Virginia Marie Trocchi

Less than two years after bidding the love of her life farewell, Ginny joined her husband Bob in heaven. She was surrounded by loving family members in her final days as they lived out the guiding principles of family and religion that she exemplified during her life. She leaves behind a large and diverse family, truly her pride and joy, and one that will thrive thanks to her dedication.

Ginny grew up in Hyde Park, Mass., a ‘city girl’ as she liked to describe herself. She proudly claimed to have read every book in the Boston Public Library, an unverifiable but believable boast. That appetite for reading served her well throughout her life, both in her various professional opportunities and as a ruthless editor of term papers and high school essays. She faithfully read her beloved Boston Globe every day, occasionally lamenting about the number of typos she spotted.

She was the oldest of four children, and the only daughter, which led to an early sense of how to nurture and care for others. Ginny’s father William was a prisoner of war during World War II, and Ginny was instrumental in helping her mother Madeline with her younger brothers through those difficult times.

After graduating from high school, Ginny worked at a local A&P to help earn money for her family. She met friends there she kept for a lifetime, friends that helped change the path of her life. On Labor Day weekend in 1956, she attended a three-day party in Sandwich, Mass., on Cape Cod. There, she met a young, Italian graduate student from Bridgewater, Mass., and by the end of the weekend, Bob Trocchi was telling friends he had found the girl of his dreams.

Bob and Ginny were engaged on July 4, 1957, and married the following April. They embarked on a marriage that had true love and an uncompromising faith in God at its core. It was a union that carried them through an amazing journey neither could have foreseen. Bob’s career in the computer industry provided them opportunities to travel to Australia, China, Japan, Europe and Brazil, opportunities their parents could have never dreamed of. Ginny worked as an administrative assistant at both Digital and Regis College in Weston, where she eventually was the administrative assistant to the president of the college. Ginny managed all the children’s activities growing up and learned more about sports than she ever thought she would. She taught religious education to all four children — sometimes with Bob and sometimes solo — and found that experience only reinforced her faith.

Bob and Ginny watched their four children graduate from high school, college, start careers, get married, own homes and have children of their own. They celebrated 11 grandchildren, all of whom are following their own diversified paths — from a professional basketball player in Germany to an aspiring elementary school teacher.

Bob and Ginny’s love for each other was never more evident than later in life, when health challenges emerged and the need to depend on each other became even greater. Bob’s year-long battle with cancer and Ginny’s own issues provided an inspiring look of their lifelong principle of putting others before yourself. They were always more concerned about the other, no matter what their personal situation happened to be.

When Bob passed two years ago, Ginny faced the daunting challenge of moving forward without her soulmate, and she met the challenge. When Ginny moved to New Horizons, a retirement facility in Marlborough, she knew none of the residents. One year in, a guest of Ginny’s could not go 15 feet in the facility without being stopped and told what a wonderful woman she was and how happy they were to have her there. She made the best of her new situation, making new friends, attending masses at the chapel and staying involved with her children and grandchildren.

Ginny’s 80 years always featured family, faith and friends at the forefront, and the family she cultivated will proudly carry that legacy forward.

Funeral Mass at Our Lady of Fatima, 160 Concord Road, Sudbury on Friday, Nov. 4, 2016 at 10 a.m. Relatives and friends respectfully invited to attend. Visitation at the Duckett - J. S. Waterman & Sons Home of Memorial Tribute, 656 Boston Post Road (RT20), Sudbury, on Thursday from 4-7 p.m. In lieu of flowers, donations in Virginia’s memory may be made to the Mass General Cancer Center Development Office, 100 Cambridge Street, Suite 1310, Boston, MA 02114. Interment will be at Mt. Wadsworth Cemetery, Sudbury.