GRAVESIDE SERVICE
Appleton City Cemetery in
Appleton City, Missouri on
Thursday, August 21, 2008 at
11:00AM

MINISTER
Reverend Robert Sefrit

MEMORIAL
Appleton City Landmarks Restoration

Virginia W. Aydelotte, was born on November 14, 1916 in Appleton City, Missouri to Earl and Isabella Catherine (Coffin) Schryver. Her mother, Isabella, was a lifelong resident of Appleton City and had graduated from the Academy in 1913.
Virginia was always a good student in school and graduated from Appleton City High School in 1934. She had taken special lessons from Mae Florence Flaherty, with particular emphasis on elocution. As a young girl, she appeared in some of Mae Florence's theater productions. After she graduated from high school, she taught as a substitute teacher in the Appleton City Schools for a year, before entering Fort Scott Junior College. While a student there, she was active in numerous theater productions. She also became engaged to J.R. "Bob" Aydelotte. After Bob graduated from Kansas University, they were married in 1940 at the home of her lifelong friends and former Appleton City residents, Mary and Jess Herrmann, in Springfield, Missouri.
During the 72 years that Virginia and Bob spent together, they lived in many different places around the country. While Bob was in the Army during World War II, she and Bob moved to the bases where he was stationed around the country. While they were in Philadelphia, son James E. Aydelotte was born, and son Kevin Robert Aydelotte was born when they were in Milford, Connecticut.
Through the years they made their home in Connecticut, Pennsylvania, Massachusetts, Michigan, Wisconsin, Indiana, New York, Spain and of course, Missouri. Wherever they moved, she made friends and kept up with many of them through the years.
Virginia was active working with local libraries and church groups. Her intellectual curiosity made her particularly interested in the history of the places they lived and she was active in the historical preservation groups in the various communities where they lived.
When she and Bob were able to return to Appleton City to live, she wanted to make sure that the collective history and historical buildings of the community were preserved. She put together a history of the three churches that joined to form Trinity United Methodist Church in Appleton City. One of Virginia's main goals was to make sure that the community was aware that the local KATY Depot was the last of its kind on the old line. It was a great pleasure to her to see it restored and see the community benefit that has been derived from it.
Virginia was a person who never forgot the importance of the people and community she came from. She subscribed to the Appleton City Journal no matter where she lived. Appleton City was always the place she called home. The friends that she grew up with were the friends to whom she knew she could return. While she worked hard to find ways to benefit the communities where she lived, it was the love of family and friends that was always first in her heart.