Virginia Carol (Dunlavy) Graham

Article Last Updated; Saturday, November 14, 2009 12:01AM

Durango resident Virginia Carol (Dunlavy) Graham died here on Thursday, Nov. 12, 2009. She was 88.

Mrs. Graham was born to Myron C. and Helen G. Dunlavy in Syracuse, N.Y., on Aug. 14, 1921. She graduated from Hamburg High School in Hamburg, N.Y., in 1939.

On March 10, 1943, she married Charles Edward Graham in Hamburg.

Mrs. Graham was a homemaker and volunteer. Her family said that the summers she spent with her family in the western U.S. as a geologist's wife were some of her happiest days. After her husband retired from teaching at Denison University in Granville, Ohio, they moved to the Southwest, first to Abiquiu, N.M., near the Ghost Ranch, and then in 1988 to Hermosa.

Mrs. Graham was a member of the League of Women Voters and had volunteered with the Girl Scouts of America. She served as co-administrator of the Ghost Ranch Foundation in New Mexico. Mrs. Graham was a member of the First Presbyterian Church, the San Juan Audubon Society and the San Juan Basin Archaeological Society in Durango.

The Grahams enjoyed travels with the archaeology society to explore the region's culture and geology. Mrs. Graham also loved music, flowers and fresh air. She enjoyed fiber crafts, natural history, opera, reading and travel.

Mrs. Graham was preceded in death by her husband of 59 years, Charles Graham, in 2002.

She is survived by her daughters Heather Graham Lundquist of Durango and Penny L. McGinty of New Albany, Ind.; son, Charles Douglas Ross Graham, of Frankfort, Ky.; three grandchildren; and two great-grandchildren.

No services are planned at this time. A private family gathering will be held at a later date.

In lieu of flowers, memorial contributions may be sent to Mercy Regional Breast Care Center, c/o Mercy Health Foundation, 1010 Three Springs Blvd., Durango, CO 81301.