After almost 95 enthusiastic and adventure-filled years of life, Virginia Lee (Michaelis) Thompson of Springfield, Missouri, was reunited with Fred, her husband of 65+ years, as she entered heaven on Tuesday, April 1st. She died peacefully following a battle with Alzheimer’s and pneumonia.

Virginia Lee was born the only child of Pauline Hammond, on April 18th, 1930, in Susank, Kansas and was raised with her stepfather, Emmett Hammond in Carthage, Missouri. In her early years, she moved with her family to McAllen, Texas for a brief time, and returned to Carthage before High School. It was there she met Fred, and they became High School sweethearts, with Fred being captain and star football player and Virginia becoming Homecoming Queen. Virginia told the story that when she was crowned Queen, she had to kiss Fred following the game, but because he had sustained an injury to his jaw with excessive bandages, she had no idea how she was going to do it, and in front of everyone, too!

Fred and Virginia’s romance continued, and they were married on September 17, 1950. They endured the challenge of being separated when Fred was drafted into the Korean War shortly after their first child was born, in 1951, and Fred had to be gone a year. They moved from Carthage to Springfield, Missouri, just prior to the birth of their fourth child in 1960.

Virginia was a talented pianist, often playing in her living room and giving lessons to children in her community. She also enjoyed reading and painting, among other fine arts, in addition to flower arranging in her later years. She attended Drury University pursuing a degree in music before getting married and focusing on her family. When the kids were older and in school, she worked as the principal’s secretary at Sequiota Elementary School, and then several years for State Farm agents’ offices.

Along with her talents, Virginia is mostly remembered for her vibrant personality and ability to talk to anyone about anything anytime. In fact, more than once, she received a wrong- number phone call and struck up a conversation lasting minutes to an hour, making new friends out of mistakes. Virginia also tells the story of being born with a tongue tie, which could have limited her speaking ability, and how she was glad this was fixed in her youth so she could talk. “Can you imagine, me, not being able to talk?” she would say. Fred, humorously, would often imagine his lifetime of peace had this not been fixed.

Fred was an avid outdoorsman and shared this passion with Virginia, as she and the family would join him for fishing and camping excursions. Fred was dismayed to learn that Virginia was one of the luckiest people on earth and would often out-fish him. A famous picture of the two of them shows Fred proudly holding up the Atlantic shark that Virginia had caught. She also loved harvesting oysters and collecting hundreds, probably thousands, of shells, which one grandson and his wife were lucky enough to inherit.

She was always a jokester and loved doing pranks on friends and family: like the time she dressed herself and Fred in overalls, hillbilly hats, and corn cob pipes to meet important friends of Fred’s brother and wife.

In their retirement years, Fred and Virginia enjoyed traveling around the country in their motor home, camping at their favorite campgrounds in Florida and Minnesota. They always added more lifelong friends in their travels. When age limited their adventures, they also enjoyed taking the bus to the casinos to play video poker.

Virginia is preceded in her passing by her mother and stepfather, Pauline and Emmett, and her adoring husband, Fred whom she shared 65 years of marriage until his passing in 2016. She is survived by her 4 children; Gail (husband Gary) Drennan, Brenda (husband Steven) Barclay, Kerry (wife Shelli) Thompson, and Tim Thompson; along with 12 grandchildren, and 19 great-grandchildren and counting.

Anyone who met Virginia Lee was a friend; she knew no strangers.

We are all CERTAIN that she was pleased to enjoy one more bit of mischief by leaving this earth on April Fool’s Day, leaving us all wondering…. Good last laugh, Virginia Lee!!