Obituary: Virginia Eloise (Greenwell) Loy

Virginia Eloise (Greenwell) Loy

1927 - 2022

Virginia Eloise (Greenwell) Loy passed away at home with family by her side on Monday evening, December 5, 2022, at age 95.

Virginia was born on May 29, 1927, in Clemenceau (now part of Cottonwood), Yavapai County, Arizona to Kenneth Joseph Greenwell and Della (Purtymun) Greenwell. Kenneth, born in 1904, worked in the United Verde Extension smelter, which had recently been constructed in Clemenceau. Della, also born in 1904, was a homemaker from the pioneering Oak Creek Canyon Thompson and Purtymun families. Virginia was raised on the Greenwell Ranch on Oak Creek and attended the one-room Oak Creek school in Cornville from 1934 to 1941 with her future husband Robert Loy. She graduated from Clarkdale High School as the 1945 salutatorian. Virginia received her Bachelor of Science degree from the University of Minnesota in 1949 and married Robert on June 30, 1951.

Virginia and Robert went on to raise a family of five children and shared 67 wonderful years of marriage with time spent in Tempe, Arizona, Madison, Wisconsin, Davis, California, and Lexington, Kentucky.

Virginia and Robert maintained strong connections to their Verde Valley heritage and eventually returned to their roots along Oak Creek, where they spent their final years surrounded by family and the beauty of the Verde Valley.

Virginia sought beauty in life, loved art in all its forms and had an affinity for nature. She was a life-time learner, read widely on many topics and placed a high value on education. The family has many fond memories of her. A favorite quote of hers from Reinhold Niebuhr was, “Nothing that is worth doing can be achieved in our lifetime; therefore, we must be saved by hope. …Nothing we do, however virtuous, can be accomplished alone; therefore, we are saved by love. No virtuous act is quite as virtuous from the standpoint of our friend or foe as it is from our standpoint; therefore, we must be saved by the final form of love, which is forgiveness.”

Virginia was preceded in death by her husband, Robert, and is survived by her five children, Beverly Raskin, Janet Loy-Heydorn (Brian), Kenneth Loy (Carin), Robin Shambach (David) and Phyllis McDaniel (Dan), nine grandchildren and three great-grandchildren.

The family held a private service at her wishes. Donations in her memory can be made to merwinconservancy.org.

Information provided by the family.