The Buckeyes lost a huge fan, and I lost a storyteller, and more importantly a friend, with the passing of Virginia Zirkle this week. An Extension Service Home Economist for 43 years, at age 86 Virginia was a life long Buckeye and an avid supporter of education and all things Ohio State. I first met Virginia 37 years ago, when I was green out of Ohio State and worked in the office next to hers in Ottawa Ohio.

Virginia was also a believer in this project and was eagerly awaiting it's completion. Sadly, I didn't make it for her. When I started this effort, she was one of the first to send me a story, describing her student years in the stadium during the 1940's. Later, when the local paper published a picture of me ringing the Victory Bell, Virginia was the first to send me the clipping and a card. Occasionally she would offer me her season ticket for a game, in the red seats on the fifty-yard line of course. And the year when another author scooped my idea and published a similar book, and I was pretty low, a few days before Christmas Virginia called and offered me her ticket for the National Championship game in New Orleans. Yes there was a Santa Clause, and her name was Virginia.

I was just one of the thousands Virginia befriended and helped in her career. Her obituary took 27 lines just to list the service organizations she was active in, and the honors bestowed on her.

Last fall I loaned Virginia my copy of The Winners Manual. It arrived home in the mail just last week, in a box with a note about how much she enjoyed it, and a batch of home baked cookies. I had it on my to-do list to call and thank her, but regrettably I hadn't yet.

As I listen to the shrillness of the discourse in today's society, and read the venom that too often goes back and forth on both sides, I think the world would be a better place with more Virginia Zirkels... a quiet petite lady who just went about doing good... serving, teaching, and helping people, for 86 years.