Obituary of Virginia H. Hirst

Virginia Helen Hirst, 92, passed away November 2, 2025 at Oaknoll Retirement Residence in Iowa City, Iowa.

Memorial services will be held Sunday, November 23, 2025, at 2pm at the Trinity Episcopal Church in Iowa City with inurnment in the church columbarium.  In lieu of flowers memorial donations can be directed to Oaknoll Foundation or to Trinity Episcopal Church.

Virginia was born on March 27, 1933, in Ottumwa, Iowa, to George and Fay (Lowenberg) Hirst. Despite growing up through the depression years, she enjoyed an idyllic life in the thriving southern Iowa community with her parents and younger sister, Carol, with whom she remained very close throughout their lives.

After touring a medical laboratory in Des Moines with her cousin, she wrote her 10^th grade career report on Medical Technologists, and knew then what she wanted to do. After graduating from Ottumwa High School in 1951, she entered Ottumwa Heights College, at that time a liberal arts college for women. Upon graduation she continued her studies at the University of Iowa, pursuing a Bachelor’s degree in General Science, and Medical Technologist school at St. Luke’s Hospital in Cedar Rapids.

One of Virginia’s professors at the University ran the Bacteriology Lab for university hospital, and that proved fortuitous for her future career. An ice storm during Christmas break prevented one of the lab techs from getting back to Iowa City, which gave Virginia the opportunity to substitute. On her first day, she learned how to fill out admitting paperwork, plate specimens, and even dispatch guinea pigs for TB testing.

A few months later, a vacancy opened up in the lab and Virginia’s professor asked if she’d like the job. There was no interview. “Just tell the department head you’ll be starting,” her teacher told her.

As it happened, Virginia was very well suited to the job. She had an aptitude for mechanical things, and enjoyed tinkering. As laboratory equipment technology evolved, she easily adapted to computerization and automation of instruments. She considered herself very lucky in her career, but she was also very dedicated and focused, and earned an excellent reputation among her colleagues. By the time she retired in 1995 after spending her entire career of nearly 36 years at the University of Iowa Hospital, she had risen to Chief Technologist of the Microbiology Department.

While retirement brought her career to a close, Virginia had a lot left in store. She loved to travel, and had already traveled extensively before retiring, but now she had even more ahead. In total, she tallied 19 visits to the United Kingdom, two to Egypt, six general trips around central Europe, plus Denmark, Norway, Sweden, the Greek Isles, and Morocco. And traveling Westward, she journeyed to Australia, New Zealand, Japan, China, and India. She also liked traveling closer to home, especially with her sister Carol’s family, who especially liked spending time in Colorado.

Virginia enjoyed photography and shot hundreds of rolls of 35-millimeter slides on her travels, which she edited and sorted into carousels and enjoyed presenting to family and friends. She also loved playing games, especially cards, and never turned down an offer to play Uno. Puzzles and craft projects were also favorite pastimes.

Virginia also took great interest in genealogy, and researched her family origins extensively, taking advantage of online tools as they became available with the rise of the internet. Tracing family connections to the York area in England accounted for many of her frequent trips to the UK. Family history tied in nicely with her love of scrapbooking, which she did with Carol, also an avid scrapbooker. Together they created large volumes of family photos and history.

At home, especially in retirement, she devoted time to church as a long-time member of Trinity Episcopal, in Iowa City. She loved singing in the choir, and served for more than 30 years as choral librarian. She also helped out in the church office with bookkeeping, paying bills, counting and depositing money from collections, and whatever else needed doing. But true to her quiet nature, she drew the line at answering the phone. That she preferred to leave to others.

Virginia was preceded in death by her parents, and her sister Carol (Hirst) Arnold and brother-in-law, Gene Arnold, and also by her longtime close friend and travel companion, Dorothy Dayton. She is survived by her niece, Kristine (Phil) Morgan of West Des Moines, her nephew Gregory (Wendy) Arnold of Parker, Colorado, and great nieces Natalie Morgan of West Des Moines, and Tessa Morgan, of Robbinsdale, Minnesota.