Virginia Taylor's Obituary
Virginia E. Taylor (Dec. 31, 1923 ~ Jan. 17, 2009) Virginia Taylor's story is reserved to people of a disappearing generation. Her father left Finland to avoid conscription by the infamous General Bobrikov into the Russian Army under Czar Nicholas II. Her father's employer could neither spell nor pronounce his name (Kiilunen), so he changed it to Erickson. Her mom was also Finnish, with a name even harder to pronounce. Virginia's dad died when she was only 4. She was raised in Seattle by her mother, Amelia, and older sister, Lillian, who worked hard to make ends meet through the Depression. Lillian started Virginia at the Cornish Institute, where she started violin lessons at age 8 -- the event which would define her life. She was also a serious student, graduating second in Lincoln High School's 1941 class. At 18 she joined the Seattle Symphony, conducted by Sir Thomas Beecham, where she played with some of the world's leading musicians, including Isaac Stern, Percy Grainger and Andre Kostelanetz. But symphony work didn't pay well, so she also played violin and guitar in several dance bands, including the "all-girl" Melodears. She also attended the U.W. as funds allowed, where she met her husband, Renwick, a french horn player. He joined her in the Symphony after their 1947 marriage. They moved to Tacoma in 1949 for Ren's job. Like most women of her generation, her interests yielded to her husband's career, children and a household -- and teaching violin lessons. She joined the Tacoma Symphony, where she was concertmistress from 1956 until 1971. She also taught elementary strings in the Clover Park District from 1963 until 1971. Virginia was a good cook, but at the end of the month even she could not make canned salmon taste good. She always tried to convince us that salmon burgers were no different than hamburgers. She made sure we did homework and insisted we take piano lessons. May she be forgiven. By the time her boys were in high school/college, we had moved to Spokane. Virginia was the Spokane Symphony's assistant concertmaster throughout her time there. And when Ren entered politics, she devoted countless hours to his many campaigns. Ren and Virginia returned to Tacoma for retirement. After Ren's 1991 death, Virginia started life on her own, leading a full and happy life during those years. She traveled, kept up her music (playing paying gigs into her later 70s), went to countless grandchildren's concerts, track meets, baseball games, etc. She served as president of The League of Women Voters, was a voracious reader, and was always well up on current events, reading two newspapers each day with her coffee. She was always ready to discuss the latest news from any corner of the world Virginia had three sons, Ross (Pam), Mark (Edit), and Paul (Gail), and stepson Clark Onstad (Sheila). She had 9 grandchildren. Big surprise B she taught some of them to play the violin. Virginia led a good life, did good things for people, and made her small part of the world just a little bit better. We should all leave such a legacy. We will celebrate Virginia's life on Saturday afternoon, January 24, 2009, at 2:00 o'clock In lieu of flowers, please send donations to the Tacoma Youth Symphony Association.
What’s your fondest memory of Virginia?
What’s a lesson you learned from Virginia?
Share a story where Virginia's kindness touched your heart.
Describe a day with Virginia you’ll never forget.
How did Virginia make you smile?