Virginia Urbani Wilcoxson

1914 - 2014

Wilcoxson, Virginia Urbani 04/15/1914 ~ 02/07/2014 SAN DIEGO -- Virginia Urbani Wilcoxson, passed away peacefully on February 7, 2014, nine weeks shy of her 100th birthday, surrounded by her loving family. Scholar, teacher, businesswoman, world traveler, wife, mother, grandmother and volunteer, she was truly a renaissance woman. Born of immigrant Italian parents at Mercy Hospital in Hillcrest, Virginia enjoyed growing up in the sleepy Navy town of San Diego, graduating from San Diego High School's Class of 1932. Intent on a career teaching languages, she studied French, Spanish and Portuguese, adding to her already fluent English and Italian. Immediately upon receiving her BA at San Diego State in 1936, she was hired to teach French and Spanish at Hoover High School. Ten years later, she took a sabbatical to earn a Master's Degree at UC Berkeley and perhaps meet that 'someone special' and raise a family. Virginia hosted many French dinners at Berkeley's International House and it was at one of these that she met her future husband, Walter Wilcoxson. He was a student at the University and the two hit it off but it was his long distance love letters in French that won her heart. In 1948 they were married by then Bishop Charles Francis Buddy at St. Joseph's Cathedral in downtown San Diego. They settled in Mission Hills in 1956. During the nearly 60 years of marriage that followed, they raised three children, Virginia taught full time, invested in real estate and cared for her elderly parents. In 1979, she retired from San Diego Unified ending a 40 year career as an inspirational educator at Hoover, Crawford and Point Loma High Schools. Fulfilling her dream of traveling, in 1980, she and Walter began visiting far-flung areas of the world including Europe, Australia, Russia, Turkey and Portugal. A deeply religious woman and devout Catholic, their travels included pilgrimages to Fatima, Medugorje and Lourdes. At the age of 96 she went to Italy with her daughter to reconnect with relatives in Umbria. Virginia also found time to dedicate many years of volunteer service at UCSD Medical Center acting as an admitting interpreter in the maternity ward. In later years, she became a beloved fixture in the community of Mission Hills, walking the streets near the family home always with a smile and kind word to all who crossed her path. Her ability to reach out to people of all ages and walk of life was one of her special qualities. Friends, children and grandchildren will always cherish her generosity of spirit, business acumen, strength of character and boundless zest for life. Predeceased in death by her beloved Walter, she is survived by her children, Tony Wilcoxson (Janet), Anna Wilcoxson (Duncan Schute), and Tess Nelson (Mark) and grandchildren, Christian Kirklighter, Eric, Lauren and Maxwell Nelson. Services are planned for Friday, February 14, 2014, at St. Vincent DePaul in Mission Hills (4080 Hawk St.). Rosary at 10:30 a.m. and Funeral Mass at 11:00 a.m. Interment at Holy Cross Mausoleum immediately following.