Virgil Eugene Griepp

Some personalities just shine brighter than most, and Virgil Griepp had that kind of charisma. For 88 years, Virg touched lives with his warmth, wit, faith, intellect, music, lyrical writing, passionate activism, culinary ventures, handyman skills, and gifts of service. The eldest of three boys, he was born on March 19, 1937 in Regan, North Dakota to Reuben and Esther Griepp. His father was a carpenter and traveling minister, and Virg spent his early childhood years on the road with his evangelist parents, singing with the family musical ministry. They later lived in Leavenworth, Washington, before settling in Kalispell, Montana, where Virg graduated from Flathead High School in 1955.

He attended Seattle Pacific College where he majored in Greek and History, was student body vice president, and sang in the a cappella choir and men's quartet. There, he met his first wife, Beverly Shadbolt. After graduation, they moved to Spokane when Virgil was appointed public relations director at Whitworth College in 1961. They attended Northwood Presbyterian Church under the leadership of Rev. Dr. David Yeaworth and his wife, Grace, who became lifelong mentors and friends. Son Douglas was born in 1963, followed by David in 1968.

Shortly after David's birth, the family moved to Seattle where Virg became communications director for the Synod of Alaska-Northwest of the Presbyterian Church (USA). They reconnected with the Yeaworths at Newport Presbyterian Church in Bellevue where Virg served as music director for nearly 15 years, leading the choir and offering vocal and trumpet solos of his own. He also volunteered with the church youth group and led many youth deputation teams, plus trips to Alaska aboard a Presbyterian mission ship and to Barrow on the North Slope, sharing the church's work in Alaska Native communities— and his sons got to join him several times.

While Virg's writing prowess, musical talents and church leadership shone outwardly, his family was his most important vocation. He was a devoted dad to Doug and David, growing up on Capitol Hill in Seattle, immersing them in the diversity of their urban neighborhood in the 1970s. He took them swimming at Medgar Evers pool on the Garfield High School campus in the predominantly African-American Central District, and to Liberty Bank at 23rd and Union, the first and only black-owned bank in the Pacific Northwest at the time. The boys learned to be comfortable around all races and cultures, a legacy that has shaped them and their own children to this day.

Virg knew how to have fun and make fun, whether it was building a playroom or backyard fort for his sons, playing board games and making popcorn balls on Friday nights, and chocolate chip pancakes on Saturday mornings, building models and Legos, or tossing a football, baseball or Frisbee. He drove pre-dawn carpools to swim team practice and after-school carpools to choir rehearsals. He was one of Seattle's first volunteer soccer coaches for his boys' teams. Along with several neighborhood dads who also knew nothing about this "new" youth sport, they consulted coaching pamphlets and spurred on the teams with a hefty dose of enthusiasm. Virg was ever-present on the sidelines, puffing on his pipe while snapping action photos of the young athletes. Winters included snow days at Snoqualmie Summit, while summers were filled with getaways to state parks and camping trips at Lake Chelan.

After his first marriage ended, Virg married Sharon Terpsma Taylor in 1986, settling in Spokane where Virg took over his father's construction and rental property business. Virg and Sharon shared 39 joyous years together filled with travel, concerts, family vacations in Bigfork, Montana, and festive Christmas feasts in the home they built. They were charter members of Colbert Presbyterian Church through which they nurtured deep friendships. Virg also inherited a beloved new daughter and son—Brenda and Doug—through his marriage to Sharon—and later, he and Sharon added "new kids" in the form of their much-adored Lhasa Apsos. With Virg at the hub of things, there was always abundant love to go around.

As Virg and Sharon faced health challenges, they moved from Spokane to live near daughter Brenda at Cogir of Kent assisted living in 2023, where they continued to make a host of friends among residents and staff alike. Virg was preceded in death by Sharon, nine months earlier, and by his brother Darrell in 1980.

Virg is survived by his children, Doug (Denise Martin) Griepp, David (Katy) Griepp, Brenda Griepp, and Doug (Joanna Freeman) Taylor, and seven grandchildren: Isaac, Benjamin, Gabriela, Brayden, Griffin, Jacob and Kayla. He also leaves a brother, Winston (Susanne) Griepp, a sister-in-law, Marya (first wife of Darrell), and treasured nieces and nephews Weston, Natalie, Freedom, Sky, (Rain passed away as a young child), Nicole, Chad and Angie.

A Celebration of Life will be held in Spokane on April 11, 2026 at 2 PM at Colbert Presbyterian Church, 4211 E. Colbert Road, Colbert, WA, 99005. Memorial gifts may be made to Colbert Presbyterian Church