Virginia May Stroh, 84

Virginia May Stroh, 84, of Woodstock, Ill., passed away Saturday, Jan. 9, 2021, at Northwestern Medicine-McHenry from complications of COVID-19 along with other health challenges. 

Virginia (Ginny) was born in Hawley, Minn., on May 26, 1936, to Alois and Norma (Gaenzle) Vorgert. She attended grade school in Urbank, Minn., and graduated from Parkers Prairie High School in 1953. After attending the Minnesota College of Business in Minneapolis, she worked for Kaiser Aluminum in the Twin Cities. 

At a dance in Alexandria, Minn., she met the love of her life, Alfred Stroh, and they married on Oct. 19, 1957, at the Sacred Heart Catholic Church in Urbank, Minn. They settled on a 200-acre family farm in Millerville, Minn., and started their family. They lived there until 1968, when they moved their three children and their dairy herd to Woodstock to begin their new life on a 524-acre farmstead. 

She was a devoted and hardworking farm wife who took great pride in her expansive vegetable and flower gardens. She was an excellent seamstress and always kept busy with “projects.” She was never afraid of rolling up her sleeves and getting her hands dirty. After she and Alfred were introduced to square dancing, she created many beautiful dance dresses for herself and matching shirts for him. They eventually learned ballroom and round dancing and enjoyed attending large dance gatherings around northern Illinois with fellow dance couples, many who became their lifelong friends. 

She worked as a bookkeeper at Tidy Rug and as a secretary at Harding Real Estate and State Bank of Woodstock. She took tender care of all the farm animals – except those pesky squirrels – but was especially fond of cats, even breeding and raising Persian cats at one time. 

After her husband’s death, she moved back to Minnesota and became a “snowbird,” wintering in Mesa, Ariz. She never missed an opportunity to get dressed up to go out socializing or dancing with other snowbirds from Minnesota, some of whom were treasured friends she had grown up with. 

As health issues began to plague her, she moved back to Woodstock in 2013 to be closer to her children. She remained fiercely independent and loved nothing more than to be outside in the sun tending to her yard and flowers. 

Ginny is survived her son, Robert Martin Stroh (Elizabeth Stanek), and daughter, Fay Marie (Alan) Wilson, both of Woodstock; siblings, Phyllis (Roger) Ericksen of Andover, Minn., and Gladys (Paul) Jobe of Alexandria, Minn.; grandchildren, Mark, Ellie, Alexandra, and Benjamin Stroh and Hannah Wilson; brother- and sisters-in-law, Ben and Kathleen Stroh and Betty (Neil) Ostlund of Minnesota; and many nieces and nephews. 

She is preceded in death by her parents; her husband, Alfred Anthony, in 1985; and her son, Mark Alfred, in 1992. 

Because of COVID restrictions, a private funeral mass will take place at St. Patrick Catholic Church in Hartland, with burial at the church cemetery. In lieu of flowers, please consider making a donation to a charity of your choice in Ginny’s name. 

For online condolences, visit slmcfh.com or call Schneider, Leucht, Merwin & Cooney Funeral Home at 815-338-1710 for more information