Elsie Virginia Stoorza known to her friends and family as Virginia was born on January 8th, 1919 in McGregor, Texas. Her parents were James Roland and Nancy Lenore Burleson. Her siblings were Harold and Grace Burleson. Grace passed at a very young age and Harold has been gone for some time now.
Virginia grew up in Texas and spent most of her adult life in Fort Worth, Texas and surrounding area. There were two brief interludes when she lived in Conway, Arkansas and Odessa, Texas. She married Edwin Lawrence Stoorza on July, 20, 1938. They had five children. Edwin Lawrence Stoorza, Jr. (living), Carol Lee Morrison (deceased), Virginia Louise Stoorza (deceased), James Roger Stoorza (living) and Gayla Gene Warner (living). She is also survived by six grandchildren and three great grandchildren.
She was a housewife during the young school age periods of her children's lives. She eventually worked as the head of volunteers at John Peter Smith Hospital and later in the Grand Prairie Independent School District. She and Edwin were married for 58 years. He passed in 1996. However, some of the happiest times of their lives were spent in retirement on Lake Hawkins near Hawkins, Texas before Edwin's health forced them to move back among family.
Once her husband passed, she began to travel on occasion. She made annual sojourns to Florida to visit with her oldest son, Larry, and wife, Jan. She made new friends there who always enjoyed seeing and interacting with her. She really loved ocean cruises. She went on a Caribbean cruise with Larry and Jan. That whetted her appetite and she made many more cruises with her daughter, Carol. She especially enjoyed cruising to Alaska and also made a crossing from the west coast through the Panama Canal to Florida.
Virginia lived a full, enjoyable life. She always had a pragmatic, hopeful attitude even when she experienced some health episodes during her life. She came through them and managed to live to the ripe old age of 99 years just 3 weeks short of her 100th birthday. A grand celebration was being planned and she would've loved the attention. However, she would not have lamented she didn't make it to that magical number. If she were here now, she would smile and take pride in the fact she made it as far as she did. She will be missed.
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