Virginia Myrtle Meyer

She was born on Christmas Day, December 25, 1924 in the home on the family dairy farm her Paternal Grandparents Frederich Michael & Willhelmina (Berg/Barry) Powell had built 20 years before, following their moving to America from Prussia. She came before her time due, following a very rough ride on frozen dirt roads in a Model T ten miles to church and back to a Christmas Eve Service. Her Grandmother wrapped her tightly in blankets and kept her in the warming side of the big stove, to keep her warm and safe for the first weeks. That winter, Virginia got pneumonia, but she was a fighter and survivor, right from the start. She was baptized in 1925 and also confirmed at St. John’s Lutheran Church, Pinconning; where her Grandparents were among the founding members of the Congregation, seven families from the same area in Prussia. Virginia as the oldest child of 4 at home with 3 other cousins living with them as their mother had passed, was determined, a born leader, and rose to the challenge. Out of necessity, living on a farm far from town, she learned to drive early, at the age of 12.

Virginia met the love of her life in that same church, Walter Frank Meyer, and they were married there on June 1, 1945, theirs was the first wedding following World War II. While in High School Virginia worked part time at the DeFoe Shipyard in Bay City, Michigan as part of the War Effort, she typed metal labels for pipes and wiring for Destroyer Escorts. Virginia and her siblings also worked daily on the family farm, milking and feeding cows, weeding fields, and bringing the cows in form the woods every night with the help on their working Collie Dog. After High School Graduation, she came to Detroit and attended the Virginia Ferral Cosmetology School while working various part time jobs in the downtown area, and living on Virginia Park. After getting married, she and Walter moved to Detroit, their first apartment was on Trumbull near Warren in Woodbridge, she worked as a dispatcher and switchboard operator for Grand Laundry, until she was expecting her first child, and then became a homemaker. They later moved to an upper rented flat on West Grand Boulevard. In 1950 they welcomed their first child Roy Walter Meyer. In 1953 they proudly bought their first home, a duplex on Tuller, and became members of Gethsemane Lutheran Church where Roy was Baptized. In 1958 they purchased and moved to their new brick ranch style home on South Gulley in Dearborn where Virginia would live for the next 62 years. In 1959 they welcomed Todd Allen Meyer and he was baptized at Emmanuel Lutheran Church in Dearborn where the family now attended. The youngest son Mark was also baptized at Emmanuel. All three children were confirmed at Emmanuel, where the family attended every Sunday, and Virginia and Walter were active members, belonged to clubs there and lead the local AAL Chapter for many years.

Virginia was an avid gardener, who kept beautiful flowers and roses. She was an amazing cook, and loved to creative and detailed layer cakes, and set beautiful tables and throw festive parties. She was a Den Mother for her boys in the Club Scout pack for Oxford Elementary, and was able to use her creative talents to their fullest.

She and Walter loved to travel. From their earliest married years, they traveled to Miami Florida and Key West in 1947 to visit his family, and also traveled to Phoenix, Arizona in 1948 to visit his Aunt and Uncle there. They continued their travels by car throughout the country as time would allow, taking photos and home movies of the family as it explored each of the 48 mainland state and countless National and State Parks, museums and historic sites. They went to Montreal Canada to the World’s Fair “Expo 67” and were at the new Disney World Theme Park in the first months after it opened in December 1971, and liked it so much they went there every December for the next 8 years. In later years Virginia and Walt traveled to Hawaii, and took two tours in Europe. Virginia's travels were cut short by the sudden death of her beloved husband Walter on August 11, 1988, age 64. Five years later her oldest son Roy was taken from her by a brain tumor at only 43 years old, she went to his side in Phoenix to care for him for six months until his passing. Following a bad fall at home, Virginia suffered a compound fracture of her back at age 88, and was immobilized to heal and recover for 6 months. She then was diagnosed with Breast Cancer, and had a mastectomy, and finally had a broken hip at age 91. She began having hallucinations in her 80’s and was eventually diagnosed with late-stage Dementia. She resided in her Dearborn home until age 93, when she moved to Assisted Living at Sunrise in Northville, and eventually Memory Care at Pomeroy Living in Northville.

She is survived by her son Todd Meyer of San Rafael, California and his fiancée Cara Gulati, her son Mark Meyer, his wife Shannon of Northville, Michigan, Niece Pamela (Rodney) Mueller, Nephews Donald (Mary) Reinhart, Keith Reinhart, Scott (Linda) Krystyniak, Jay (Lisa) Krystyniak, and several Grand Nieces and Nephews. She was preceded in death by her parents William and Dorothy Powell, her sister and brother-in-law Leona and Bernard Reinhart, Ethel and Walter Krystyniak, her brother and sis-in-law Herbert and Mary (Spurling) Powell, two infant sisters Arleen Powell and Christina Amelia Powell, Mother and Father-in-law Edith (Raeck) and Charles Meyer, her husband Walter Frank Meyer, and her son Roy Walter Meyer.

A visitation for Virginia will be held Sunday, October 3, 2021 from 2:00 PM to 7:00 PM at Harry J Will Funeral Homes, 37000 W. Six Mile Road, Livonia, Michigan 48152. A funeral in state will occur Monday, October 4, 2021 at 10:00 AM at Emmanuel Lutheran Church, 800 S. Military St,, Dearborn, MI 48124. A funeral service will occur Monday, October 4, 2021 at 11:00 AM at Emmanuel Lutheran Church, 800 S. Military St,, Dearborn, MI 48124.

Fond memories and expressions of sympathy may be shared at www.HarryjWillLivonia.com for the Meyer family.