Virginia Rufner

Virginia Moseley Rufner passed away early Wednesday morning, November 20, 2019, with her devoted husband of 45 years, Gary, steadfastly holding her hand. Virginia was a first-born daughter, an eldest sister, a devoted wife, a caring mother of two, a skilled legal secretary, an accomplished softball player, an occasional baseball coach, an opportunistic world traveler, and a person who appreciated and cultivated a life of love and family. Within her family Virginia was the emblem of strength. Despite suffering the painful slings and arrows of body-wide cancer, she remained resilient and an infinite source of support and love. She always reveled in the successes of her husband and sons, conveying pride far beyond what she showed at her own achievements. She was the paragon of a loving mother. Virginia was a force of nature. She was impressive. She was smart yet inquisitive, strong but also emotional, and she was unfailingly kind to animals. Her love of cats is legendary, as she owned and cared for almost a dozen feline family members over the years. She loved each cat’s personality, and she often called up cherished memories of Tiffany, Sir, Missy, Shilly, CJ, Maggie, Bubba, TC, Rudy, and Ellie. Virginia was a learner. With unflinching determination and expert time-management – plus a little help in Astronomy class – she worked to finish her college degree, more than three decades after starting it. She was a vastly intelligent person who knew the value of asking questions, and the importance of skeptically evaluating the answers. Virginia was a traveler. She especially loved cruises, and she and Gary took them regularly to travel the Caribbean, the St. Lawrence River, Bermuda, or either coast of Mexico. In 2018, she organized a five-day vacation to Iceland in hopes of seeing the Northern Lights, which she did – twice. In September of 2019, Virginia planned a 10-day family vacation to Alaska, the memories of which will last a lifetime. When at home in Centreville, she delighted in sitting on the swinging bench on the covered porch, looking out into the woods and making comments about what the squirrels were doing. She spent her final summer residing in her long-awaited second home, overlooking the waters of a Southwest Florida canal. She took great joy in watching what swam by and telling everyone about it. Virginia was a pillar of her family. Every holiday season, the entire family looked forward to playing the games she would invent for the big gathering. Laughter and fun were invariably the results. She was clever and funny, and she enjoyed it when others were the same. In her last photograph, she insisted on sipping milk while her family posed around her, just for the comedic effect. She loved it. Virginia, a.k.a. Mom, is terribly missed. She is survived by her cat Puma, her husband Gary, of Centreville, Va., her son Jason and daughter-in-law Tara, both of Centreville, Va., and her son Chris, of Spring, Tx. Her two sisters, Nancy-Lynn Wilson of Fairfax, Va., and Barbara Moseley of Rixeyville, Va., miss their older sister very much. A Memorial Service will be held on Saturday, December 7, 2019 at 10:00 AM at Saint Andrew Lutheran Church, 14640 Soucy Place, Centreville, VA 20120. Following the Memorial Service, the Rufner Family invites all mourners to gather at the family home: 6620 Smiths Trace Centreville, VA 20120 In lieu of flowers, Virginia requested that memorial donations be made to help cats in foster care with Animal Allies at P.O. Box 7040, Fairfax Station, VA 22039-7040, telephone 703-940-9183, website AnimalAlliesVA.org/donate, so that more cats might be loved the way Virginia would love them. Please sign the guestbook at www.bakerpostfh.com.