Virginia May Napoleone

Virginia M Napoleone of Albuquerque/Rio Rancho, New Mexico passed away peacefully on August 23, 2024, and was preceded in death by her Mother Marguerite A Napoleone, Father Anthony L Napoleone, Sister Ida Diana Napoleone-Montbrand, Brother-in-Law Roland J Montbrand, her nephew Gordon "Skip" L Brady and great-niece Desiree M Garcia. She is survived by her niece Sandra K Montbrand-Brady and her two dogs Sophia and Ginger, her nephew Ronald J Montbrand and his wife Marie Oakleaf-Montbrand; nephew Anthony R Montbrand and his wife Susan M Bitney-Montbrand, her great-niece Heather R Montbrand-Smith, her husband Casey Smith and her great-great-niece Haven R Smith and her great-nephew Anthony R Montbrand, his wife Courtney Grable-Montbrand and her great-great-nephews Anthony R Monbrand and Kyler R Montbrand and great-great-niece Claire R Montbrand, and her nephew Richard R Montbrand and wife Lorre Garcia, and Desiree's children Isabell and Joshua Tyree.

Virginia lived an exciting and magnificent 94 years. Shortly after her birth, there was the Wall Street Crash of 1929 which wiped out $30 billion from the New York City Stock Exchange which ushered in the Great Depression. Other major events during her live were trains, cars and commercial Airline Service, the New Deal, WWII, the Atomic Age, television both black and white and color, telephone party-lines to handheld cell phone the size of your palm, extraterrestrials in Roswell, Sputnik the first artificial earth satellite, the space race, landing on the moon in 1969, space shuttle, and the International Space Station, hot air and gas ballooning in Albuquerque, Presidential assassination, and growth throughout Albuquerque and throughout the State of New Mexico.

Virginia graduated from Albuquerque High and played both the flute and piccolo in the marching band, she attended UNM and Western School for Secretaries. Her first and only job for 42 years was Secretary/Office Manager at PF McCanna Inc, a Real Estate and Insurance company. She served as President of the National Association of Insurance Women (1963-1964) attending conferences in Denver, Colorado, and Dallas, Texas, not to mention New York City and the New York World Fair in 1963. It was such a wonderful experience. The following year she took her mother, father, niece Sandra and nephew Ronald to New York City, the New York World Fair, Niagara Falls, and then travelled to Washington DC.

Virginia enjoyed traveling with mother, father, and sister to California, seeing both the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans, the Redwoods, Yosemite, Yellowstone, San Diego, Los Angeles, Seatle/British Columbia, vacationing at her uncle's cabin with the family at El Vado Lake, and especially the family cabin in Horseshoe Spring, Jemez Springs where she served on the Horseshoe Springs Association board as Secretary/Treasurer and received a couple of "Permittee of the Year" awards in recognition of her service. She would go fishing with her dad Tony, Roland, Sandra, Ronald, Anthony, and Richard. When she retired, her boss sent her to Hawaii along with her sister Diana and her niece joined them for a week vacation traveling all around Oahu and Kauai. She was always ready to go on any adventure, whether it was to Juarez, Mexico with her aunts back in the 1960's or with her family at the local casinos, Las Vegas, NV, a houseboat on the Lake Mohave on the Colorado River, and camping in a 5th Wheel trailer camping in Williams, AZ for the Polar Express, Flagstaff, AZ, Dolores, CO, Mesa Verde, City of Rocks State Park, Christmas on the Pecos, Chama, Red River, and she thoroughly enjoy traveling to Buc'ees on the way to South Dakota at 94 to see Mount Rushmore and Deadwood with her buggy, and all other adventures not mentioned.