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, 80, longtime resident of Flagstaff, passed away on June 29, 2015, following a long-term illness. He was born in Fergus Falls, Minnesota on September 18, 1934. Virgil lived on three different farms in Minnesota before moving to Coolidge, AZ in 1945 with his mother and step-father. They later settled in Superior, AZ in 1948, where he met his wife, Annette J. Weigand (Tomerlin) and started his career with Mountain States Telephone and Telegraph. Virgil and Annette were married in 1954 and moved to Flagstaff AZ in 1956, where he resided at the time of his passing.
Virgil was passionate about his long career as a Teletype Specialist. He traveled throughout Arizona, working on telephone lines from the time of the rotary phones to the digital phones we use today. After retiring in 1987, he started his own business, VRW Communications, where he worked in the Flagstaff area and often at the Wahweep Lodge in Page, AZ.
Anyone that knew Virgil knows he loved food and would insistently feed anyone, oftentimes a grilled steak or homemade ice cream at family cookouts. During his wife’s career as a first grade teacher, he would frequently make chocolate milkshakes for students at Kinsey Elementary School; a memory past students share with the family. He also dearly loved animals and enjoyed bird watching.
Virgil is survived by his beloved wife, Annette; two children, Timothy and Gary Sr.; four grandchildren, Christi, Gary Jr., Nathan and Cole Lockwood; two sisters-in-law, Margaret (John) Clayborn and Sherry Tomerlin, and many other family and friends. Virgil is preceded in death by his mother Martha and father Ernest who untimely passed when Virgil was one year old.
A memorial will be held from 2-6 p.m. on July 25 at the Weigand household at 3505 S. Yaqui Dr. in Flagstaff.
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