Virginia Locke

Virginia Mae Kump Locke died peacefully on December 11, 2008, leaving behind a loving family and many friends. She was born on July 16, 1922, in the small town of Northfield, Minnesota. As the eldest child of her generation, she spent an exceptionally happy childhood there, surrounded by a large and doting extended family. Her father was the proprietor of the general store and the mayor, and as her mother preferred to stay at home, she became his regular escort for all the functions attendant to his office. She attended St. Olaf's College, and nursing school at Abbott Hospital in Minneapolis. While serving as a Navy nurse in World War II, she met William Locke in an officers' club in Chicago. She married him, and, returning with him to his hometown of Kansas City, she raised a family of six children, a feat which seems much more formidable in retrospect than it did at the time. As her household emptied, she went back to nursing and worked at the psychiatric ward at Trinity Lutheran Hospital, where her indomitable personality and her talents at connecting with all manner of people stood her in good stead. Her husband died two years ago, after fifty 58 years of marriage. She is survived by all of her children: William Locke of Oakland, California; Thomas Locke of Sequim, Washington; Melissa Locke of Oakland, California; Betsey Locke of Kansas City, Missouri; Martin Locke of Excelsior Springs, Missouri; and Sarah Locke of Rockville, Maryland; and six grandchildren, Jonah and Sophia Locke Meadows, Kirani Locke, Charlotte Locke, and Jack and Sam Berrigan. Her sense of humor, her love of travel, her willingness to take risks, her skeptical attitude towards authority, and her restless energy all live on in them. Having spent her adult life in Kansas City, she extracted from her husband the promise to return with her to a final resting place in her beloved Northfield, Minnesota, and she will now realize that long-standing wish. In lieu of flowers, please send any contributions to Catholic Charities. A memorial service will be held at Aberdeen Village, 17500 West 119th Street, Olathe, KS 66061 at 3:00 pm on Saturday, December 13th.





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