April 6, 2006

OBITUARIES

Virginia Richlen

Virginia Mary Richlen, a resident of Friends Care Community, died Sunday, April 2. She was 86.

Born Sept. 6, 1919, in Crivitz, Wisc., she was the daughter of John and Clarissa Parent. After graduating from Oshkosh Teacher’s College, Virginia taught elementary school in Peshtigo, Wisc., marrying her childhood friend Lee A. Richlen on Jan. 21, 1944.

Raised in northern Wisconsin, Virginia grew up surrounded by the beauty of woods, lake and farmland. She searched for trailing arbutus in the early spring woodlands. Virginia lead an active, engaged life. She was a loving wife, mother, grandmother, great-grandmother, an accomplished educator, homemaker, seamstress, community and church member, artist, golfer and world traveler. During her last years, she was proud of her service as a Peace Corps volunteer and teacher abroad. Virginia was the first woman to make a hole-in-one at the Mackinaw Straits Golf Club in St. Ignace, Mich. She loved the water, and as a young woman, she taught swimming in the cold waters of Lake Michigan’s Menominee Bay. Her years residing along the straits of Mackinaw were especially happy.

She was preceded in death by her husband, Lee Richlen; brother, Robert Parent; and two grandchildren, Nathan Krueger and Johnathan Richlen.

She is survived by her five children and their partners, Mary Jo Richlen of Yellow Springs, Susan and Arnold Krueger of Grosse Pointe Woods, Mich., Kathlen and Robert Tilden-Richlen of Duluth, Minn., Thomas and Bobbi Richlen of LaPorte, Ind., and Michael and Hawa Richlen of West Chester; 11 grandchildren and six great-grandchildren; two brothers and their spouses, Stephen and Mary Louise Parent and Richard and Bea Parent; and a sister-in-law, Winifred.

Virginia will be buried alongside her husband in Montague, Mich. Jackson Lytle Williams Funeral Home is in charge of arrangements.