Virginia Pellegrini radiated warmth, wit
Writing was one of Mrs. Pellegrini's passions. So was reading. In her four decades as a club member, she helped script skits for the club's drama group and led book reviews for other members at the club's red-brick building at Sixth Avenue and Spring Street.
"She was a very creative and bright writer. She had lots of wit," said the club's executive manager, Judy Donnelly, an employee there for 24 years.
Donnelly said Mrs. Pellegrini wrote an article about the club "that is probably the most endearing piece we've ever had. She had a radiant smile that was very magnetic. She was soft-spoken, very ladylike. She always had a kind word to say to everyone that she met."
Mrs. Pellegrini died Thursday of complications suffered after she fell and broke her hip at her home about a week earlier, said her son, Brent Pellegrini. She was 94.
Mrs. Pellegrini was born May 27, 1910, in Spokane and grew up in Salt Lake City, said her son. She moved to Seattle to attend the University of Washington, where she met the man she was to marry, Angelo Pellegrini.
A noted University of Washington English professor, Angelo Pellegrini in 2001 was named one of the 150 most influential men and women in the 150-year history of Seattle and King County. He died in 1991.
While she didn't have the same types of achievements as her husband, such as publishing books, Mrs. Pellegrini was a remarkable woman in her own right, said her son, and remained active and alert until her death.
She stopped driving only about eight months ago. And she still attended sessions at the WUC in drama, poetry and book discussions and continued to read newspapers, he noted.
"What she really enjoyed was just talking and meeting everyone," said Brent Pellegrini. "She just connected with everyone she met. She had this empathy and she listened."
Mrs. Pellegrini also had an ability to not take life too seriously.
In a 1991 memoir, she recalled the early years of her marriage.
"As the wife of a man with the reputation of gourmet cook, I'm often asked my view of a man's place in the kitchen, especially my man's place in the kitchen," she wrote. "I have responded to these queries with sly evasions. After a half century I feel compelled to confess that to share one's kitchen with one's husband is indeed a mixed blessing."
Mrs. Pellegrini also once recalled how she and her husband moved to the View Ridge area of Seattle during World War II, when housing demand was high, and bought a half-finished house for $6,000, minus $500 for landscaping they agreed to do themselves.
Angelo Pellegrini then spent hundreds of hours removing clay from their yard to build a vegetable garden that later was featured in some of his books.
Mrs. Pellegrini remembered a cloud of dust as she pushed a baby buggy across the development's dirt roads. Later the residents pooled their money and had the dirt oiled, which meant black gunk was tracked into their homes.
"In terms of urban living, it was fairly primitive," she wrote.
The Pellegrinis continued to live in the home, with three bedrooms and one bathroom, for the rest of their lives, and Mrs. Pellegrini once recalled that they never felt a need to move, with no regrets about where they chose to grow old together.
"We were very fortunate," she said.
A memorial service for Mrs. Pellegrini will be held at the Women's University Club at 10:30 a.m. July 31.
Besides her son, Brent, of Seattle, Mrs. Pellegrini is survived by two daughters, Angela Owens of Seattle and Toni Lucey of Chestnut Hill, Pa., and six grandchildren.
Charles E. Brown: 206-464-2206 or cbrown@seattletimes.com
Peyton Whitely, 206-464-2259 or pwhitely@seattletimes.com