Virginia M. Newman died on September 18, 2010. Born Virginia Mae Wilson on January 3, 1917 in Enid, Oklahoma to Clarence and Grace Anderson Wilson, she was raised on the family farm, 25 miles south of Enid until she graduated as Valedictorian from Drummond High School in 1934.

She attended Northwestern State University and married Howard E. Newman of Enid in 1937. The couple lived in Enid, Arkansas City, KS, and Oklahoma City while Howard worked for the Frisco Railroad.

In 1946, after Howard returned from serving in WWII, they moved to Tulsa, where he went in business with his brother-in-law Woodrow Wilson, and where they resided until their deaths.

Virginia was preceded in death by her beloved husband of 67 years, Howard, by brothers W. Dale and Howard Wilson, by father Clarence and mother Grace.

She is survived by her two sons, Michael and Patrick and daughter-in-law Jane, and brother, Woodrow Wilson,all of Tulsa. She leaves five adoring grandchildren: Jeffrey of Portland, OR; Joshua and wife Sarah, of Fayetteville, AR; David of Denver, CO; Emily and husband Thomas Christie of St. Paul, MN; and Scott and wife Misty of Tulsa. Numerous nieces and nephews who loved to visit and chat with their Aunt Virginia will also miss her deeply.

Virginia's passions included her family, her church and nature. She nurtured flower and vegetable gardens her entire life including her last summer. She won numerous awards from Tulsa Garden Center and Sand Springs Garden Club for flower arranging. She passed on her love of Colorado's mountains and forests to her sons. She enjoyed oil painting, needlepoint and crochet.

She and her husband Howard were long time members of East Side Christian Church, where they served as teachers and leaders for over 50 years. She often spoke of the church as the richest source of spiritual and communal nurturance in her life. During her last years, Virginia was an active member with the rest of her family at All Souls Unitarian Church.

She was a long-time volunteer at Hissom Memorial Center and Tulsa Psychiatric Center, active in PTA and scouting, and served on the Health & Welfare Association and the YWCA Public Affairs Committee.

In 1968, the Human Relations Commission of the City of Tulsa established Rumor Central and appointed Mrs. Newman as its director. The office was designed to check the spread of false and possibly dangerous rumors about school desegregation, which might be a source of anxiety and tension as Tulsa began implementation of a voluntary school integration plan. During a time of rapid change, her office answered hundreds of questions and diffused rumors of racial tension and about the innovative changes taking place in the community and school system.

From her youth through her many years of service in her church, she was admired for her insatiable curiosity, her philosophical bent, her drive to inquire, to question, and to seek answers to the great questions about life and its meaning.

She and her husband enjoyed extensive travel throughout Europe and the Far East and traveled by motor home to Alaska and throughout Canada, from coast to coast. They spent over 20 winters in Apache Junction, Arizona, where they made and cultivated enduring friendships as they did wherever they lived.

Hers was a life filled with love, learning, growth and rich experience, and her peaceful death was enhanced by the love and care of her family, by the staffs of Hospice of Green Country and Clarehouse of Tulsa.

A celebration of her life will be observed at All Souls Unitarian Church, 2952 S. Peoria, Tulsa, at 1:00 p.m., Friday, September 24, 2010.

The family asks that in lieu of flowers, donations be made in her honor to Hospice of Green Country and Clarehouse of Tulsa.