graduate program and Cornell University. There she contributed to the isolation of uracil, one of the building blocks of RNA. At Sloan Kettering, she met Irving and they were married in 1951. Virginia and Irving were collectors of Native American art and Danish Modern Furniture, and Virginia was also active with American Field Service. After retiring to Colorado, she and Irving enjoyed traveling to the national parks and enjoying the beautiful scenery in the West. Virginia was preceded in death by her husband Irving in 2002 after 51 years of marriage. In 2005 she married lifelong friend Aaron Freedman. She and Aaron she spent time in Colorado and New York where Aaron taught. Aaron died in 2013 and Virginia continued to take pleasure in spending time in Colorado with family and friends. Virginia is survived by her children, Joan Conaway and her husband Ron, Lora Weliky, James Weliky and his wife Carin Schiewe, David Weliky and her grandchildren, Lawrence Griffin, Cody Hartke-Weliky, and Max Schiewe-Weliky, as well as her sister Janice Barrett and her nieces and nephews. A memorial service will be planned for the near future. Memorial Contributions in Virginia’s memory can be made to the United Network of Organ Sharing (UNOS) https://www.unos.org/get-involved/give-to-unos/