Virginia Fenwick (born Vincenza Adenzia Maria Saitta) passed away on Monday, January 2, 2023, at the age of 87.
Born on December 16, 1935, to Pasquale Saitta and Antonina (Lena) Sacco in Brooklyn, New York, she grew up in Brooklyn, and was adored by her family and friends, who called her “Dolly.”
A talented singer, she was “discovered” by a radio talent agent while singing on her front steps. The talent agent convinced her parents to let her ride the train from Brooklyn into Manhattan by herself every Saturday where she sang on the Wally Jackson radio show. As she approached high school, her teachers recommended her for the newly formed High School of Performing Arts (which later became the famous Fiorello H. LaGuardia High School).
Her family moved to Clintondale, New York and she spent the rest of her life in the Hudson Valley. She graduated from Highland High School in 1953 and went to work at the Filomen M. D’Agostino Greenberg Music School of the NYC Lighthouse for the Blind.
In 1957 she married her high school sweetheart, Kenneth Craig, in Brooklyn, NY and they had a daughter, Allison. They later divorced.
After the birth of her daughter Virginia went to work for IBM where she became a personnel manager and spearheaded IBM’s first Equal Opportunity for Women program. She was an early feminist, a champion for women’s rights, and a role model for other women at IBM.
In 1967 she married the love of her life Richard Fenwick. They spent 45 happy years together, traveling, entertaining, and attending concerts and plays.
Virginia was a lifelong student and a voracious reader of the classics, history, politics, science, and medicine. She loved Shakespeare and Beethoven and filled her home with music. She was an outstanding cook, from a long line of outstanding Sicilian cooks, and she created many memorable meals for friends and family.
Virginia is survived by her daughter, Allison (Stuart) Ober, her stepsons, Richard (Nancy) Fenwick, and Paul Fenwick, her grandchildren Alexander Ober, Bradley Fenwick, Tayler (Carl Ballesteros) Fenwick, and Erik (Diana) Berlin, her great-grandchildren, Cooper Berlin and Bentley Berlin, and Denise Martin whom she loved like a granddaughter. She is also survived by her nephews Joseph (Pamela) Saitta and Pat Saitta, and her niece Christina Saitta.
She was predeceased by her husband Richard Fenwick and her brother Vincent Saitta.
Arrangements have been made by the William G. Miller and Son Funeral Home, Poughkeepsie, NY. A celebration of Virginia’s life will take place on Saturday, January 14, 2023, at 11:00 a.m., in the Chapel at the Poughkeepsie Rural Cemetery with the burial immediately following. The family would like to acknowledge the outstanding and compassionate care Virginia received from the doctors and nurses of Northern Dutchess Hospital, Rhinebeck, NY, and the nurses and aides of the Thompson House, Rhinebeck, NY. In lieu of flowers, memorial donations in the name of Virginia Fenwick may be made to Planned Parenthood or the Lupus Research Alliance. If you would like to send an online condolence, please visit our website at www.wmgmillerfuneralhome.com