Virginia Holmgren Russell

Virginia Holmgren Russell, lately of Franciscan Manor in Patterson Heights, Pa., was born on May 3, 1919, to Paul Holmgren and Marjorie Blaker Holmgren in Minneapolis, Minn.

Paul, an accomplished church organist and pianist for silent films, succumbed to the pneumonia epidemic in 1920; Marjorie later remarried and relocated to Western New York State.

After graduation from Batavia High School, Virginia attended Geneseo State Teachers’ College where she earned teaching certification. In early World War II, Virginia worked as a telephone switchboard operator before taking her first teaching job in a rural one-room schoolhouse along the lake in Canandaigua. Some years later, during a successful career as an elementary teacher in Pavilion and Batavia, Virginia met Robert C. Russell of Batavia. They were married in 1957, and have one daughter.

Virginia retired from teaching in 1979, and moved in 1995 to Bridgewater, Pa., to be near her daughter’s family. Virginia departed this life in faith, surrounded by her family, at the Medical Center in Beaver, Pa., on Sunday (Sept. 4, 2011.)

Virginia Russell is survived by her daughter, Deborah Russell Silverstein, music teacher at Rhema Christian School, woodwind coordinator of the Pittsburgh Youth Philharmonic Orchestra, and founder/artistic director of the Beaver County Flute Choirs; son-in-law, Lawrence Silverstein, a foreign language teacher in the Pittsburgh Public Schools; and three grandchildren, Rachel and Rebecca Silverstein, students at Quaker Valley High School, and Joshua Silverstein, a freshman at Lincoln Park Performing Arts Charter School.

Noll Funeral Home Inc., 333 Third St., Beaver, Pa., is handling the arrangements. Online condolences can be shared at nollfuneral.com. Interment will take place 2 p.m. Friday at Grand View Cemetery, Batavia.

In lieu of flowers, the Virginia Russell Musical Education Fund is established to bless and assist students in their growth in music through the band and music classes at Rhema Christian School. Memorial contributions may be made to the Virginia Russell Musical Education Fund, c/o Rhema Christian School, 1301 Coraopolis Heights Rd., Moon Twp., PA 15108. Please make checks payable to Rhema Christian School, earmarked for the Virginia Russell Musical Education Fund.

Virginia Holmgren's Senior entry in the 1937 Batavian...