Virginia L. Varni

Longtime Corralitos resident, Virginia Varni, who recently celebrated her 101st birthday, died at home on March 21, 2024 surrounded by family. With roots in both Texas and California, she was born in Breckenridge Texas to Charles and Grace Leonard.

The family moved to Southern California and Virginia gave the first-ever radio broadcast from first grade to City Hall in Huntington Beach. They moved back to Texas where Virginia played clarinet in band and graduated from high school in Brownfield. From an early age, Virginia loved dancing. Growing up in a Bible-belt town, where such activities were prohibited, she and her friends would drive to an empty field and dance to Big Band music for hours lit by the headlights of their cars.

A well-educated woman-rare for her time-Virginia studied fashion design at Texas Tech, nurses training at West Texas Hospital in Lubbock and Heald Business College in San Jose. She returned to California for good in the mid-1940s, where her oldest daughter Penny was born, and lived in the Bay Area where she had two more children, Virginia "VeeGee" and Chuck.

After divorcing her second husband, Virginia moved again to join her parents in Watsonville and worked for 15 years as an executive secretary at Bank of America. She met widower August "Augie" Varni at the bank, and they married in 1966, settling on his apple orchard on Varni Road where she lived for 58 years. Their blended family also spent many happy weekends and vacations at their cabin in Arroyo Seco.

Virginia was an avid reader and writer, often finishing a book every few days and composing poems and song lyrics for special occasions. A maker long before it was trendy, she enjoyed scrapbooking, photography, and needle crafts. She loved watching football and Dancing with the Stars, especially when a former football star was paired with a professional dancer. During the last Super Bowl she cheered on her fellow Texas Tech alum Patrick Mahomes to victory, even surrounded by family rooting for San Francisco. She was a life member and past president of the Soroptimist International and Daughters of the American Revolution. An amateur genealogist, she traced her ancestors to William the Conqueror of England and the Heidelberg family of Germany. Asked about the secret to a long and happy life, Virginia said: "Strong genes, love of God and country, an insatiable curiosity, and a good sense of humor."

Virginia is survived by her children Penny, Virginia and Chuck Griggs, stepchildren Don, Judy, and Mike Varni, and 13 grandchildren, 15 great-grandchildren and 4 great-great-grandchildren. Services will be held at Pajaro Valley Memorial Park on May 4, 2024 at 1 p.m. Mehl's Colonial Chapel has been entrusted with the funeral arrangements.

Published in The Pajaronian · April 24, 2024