Virginia K. Wendt, 91

Virginia Wendt

Zumbrota Virginia Krahling Wendt, age 91, of Zumbrota, died peacefully Dec. 24, 2017 at the Zumbrota Care Center. She was born July 26, 1926 in Sheldon, Iowa, to William and Mabel (Buren) Krahling. She graduated from Sheldon High School and in 1948 graduated from Augustan College in Sioux Falls, South Dakota, with a teaching degree. She began her teaching career in Mountain Lake, and then moved on to teach in Blue Earth. There she met and married Donald Wendt in 1949 and became a homemaker raising their five children on the farm in Blue Earth and later in Zumbrota, where they moved in 1966. They later divorced.

Virginia worked as a substitute teacher into the 1970s. She later moved to Rochester and enjoyed teaching at St. Mary’s Hospital where she made many new friends. Throughout the years Virginia enjoyed playing the piano. She occasionally played the organ at her church in Blue Earth and Zumbrota. Her favorite piano music was Moonlight Sonata which she learned in eighth grade. Virginia was an accomplished seamstress sewing many of her own and family’s clothes. She enjoyed baking. She loved to travel taking trips to Spain, Scotland, the Panama Canal, the intercostal waterways of the East Coast as well as trips to Florida. She also traveled to California, to visit her brother’s family, Texas to visit her daughter’s family, Nevada to visit her son, and parts in between. Virginia was always eager to attend any family reunion and any and all class reunions near and far. She loved to read and in her later years reading became her passion.

Virginia is survived by her children, Jim (Connie) Wendt, of Zumbrota, Steve (Sue) Wendt, of Owatonna, Keith Wendt (Ivan Serrano), of Las Vegas, Nevada, Jean (Jim) Holton, of Dallas, Georgia and Barb Wendt (Steve Kania), of New Hope; six grandchildren and four great-grandchildren; along with her sister-in-law Bernice Krahling, of San Raphael, California, and many nieces and nephews.

Virginia was preceded in death by her parents and brother, Buren Krahling.

Virginia was loved by many and will be missed deeply by her family and close friends who will always remember her as a strong independent and assertive woman willing to share her opinion on most any subject.

A memorial service was held at the First Congregational United Church of Christ in Zumbrota, on Wednesday Dec. 27, 2017.

A graveside service will be held in George, Iowa, at a later date.

Memorials are preferred to the First Congregational United Church of Christ or donors choice.