VIRGINIA LEE LOOTENS
10/24/1936 - 07/31/2022
Virginia Lee Lootens passed away peacefully in Houston on Sunday, the
31st of July 2022. She was 85 years of age. Virginia was an only child, born the 24th of October 1936, in Detroit, Michigan, to the late Ralph and Margaret Gillespie.
After completing elementary and high school in Berkley, Michigan, Virginia began her college career at the University of Michigan where she earned a bachelor’s degree. A lifelong musician, she went on to earn a master’s degree in Piano Performance from Roosevelt University in Chicago, while raising three children. Throughout her life, Virginia taught private piano students of all ages and abilities. She was a professor of music for over twenty years, teaching at the University of St. Thomas and Houston Community College.
At the age of 55, she decided to undertake a new direction in her life and enrolled in law school. In 1997, she was awarded her Juris Doctorate from the South Texas College of Law. For the next 20 years, Virginia practiced Elder Law in Houston, as a solo attorney. Most recently, she taught Elder Law at the University of Houston. She participated in many philanthropic and community organizations, including the sorority Alpha Omicron Pi and the Houston Gerontological Society.
Virginia treasured her family and spending time making memories was a favorite activity. She loved to travel and took many trips to Europe and Africa with her daughter, Angela. Ever the teacher, Virginia planned and led musical-themed tours of Europe with each of her grandchildren, accompanied by various other family members, resulting in hilarious, but educational memories for everyone involved.
Virginia was raised a Lutheran and had a deep faith in the Lord. Throughout her life, she shared her talents in service to the Lord at every church she attended. In Houston, she played the organ for several congregations over the years. South Main Baptist Church was her final church home, and she was a joyous participant in the choir.
Virginia is survived by daughters, Angela Margaret Lootens, Alison Lee Putman and her husband Scott; son, Timothy Douglas Lootens and his wife Rochelle; four grandchildren, Rachel Erin Lootens, Sarah Michelle Lootens, Colin Lee Putman and
Lindsey Kate Putman; and her husband, John W. Palmer, Jr. She was preceded in death by her first husband, Douglas Joseph Lootens.
Friends are cordially invited to a visitation with the family from five o’clock in the afternoon until seven o’clock in the evening on Monday, the 8th of August, in the library and grand foyer of Geo. H. Lewis & Sons, 1010 Bering Drive in Houston.
A funeral service is to be conducted at half-past one o’clock in the afternoon on Tuesday, the 9th of August, in the Westmoreland Chapel of South Main Baptist Church, 4100 Main Street in Houston, where Greg Funderbunk, Minister for Pastoral Care, is to officiate.
The interment will follow, via an escorted cortege, at Woodlawn Garden of Memories in Houston.
Immediately following, all are invited to gather with family and share remembrances of Virginia during a reception at a venue to be announced during the service.
In lieu of customary remembrances, memorial contributions in Virginia’s memory may be directed to Amazing Place at 3735 Drexel, Houston, Texas
77027.
Please visit Virginia’s online memorial tribute at GeoHLewis.com where fond memories and words of comfort and condolence may be shared electronically with her family.