Virginia Francesca Fry

March 24, 1922 - June 14, 2012

Virginia Francesca Fry March 24, 1922 ~ June 14, 2012 PACIFIC GROVE - Virginia F. Fry was born in Newton, Massachusetts but grew up in Pasadena, California. She married Fred X. Fry, Jr., M.D. from Pacific Grove in 1947 and moved to the Peninsula in 1954. Widowed in 1966 with four young children to care for, she commuted to San Jose State University, graduating with High Honors. Her part-time job as a biology lab technician at Monterey Peninsula Community College (MPC) became full time at her graduation. In 1971, the State of California conferred on her a master's degree equivalent in Fine Art, and California Community College life teaching credentials for fine art and biology. In 1971 she became a member of MPC's full-time faculty, teaching biology until she retired in June 1986. She continued to teach an occasional class in Environmental Science or Biology at MPC until 1998. Virginia was also an artist and became an active member of the Carmel Art Association in 1960. She was very passionate about her community and served on a variety of boards and commissions. She was a board member of the Carmel Art Association, a City of Monterey Planning Commissioner and served on Monterey's Architectural Review Committee twice. She was the first woman, and first non-pilot, elected to the Monterey Peninsula Airport District Board in 1977. She was a member of the Fort Ord Restoration Advisory Board, the Fort Ord Coordinated Resource Management and Planning Team and served on the Fort Ord Technical Review Committee. In 1979, while at Cornell University on sabbatical from MPC, she authored a biology laboratory manual for Saunder's College Publishing that became one of the most widely used biology lab books in the U.S. and still continues to sell. She wrote several other ancillary biology manuals published by Saunders, the most recent in 1994 - An Instructor's Guide to Environmental Science - to accompany an Environmental Science college text written by well-known biology textbook author, Karen Arms. She also completed a book about a year-long trip traveling around the country in a motor home with her dog Ted. She is survived by her daughter, Christine (and Kim) Appleberry; her grandson, Benjamin (and Elsa) Loftis and her great-grandson, Maxwell Feiring Loftis. She was preceded in death by her husband, Fred X. Fry, Jr., MD; her daughter, Lindsey T. Fry; sons, Peter M. and Christopher J. Fry; and daughter-in-law, Jennifer Fry. The family would like her friends and colleagues to join us for a reception, where we will all be sharing stories and memories of Virginia, on Saturday, August 4, 2012 in the Sam Karas Room at Monterey Peninsula College from 2:00 to 5:00 PM. Friends who wish to remember Virginia with a gift may make contributions to the Monterey Peninsula College Foundation, Virginia F. Fry Scholarship Fund. Please call 831-655-5507 for details. The family would like to especially thank the extraordinary staff at the Pacific Grove Convalescent Hospital for their loving care of Virginia. The relationships they shared with her were lively, playful, genuine and loving.