Virginia Bader Obituary

Durango resident Virginia Helen Chrisman Bader died of cancer on Friday, March 20, 2009. She was 89.

Mrs. Bader was born to Herbert and Eva Serena (Roberts) Chrisman at the family home in Hooper on Nov. 28, 1919. She attended public schools in Alamosa and earned a teaching degree from Adams State College there.

During a brief marriage circa 1941, Mrs. Bader operated a music store and gave music lessons while raising her four sons as babies. Her husband was in the military during World War II.

Mrs. Bader was first and foremost a teacher, her family wrote.

She taught in public schools in Manitou Springs, Greeley and Denver and then, during the 1950s and 1960s, in Farmington. She also taught private music lessons in her home to supplement her income. As the sole support of her family, she also held other part-time jobs such as a night clerk in a pharmacy.

After her retirement, she worked in a clerical and accounting capacity in industry.

While living in Farmington in the 1950s and 1960s, Mrs. Bader was the organist and choir director at St. John's Episcopal Church.

Her passions, other than teaching music and raising children, included books and more books, her family said. She also enjoyed the San Juan Skyway in the fall and gave her sons an abiding love of Southwest Colorado, they said.

Mrs. Bader never had a television in her home until after she retired, but she purchased one of the first record players with stereophonic sound and loved to play classical and light opera (Gilbert and Sullivan) on the weekends.

"Virginia was a small, soft- spoken woman of steel before the concept of women of steel was popularized," her family wrote. "She had a lively sense of humor and an insatiable curiosity about her world and what made the cosmos tick. She passed on to her sons, grandchildren and great-grandkids a penchant for hard work, a love of knowledge and grand devotion to music that she inherited from her grandfather, 'Fiddlin' Jim Chrisman."

Mrs. Bader is survived by her sons Bill Bader of Durango, Bruce Bader of Denver, Jon Bader of Rangely and Charles Bader of Albuquerque; 11 grandchildren; and nine great-grandchildren.

A family graveside service will be held at Greenmount Cemetery.

In lieu of flowers, memorial contributions may be made to the Durango Foundation for Educational Excellence, 201 E. 12th St., Durango, CO 81301.