Virginia Mary Padua Kanicka

Virginia Mary Lumetta Padua Kanicka passed away peacefully on Thursday, September 8, 2022, gently squeezing the hands of family by her side. Daughter to Angelina Coppola and Alphonse Lumetta, Virginia married Dr. Fortunato Joseph Padua in 1953 and had six loving children Charmagne A., Kevin, Fortunato Jr., Sharon, David, and Eric Padua. She is also survived by her beloved sister Aline and brother-in-law Ronnie Lemoine, grandchildren Jennifer, Natasha, Fortunato Gabriel, Laran and Harley Padua, Sonja Rose Bogolubov and great-grandchildren Clayton and Oliver Cox, Ezra and Elsie Pizzeck, and a large extended family. In passing, she joins her son Kevin, first husband Fortunato, second husband Leon Kanicka, an arborist who she married in 2000, her parents, and extended family.

A lifelong New Orleanian born May 29, 1935, Virginia attended St. Mary the Angels Elementary School and graduated from Francis T. Nicolls High School in three years. Throughout her life, she loved to read and spent hours reading to her children and grandchildren. She was especially fond of history, biographies and - being a romantic - Nicholas Sparks novels. An active philanthropist, she raised money to support the New Orleans Museum of Art, Opera Guild, Delta Festival Ballet, Children’s Hospital, American Heart Association, American Cancer Society and the Physician’s Auxiliary serving Mercy and Hotel Dieu Hospitals. She particularly loved her Italian heritage, travelled throughout Italy and was a lifetime member of The Elenian Club, an organization helping to keep Italian culture alive. She prepared innumerable anise cookies and Italian specialties such as braciola for the annual St. Joseph’s Day Alters and helped organize the Ballo di Natale Debutant events, among other activities. She was also proud of her work that helped to create the Piazza d’Italia in the heart of the city.

Professionally, Virginia was a fashion consultant for You Boutique and D.H. Holmes before becoming an entrepreneur and launching her own women’s apparel boutique Virline’s with her sister. Later, she followed her love of antiques, became proprietor of Recollections on Metairie Road, and hosted pop-up shops in various antiques markets. Before retiring, she joined Alarm Monitoring Service as an assistant to the company’s founder, her beloved godchild Dera DeRoche Jolet.

Virginia was an adventurer and loved travelling. She visited Europe and Russia, made a pilgrimage to Medjugorje in Bosnia and Herzegovina, and cruised throughout the Caribbean and Alaska. She also loved Seaside, Florida, Gatlinburg, Tennessee, Mackinac Island, Michigan, the West Coast, New England, Cape Cod, and New York and Connecticut where she briefly lived with her daughters.

As an avid gardener, Virginia won numerous Garden of the Month titles in the neighborhoods where she resided, and could often be found planting luscious fruits, plants, and flowers. She loved nature, and delighted at the many birds, squirrels, rabbits, and chipmunks in her mist. Socially she enjoyed dancing and was a member of the Dragons and Oldies but Goodies Dancing Clubs, in the latter, she once was their Queen. Other memberships included Spring Fiesta, New Orleans Yacht Club, Mardi Gras Krewes Pandora and Excalibur, Mad Hatters, Mystery Women, The Beach Club of Metairie Swim and Tennis, and Peppers team which competed in the Pelican Bowling Lanes League.

Virginia cared deeply about America’s future and regularly served as an Election Worker in Ormond Estates in St. Charles Parish. Her faith in God and devotion to family were the pillars of her life. She was a gentle, gracious, and elegant woman with a remarkable purity of heart and generosity that endeared her to all she met, and to whom she is profoundly missed.

A visitation will be held from 4:00 p.m. to 8:00 p.m. on Friday, September 16, 2022 at Lake Lawn Metairie Funeral Home, 5100 Pontchartrain Blvd. New Orleans, LA 70124. On Saturday, September 17, 2022 eulogies will begin at 12:30 p.m. with Mass beginning at 1:00 p.m. Interment will follow in Metairie Cemetery.