Virginia Secor
South Portland, Maine— Virginia (Adams) Secor, died Friday, Aug. 23, 2013, in South Portland.
Born Dec. 16, 1921, at home in Astoria, Queens, N.Y., to John Adams; the chief clerk of courts of Astoria, and delegate to the Democratic Convention in Philadelphia nominating Harry Truman, and Margaret Allen; a graduate of a French cooking school and the daughter of Capt. James Allen (a Civil War orphan) of the East River “Hell Gate Ferry” and his wife Margaret Cassidy, a former Irish governess in Greenwich Village. Virginia was third of six children.
Virginia attended P.S. 3, an old mansion in Astoria, where the family dog Storm was allowed to stay in the principal’s office until it was time to go home, where the canary “Lucky Lindy” awaited.
Virginia grew up in a neighborhood peopled by America and Europe’s diaspora: Italians who guarded the streets, Czechoslovakian neighbors who taught her how to knit with willow sticks and torn rayon stockings. Also shared by Civil War veterans, widows, and manufacturers who left the South and continued to trade with gold coinage after FDR established the silver standard.
She was one of the first to obtain a Social Security card during the Depression. As a young woman during World War II, she worked all shifts at Sperry Gyroscope in assembly, and spoke fondly of swimming at the Brooklyn casino pool after work, as it was open all the time.
After the war, she sold advertising for Donnelly’s Yellow Pages, landing the Mutual of Omaha account, attributed to the cowboy hat she wore to the pitch. She was required to leave this position upon marriage.
One summer’s day in 1946, the subway doors opened and she met again Charles Augustus Secor IV, a friend and football teammate of her brother Tom, on the platform. They were married soon after on Nov. 23, 1946. Little did she know at the time that he was in the employ of Army counterintelligence.
A tour in Germany followed, then postings to Maine living in Augusta, South Freeport and South Portland, and the raising of five children, all sailors.
Virginia also served as registrar of voters in Lyme, in the 1960s. She was a founder of Secor’s Auto Center, New London, serving diligently as a sales agent and bookkeeper while her eldest son Charles fulfilled his service commitment during the Vietnam conflict and after, until other duties called.
She ran a Carvel Ice Cream store in Hodges Square, New London, for more than 15 years. She was an avid swimmer, daily in Long Island Sound and Casco Bay with the goal of avoiding jellyfish or ice, and seeking to reach Thanksgiving each year.
She was predeceased by her husband of 54 years, Charles; and her son, John.
She leaves her brother, Thomas Adams; and loving children, sons Charles and David Secor; and daughters Virginia Secor and Mary (Secor) Sullivan; grandchildren Maria Frati, Leon Frati, Virginia Elizabeth Sullivan, John Secor and Francesca Secor; and beloved daughter-in-law Julia (Kushugian) Secor; and son-in-law David Crocker. Also, nieces and nephews Gloria Secor, Moira (Adams) McCole, Bridget Adams, and Thomas Adams; and greatnephews Jeffrey Kubo, Tyler Adams, and Padriac McCole.
Services will be at 1 p.m. Saturday, Sept. 21, 2013, at New York City Marble Cemetery, with reception to follow. The cemetery is located at 72 E. 1st St., NY, NY (between East 2nd and 3rd Streets and 2nd Ave. and the Bowery).
Arrangements were made by Hobbs Funeral Home, 230 Cottage Road, South Portland, Maine.