Virginia Anne Stocco

Virginia Anne Stocco was born in Canora, Saskatchewan but spent most of her life in New Westminster BC, with a brief stint in Brisbane Australia. Virginia (aka Ma) played a central role in her family which included her current and prior spouses, Giacomo and Carlo, her daughter Nina, her son Leo, and her grandsons Jake and Joey. She simultaneously had unwavering pride in her Russian/Doukhobor heritage, while embracing the “Stocco” surname with such determination, she adopted it twice.

Her athletic accomplishments earned her a place with the Junior Red Cross at the coronation of Queen Elizabeth II in 1953, but her true calling was summoned by her career as an Art and English teacher.

Even in her latter years, she could more easily cite obscure vocabulary, than the name of the person sitting right in front of her. Her natural artistic talent, paired with an insatiable hunger for intellectual stimulation, manifested in a range of abilities that spanned everything from architecture and interior design to culinary arts, to hand‐drawn caricatures worthy of publication. A life‐long interest in healthy and creative cooking was rivaled only by a similar obsession with the systematic perfection of the pastries and other masterpieces that regularly emerged from her oven, and whose quality was surpassed only by serving size. She loved her cats, and they loved her back, so much so, they had no love left for anyone else. When she felt strongly about something, she had a way with words that left nothing up to the imagination and was a strong believer in the persuasive power of repetition. If she had one weakness, outside of an irrational fear of snakes, it was a complete lack of patience for anyone who showed disregard for proper grammar, but let’s just keep that between you and ME.

The family would like to express their gratitude to all the doctors, nurses, and support staff who tended to her at the Royal Columbian Hospital, and who made her transition as natural, as painless, and as dignified as they did. In keeping with her wishes, an informal family gathering will be held in place of a formal service. In lieu of flowers, please make a donation to the BC SPCA to commemorate Virginia’s undying love and compassion for animals.