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Submitted: 5/20/22 • Approved: 5/20/22 • Last Updated: 5/23/22 • R1433216-G1433216-S3
March 28, 1935 - January 16, 2022
Virginia Florence Gessler, age 86, a resident of Chicago, Illinois passed away Sunday, January 16, in Chicago.
Virginia, also known as Ginny, was born March 28, 1935. in Chicago, to the late Charles V. and Violet I. Darby. She was preceded in death by her parents, her beloved husband, Dennis Howard Gessler, and by her son, Edward George Kozak, as well as by her brother, Gerald R. Darby.
She is survived by daughter, Janet A. Horst, her granddaughter, Cheryl A. Hartman and brother John E. Darby, all of Illinois, and her Nebraska cousins, Phillip Darby Jr., Joan Smith, Jean Large, Richard Darby and Carolyn Evans, plus two nieces, Dorothy Darby and Marion Darby of San Francisco, California.
Mrs. Gessler trained as a secretary after graduation from Highland Park High School and became secretary to the president of Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.
After starting a family and assisting in a kindergarten in Woburn, Massachusetts, her two children attended, she knew that she loved working with children and decided to pursue a career in education. She graduated with a B.A. in Education and Psychology from Northeastern Illinois University, then taught at Lake County District 73 Elementary School campuses in Vernon Hills, Illinois, grades K-9 until her retirement in 1990. She also earned a master's degree in Educational Administration from Roosevelt University Chicago.
Upon her retirement and husband, Dennis' retirement from his Chicago printing business, they moved from Bannockburn, Illinois, to Mountain Home, Arkansas, where they enjoyed making many new and dear friends. They enjoyed hobbies of traveling, gardening, boating, fishing and collecting/trading antique autos.
In lieu of flowers, please donate to a local food bank.
A private burial will take place at Mountain Home Cemetery on April 23.
Contributed on 5/20/22 by jenbaker1951
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Record #: 1433216
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