Former Village Nursery School director, children’s advocate
Virginia Locke. (Courtesy photo)
Virginia Locke, 88, passed away peacefully Oct. 5, 2008, in San Rafael, Calif. She was a devoted and very much loved mother, grandmother, great-grandmother, teacher, and friend to all who knew her.
Virginia and her husband of 42 years, the late Kermit A. Locke, raised three children in Harvard, where she served for more than 20 years as director and head teacher at the Village Nursery School and Kindergarten. She also served two terms as a member of the Harvard School Committee and was active in many programs for children, including the Girl Scouts, the Cub Scouts, the Massachusetts Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children, and the Massachusetts Office for Children.
During retirement following her husband’s death, Virginia became a member of the Saint Francis of Peace Fraternity of the Secular Franciscan Order of the Catholic Church. She remained active until recent years in programs for children and the needy. Throughout her life, she continued her love, devotion, and support for her children, grandchildren, great-grandchildren, and friends.
Virginia was born Oct. 30, 1919 in Cambridge, the third of four children of Stephen and Agnes Keefe. She grew up in a loving family with parents strong in their faith in God, supportive of their children, and devoted to each other. She was valedictorian of her Arlington High School class and editor-in-chief of the school newspaper. She later graduated from the Eliot-Pearson School of Early Childhood Education at Tufts University.
She is survived by two daughters, Martha J. Totaro of Rocklin, Calif., and Carole A. Dollar of Eufaula, Okla.; a son, Christopher Locke of San Anselmo, Calif.; a brother, Stephen T. Keefe Jr., of Prescott, Ariz.; six grandchildren, and 10 great-grandchildren.
Memorial services will be held at Bellevue Cemetery, Still River Road in Harvard, at 10:30 a.m. Oct. 22, and at 10 a.m. Oct. 24 at Our Lady of Victory Church, 230 South Main St. in Centerville.
Donations in lieu of flowers can be made in her memory to the Eliot-Pearson Department of Child Development, Attn: Sarah Jung, Tufts University, 105 College Ave., Medford, MA 02155; or Nazareth House, 245 Nova Albion Way, San Rafael, California 94903. (Reference “In memory of Virginia Locke.”)
