Obit: Andersen, Virginia (1920 - 2013)

Contact: Audrey Roedl
Email: audero@charter.net

Surnames: Andersen, Colby, White, Conroy

----Source: The Loyal TRG (Loyal, Clark County, WI) 16 Jan 2013

Andersen, Virginia (01 Nov 1920-12 Jan, 2013)

Virginia E. Colby Andersen, 92, went home to Heaven to be with her husband, Pat, and son, Norman, on Saturday evening, Jan. 12, 2013. Memorial services will be held at 3:30 p.m., on Saturday, Jan. 19, at Lake Street United Methodist Church, 337 Lake St., Eau Claire. Rev. Scott Daniels will officiate Visitation will be held at the church from 3 p.m., until the time of services. Burial will take place on Memorial Day weekend in the Loyal City Cemetery.

Virginia Ellen Colby was born on Nov. 1, 1920, in Loyal, to James Richard Colby, a banker, and Mina White Colby, a homemaker and seamstress. While attending business college in Wausau, she met Albert Harold “Pat” Andersen in a flower shop. She talked often about handsome he was in that blue suit the day they met. They were married on Oct. 15. 1945, upon his return from serving overseas in World War ll. Pat, the love of her life, passed away two weeks after their 25th wedding anniversary. Her heart has remained his since. She loved her older brother, Richard, who took great joy in teasing his little sister. When her daughters were young, she dressed them in beautiful dresses for Christmas and Easter, and she loved being the mother of two sons. Later in life, she enjoyed spending time baking chocolate chip cookies with her granddaughter Jenny’s three sons. Virginia was a devout Methodist, playing the organ and leading choirs in several churches along the way, and was last a member of Lake Street Methodist Church in Eau Claire, where regularly attended Sunday services. She devoted much of her life to the care of her son, Norman, who died at the age of 30. Her life was also deeply affected by the untimely death of her beloved 4 year-old grandson, Doug. Virginia was a sweetheart. She loved to play and sing hymns, and she loved flowers, and sparkling jewelry, and taking long walks as her father once did. She was an elegant woman with a radiant smile who brought a quiet grace and a good amount of humor to a gathering. Her words for others were always kind, and she was often heard to comment,”True beauty comes from within.” Virginia was a gentle woman who considered everyone she met a friend, who did unto others as she would have them do. She had lovely silver hair, and wore purple well, and will be dearly missed by those whose lives she graced.

Virginia is survived by her daughter, Deborah Andersen. Lake City, Minn., and grandchildren Holly, Jeff, and Ryan; daughter, Marlene Conroy, Lake Geneva and grandchildren Rick, Andy, and Jenny; son Alan Andersen of Eau Claire, and grandson, Zac; a sister-in-law Margaret, Memphis, Tenn.; and a multitude of great grandchildren.

She was preceded in death by her parents; her husband, Pat; a son Norman; a grandson, Mark Douglas Osborn; a brother, James Colby, Memphis, Tenn.; and a dear friend, Bruce Hepburn.

Online condolences may be left at www.cremationsociety-wi.com.

Cremation Society of Wisconsin is serving the family.