Virginia Julander Schoenfeld died peacefully in her daughter Marsha Hamblin’s home in Delta, Utah, on December 31st, 2021. She was born September 26, 1928 at Brooklyn, Utah, between Elsinore and Monroe, to Blanche Sophia Johnson Julander and Virgil Julander. She grew up in the Monroe / Richfield area where she hunted, fished, and played with her siblings, cousins, and friends. She had many happy memories on Monroe mountain where her dad owned property and operated a small logging business.
After high school she moved to Kanab, Utah and worked as a waitress at Peaches restaurant. It was there she met Julian Kenneth Schoenfeld, recently returned from WWII. They fell in love and married on July 2nd, 1947 in Salt Lake City, Utah. Together they built a log cabin home across the street from Kenneth’s parents in Kanab and immediately started bringing four active children, Kenneth Dale, Judith Ann, Marsha Kay, and Michael Anthony, into the world. At one point she tied a rope between her and her eldest toddler, Dale, so she could help shingle the roof of their cabin. Family was always a priority to her. She remained a devoted wife and mother throughout her life.
‘Virgie’ liked to stay busy. She loved working with youth. She sponsored a 4-H club for many years and served in the Primary and Scouting programs of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints. She also served as a dance director for the youth in Mutual. Although the family lived in Phoenix, Glendale, and Prescott, Arizona, Kanab remained the home base.
She had a strong work ethic and always worked. In Prescott she worked in a variety store and at the Prescott courthouse. In Kanab, she waitressed at Peaches and was a secretary for Farmers Insurance and the Assessor’s Office at the Kanab courthouse. She worked for many years at the Kanab Hospital and care center and as an EMT with the ambulance.
Virginia enjoyed learning new things. She was an avid reader, especially of murder mysteries. She had wanted to be an Army pilot but never got the chance. She became, however, a member of the Sheriff’s Posse and emergency services, and as an EMT she rode with patients in the transport helicopters and airplanes. She hunted, swam, bowled, and was a crack shot with a rifle and pistol. Raised as a farm girl and always having a strong independent spirit, she canned fruits and vegetables, made cheese and butter from Aunt Blanche’s cow’s milk, managed an extensive garden, and usually had several pets.
She loved to express herself through craft art. She quilted, knitted, tatted, crocheted, embroidered, and made beautiful ceramics using her own kiln, the results of which she generously distributed to her family and friends. She left a legacy of beautiful wool afghans, blankets, and ceramic nativity sets and other. She spun her own wool from a spinning wheel Kenneth hand made for her. For a time, she raised Angora rabbits for the use of their soft fur. Being the matriarch of a musical family, she was surrounded by music and supported her family in it. She even drove her youngest son, Michael (Tony) to ‘gigs’ before he could legally drive himself. She also took violin lessons and played the autoharp.
Virginia loved to travel and to visit her children across the country and the world. She was a lifelong, active member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints. She took her own endowments at the Bern Switzerland Temple in Zollikofen, Switzerland while visiting her daughter Judy Schoenfeld Gautier.
She is preceded in death by her husband, Julian Kenneth Schoenfeld, and her eldest son, Kenneth Dale Schoenfeld. She is survived by her children, Judith Ann Schoenfeld Gautier and husband Andre Gautier, Marsha Kay Hamblin (husband Joe Dell Hamblin deceased), and Michael Anthony Schoenfeld (wife Luann Rhenda Schoenfeld deceased), nine grandchildren, twenty-five great grandchildren, and ten great-great grandchildren.
Funeral services will be held at the Kaibab Stake Center in Kanab, Utah at 1:00 p.m. on January 15th. There will be a viewing at noon. Interment will be at the Kanab Cemetery. Contact Mosdell Mortuary for more details.