Virginia Russell Renz, a former Amityville resident for 31 years, died Sept. 19, 2003 at the age of 87. Most recently a resident of a retirement home in Miami with her husband Albert of 61 years, Mrs. Renz moved from Amityville 27 years ago to Stuart, FL.

A spirited and active woman, Mrs. Renz was a warm stay-at-home mother who was involved in many things, said her daughter Judy Pagliarulo of Miami. Mrs. Renz was born May 5, 1916 and raised in Bethpage. She attended Brown Business School after high school and then took a secretarial job at the Department of Public Welfare in Mineola. Mrs. Renz then worked as a secretary to a Commander in the Federal Civil Service at the Navy Department at Grumman in Bethpage. Early on in their marriage, Mrs. Renz and her husband traveled because of his Army duties, but they made their primary home in Amityville from 1946 to 1977, where they raised their son and daughter.

From 1957 to 1962, Mrs. Renz also wrote a weekly social news column in the Amityville Record, which her son Albert Jr. said he delivered to neighbors for five cents. Mrs. Renz served as the President of the Amityville Women’s Club from 1957 to 1959, and she was a member of St. Martin of Tours R.C. Church of Amityville.

Mrs. Renz is survived by her husband Albert, her son Albert Jr. and his wife Kate of Huntington, and her daughter Judy Pagliarulo of Miami. She is also survived by six grandchildren and four great-grandchildren.

Interment is at Forest Hills Memorial in Stuart Fla.