Virginia Louise Herrick was born on August 29, 1929 in a small town in Michigan. She spent her early years moving frequently, since her father took promotions moving from one job to another with increasing responsibilities during the great depression. During her middle school years living in Upper Darby, a suburb of Philadelphia, she took her first piano lessons while her younger sister Marion focused on art. The piano would be Virginia’s favorite hobby and strongest passion for the rest of her life.
Virginia met her dear husband James Merritt Herrick while in college at Michigan State University. She moved to his family farm in rural Michigan and raised two children, James and Janice, on the farm. She fulfilled her husband’s dream of giving up the farm life and moved to San Diego, CA to begin a new life in a beautiful golden town by the sea. As San Diego at the time was in a growth mode and needed teachers, Virginia was able to get a job (without even an interview) as a kindergarten teacher in the San Diego School District based on her academic credentials.
She excelled at teaching young children to read and was very proud of her success helping mainly young, and often very poor, Hispanic children to read and speak English. She was so good at this, Virginia was asked after retirement to come back and help some of the more challenged kids - which she did with amazing success. She was very proud on one particular occasion when a young Hispanic couple came up to her with tears in their eyes, and told her that their child came home that day and read to them for the first time in his life. Virginia was assisted during this time by her long-time best friend and assistant, Gloria Comagon. They teamed up to help many, many children learn to read.
Virginia was (to those who knew her, and even to those who just met her casually) one of the sweetest, nicest, and most positive people that ever lived. Countless times her children were told how lucky they were to have the “nicest” Mom in the world, and believe me, all her kids knew it, too! She was especially happy at family gatherings, and particularly when she met up with her dear younger sister Marion “Mickey” Langham. The joy and energy those two had when they got together periodically (as they lived on opposite sides of the country) was wonderful to behold. The laughing and storytelling was non-stop, except for the periodic afternoon naps that became more common as they both grew older.
James, her husband for 60 years, was at her side constantly and they did everything together. They were truly an inseparable couple until James became ill with very advanced dementia. During her later years Virginia began to have setbacks, beginning with the death of her beloved sister, and also dealing with her husband’s increasing dementia symptoms, and finally, his death. On top of this, she had a stroke that resulted in the complete loss of eyesight in her “good” eye, and another stroke that forced her to move into assisted living. Despite all of this, Virginia remained positive and upbeat about her life and the future. She once said, “I’m not an old person, but a young person trapped inside this (expletive) body!” She truly was young at heart all the way to the end. In her final couple of years in assisted living, Virginia practiced the piano and performed concerts with her son-in-law, Dwight Bean, which provided much needed joy and entertainment to her fellow residents. She was an inspiration to staff, maintaining a positive attitude during the Covid 19 crisis in a place where most struggle to find any joy at all. She left behind a gigantic crater of love that her children, grandchildren and great-grandchildren will not be able to fill back, but she did provide to all who knew her a 100% certified blue print on how to live life to the fullest and be the best human being.
Virginia is survived by three children (James, Janice and Steven), 6 grandchildren (Alana, Amber, Doug, David, Michael and Connor) and 6 great-grandchildren (Ival, Satta, Amara, Ester, Stella and Baby Marion) and 2 step-great-grandsons (Markus and Henrik.)
To join the live stream of Virginia's committal service go to elcajonmortuary.com and search for Virginia's obituary. When it comes up simply scroll down the page to services and click on the join livestream box.
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