Virginia Marie Tavenner

Virginia died peacefully in her sleep at the age of 100 years and nine months. She was living with her granddaughter, Shelli Bowman and her husband James, who were her caregivers from 2019 until her death.

On the day she was born, Virginia’s biological parents, John Reilly and Alice Jackson, were killed in an automobile accident. Virginia was immediately adopted by Maud Klaas and her husband Frank. When Maud died around 1938, She went to live with and was eventually adopted by Maud’s sister Edith NeVill and her husband William in Condon, Oregon.

Sundays after church were spent playing with her father and the dogs, Scamps and Hoots. Every day she and the dogs would ride with her dad in the Model T Ford pick-up to check the water at the reservoir. An especially fond memory.

Virginia married Vincent Lyewski in 1942. In 1944 Sharon was born and year later they divorced. Two years later she married George Holden. George had two children Elaine and William (Bill), and together they had Nora in 1948. George passed the following year.

While living in Denver working as a registered nurse, She met and married Russell (Russ) Tavenner. They were married for 33 wonderful years. They retired and spent the last years of his life living at the Baca in Crestone, Colorado where they were both involved in community activities. Virginia volunteered as a librarian and taught graphology classes at Alamosa State College. They participated in theatre productions, and dinners, even though they were not particularly talented actors, they had a good time doing it.

After Russ passed in 1986, She moved to Brighton CO to be close to family. She moved to Sacramento California in 1998 to be with more family, then settled back in Colorado in 2019.

Virginia is survived by two daughters: Sharon Leiker and Nora Johnson. Six Granddaughters: Vicky and Tracy Leiker, Shelli (James) Bowman, Anggie (Paul) Velasquez, Kristy (Alex) McCamy and Sherry Montoya. Ten Great Grandchildren: Nicole (Anthony) Croce, Jennifer and JJ (Nisha) Andrews, Sarah Gronski, Rachael Colucci, Kenzie and Devin Montoya, Shaydon Tuttle, Tyler and Will McCamy. Four Great-Great Grandchildren: Grace and Randy Ebert, Adrian and Ava Croce.

Graveside Services will be held at Crown Hill Cemetery, 7777 W 29th Ave, Lakewood, CO on Saturday, September 23, 2023 at 11 AM.