The Heroines

Virginia Simpson

is honored with a Medium Paver from Patricia Bernhard.

 Virginia  Simpson All of her life, Virginia Simpson, was called Mike or Mikie. She attended Wichita State University for two years. But then she married and moved to Norman, Oklahoma, where her husband was enrolled at the University of Oklahoma. She continued her college education there but only for one year because the next year the first of her three children was born.

At the age of 39, Mike suffered two strokes and had to have brain surgery. After much effort, she overcame all this except for partial paralysis on her left side. She was able to walk with a brace on her leg and the use of a cane, but had little use of her left arm. When her children finished high school, she returned to college at the University of Texas at Permian Basin (Midland, Texas) to work toward her degree in Accounting. Except for a "B" in office machinery, she maintained an "A" average. Before she was able to complete her degree, she passed away in 1976 at the age of 45.

Jean LoRee, her oldest daughter, has only two years of college but occasionally takes a night course at UTBS. Jacqueline Sue got her degree at Wichita State University, finishing it at night school after she married Roger Stevens. Mary Michele (known as Mikie), Jacki's twin, earned her degree at Texas Tech.

September 5, 1998