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, 96, of Superior and Tempe, Arizona, passed away on Sept. 17, 2015 at Friendship Village, where she resided for the past 10 years.
Virginia was born on May 26, 1919, to Eduard and Jessie Lepley, a farm family in Gifford, Iowa, during the Depression, the eldest of four children: Iona, Eddie and Kathleen. After graduating from Cornell Teachers College in Iowa, Virginia borrowed $50 from the local bank and traveled west to Morenci, Arizona to her first teaching job.
While teaching in Tucson she met her future husband, John Mitchell, through her assistant, John’s sister, Anise. Virginia and John spent their life together raising a family in Superior. Virginia and John owned and operated two retail clothing stores, one in Superior, and the other in San Manuel, where they partnered with John’s sister, Adele. Virginia was dedicated to community service, an ever-curious and avid reader, an accomplished quilter, an enthusiastic teacher, and an adventurous world traveler.
At age 54, she earned a Master’s Degree from Arizona State University on the same night that her daughter received her Bachelor’s Degree in Washington, D.C. Two of her most prized accomplishments were her induction into the Superior High School Hall of Fame and her 63-year membership in Beta Sigma Phi.
John’s mother, Nazha Tibshraeny, the family matriarch, was born in Lebanon and Virginia adopted that Middle Eastern culture as her own, including becoming an accomplished cook of Lebanese delicacies. John and Virginia’s house in Superior was often home base for family celebrations including John’s other siblings, Rose, Espear, Adele, Anis, Anise, Alice, Helen and their families.
Virginia is survived by her three children, John Jr. and his wife Debra Conrardy Mitchell of Mesa, Jessica and her husband, David Fleischer, of New York City, and Michael and his wife, Lee Ellen Banks of El Paso, Texas; her grandchildren, Matthew Mitchell of Irvine, California, Emma Fleischer of West Hollywood, California, Derek Mitchell of Dallas, Texas, Alex Mitchell of Istanbul, Turkey, and a great grandchild, Johnny Mitchell.
A Celebration of Virginia’s life will take place on Friday, Oct. 9, 2015 at 10 a.m. at Skirm Auditorium at Friendship Village, 2645 E. Southern Ave. in Tempe, Arizona. She will be interred in a private family ceremony in the Superior Cemetery. In lieu of flowers, memorial donations can be made to the Boyce Thompson Arboretum, 37615 East US Highway 60, Superior, Arizona 85273 or www.arboretum.ag.arizona.
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