Virginia Lee Dietrich

Virginia Lee Joyce (Ginny) was born on November 27, 1939 in Appleton, Wisconsin, the second of three children born to Richard and Lorraine Joyce. The family lived there until she was 16 years of age, when they moved to Colorado Springs, Colorado. Her father, a dentist, had joined the Army's dental Corp. In June of 1958, following graduation, Ginny moved to Madison, Wisconsin, where her older sister Carol resided. An apartment and a job awaited her there. She had a very unusual job, testing Rhesus monkeys in a laboratory managed by the University of Wisconsin Psychology Department.
In August of 1958, Virginia met Larry Dietrich, who was to become her husband on September 1, 1959. They were married for nearly 55 years at the time of her death. They had three natural children, Lori Ann, who was killed in an auto accident in 1966, Dene' and Dan. Following Lori's death, they adopted two children, Debra and David.
Larry was a pilot, and often gone on his job, so Ginny was busy rearing the children on her own. But when she was 38 years old, she decided it was time for her to seek higher education. So she eventually achieved a Master's Degree in Speech Pathology, and spent the last 28 years of her life helping school children with speech and language problems.
She loved to travel, and spent many enjoyable cruises and trips with her husband Larry. Looking for a hobby, she took up knitting and crocheting, and made over 700 hats for cancer patients who had lost their hair because of chemotherapy.
She was blessed with six grandchildren, and loved every one of them as "special" in their own way. She was active in women's groups with her church, supported a child through World Vision, and will be sorely missed by all who knew and loved her.