Virginia Lee Adams, known to her friends as “Virg,” passed away peacefully on April 4, 2023 in Grass Valley, CA following several years of declining health. She was 98 years old.
Virginia was born on May 29,1924 in Stockton CA and moved to San Jose with her family as a child. It is in San Jose where in high school she met Gordon Adams and the two were married during WWII. They remained married for more than sixty years until Gordon’s death in 2006.
Virginia was a fashion model during her adult life, an active member of the San Jose Women’s Club, and also worked as an accountant at San Jose Water Works and her husband’s business, Modern Office Machines Company in San Jose. She was an accomplished oil paint artist and later excelled at China painting.
But she was best known for truly being a loving and caring soul; and her role as a loving mom to her two sons, Daniel and James. She was the “June Cleaver” of Valley View Avenue, the mom who welcomed all the neighborhood kids … in the summer hauling out sodas, chips, and hot dogs poolside to kids there for an afternoon of swimming. And in the winter, having hot cookies and warm buttered San Francisco sourdough French bread after school for whoever showed up. It is not surprising that many considered her their second mom.
She was also an accomplished gourmet cook and known for the exquisite parties she and Gordon would host, from large Fourth of July barbecues to elaborate holiday feasts, a role she continued as she and Gordon moved to Nevada City in the late 1980s. She was also an avid traveler, discovering the world by land and sea, a passion she continued to enjoy even after Gordon died, accompanied by her boys and their spouses. She, along with others, appropriately view her as “the life of the party.”
She is survived by her two sons, Daniel (Palm Springs) and James (Nevada City); four grandchildren, Stephan, Ryan, Lindsay, and Jason; and four great grandchildren.
Remembrances/celebration of life will be held Tuesday, April 11, 2023 at 2:00PM at Hooper and Weaver Mortuary in Nevada City.
In lieu of flowers, she requested that donations be made to the Shriners Children’s Hospital in Sacramento.