Virginia Ware Stowe, 95, a resident of Tenafly from 1963-2005 and church historian in the 1980s and 1990s, died July 20, 2018 in Ephrata, PA.

Mrs. Stowe, born in Milwaukee, WI in 1923, grew up in the Los Angeles area. As a young woman she was a skilled pianist and school leader, the 2nd “girl” elected president of her high school in Alhambra, CA. She entered Occidental College as a 16 year old and was elected to Phi Beta Kappa. Following her graduation in 1943, she married the love of her life, David M. Stowe, with whom she shared 56 years of happy married life until his death in 2000.

She and David spent 1947-1950 in China as missionaries commissioned by the American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions, now Global Ministries of the United Church of Christ (UCC). She subsequently accompanied David to jobs in Minnesota, Boston, Beirut, Lebanon, and ultimately Tenafly, NJ where she renovated her historic home, raised four children, and became a pillar of her local church and community. She served as a president of the local Church Women United and on Tenafly’s historic preservation committee. After David’s retirement from the UCC world mission board, she became the unofficial archivist and historian of the board, founder of the David M. Stowe Mission Fund at Yale Divinity School, and a resource person for numerous UCC leaders.

She is survived by four loving children (Nancy Stowe Inui, Elizabeth Hambrick-Stowe, Priscilla Hoffman-Stowe, and David Ware Stowe) and their partners, eight grandchildren, 5 great-grandchildren, and many relatives and friends. Her life will be celebrated at a memorial service on November 10, 2018 from 10 am-12 pm at the chapel of the Newton Cemetery, 79 Walnut St., Newton Centre, MA. Her ashes will be interred in the American Board missionary plot at the Newton Cemetery.

Source: Record, The (Hackensack, NJ) – Thursday, August 9, 2018