Virginia Locke, 88, director of nursery school

VIRGINIA LOCKE

Virginia Margaret (Keefe) Locke, the former longtime director and head teacher of the Village Nursery School in Harvard, died Oct. 5 of complications associated with a lung infection at the Nazareth House, an assisted living home in San Rafael, Calif. She was 88.

Mrs. Locke was born in Cambridge and grew up in Arlington. At Arlington High School, she was editor-in-chief of the school newspaper and valedictorian of her class in 1937.

After graduation, she worked as a secretary at the SC Johnson cleaning products company in Boston.

On one commute in 1941 to the city from Arlington Heights, a man offered her a ride and an escape from the cold. That man, Kermit A. Locke, would become her husband of 41 years.

They were married on Valentine's Day in 1942. Mrs. Locke lived on the Army bases where her husband was stationed, including in Pennsylvania and at Fort Devens in Ayer.

In 1947, Mrs. Locke and her family moved to Harvard. She was involved in many community and children's organizations, including the Girl Scouts of the USA, the Boys Scouts of America, the Massachusetts Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children, and the Massachusetts Office for Children.

In 1963, she began working as an assistant teacher at the Village Nursery School in Harvard, which also had a kindergarten. Several years later, she earned a bachelor's degree in early childhood education from Tufts University in Medford.

She became director and head teacher at the Village Nursery School, serving for about 20 years. She also served on the Harvard School Committee from the early 1960s to the early 1970s, said her son, Christopher, of San Anselmo, Calif..

Mrs. Locke moved to Sandwich with her husband in 1981 and retired from teaching the following year.

After her husband died in 1983, she became a member of the Fraternity of the Secular Franciscan Order, a Catholic church group. She moved to Hyannis several years later.

"She had strong faith throughout her life," her son said.

While she was serving with the church group, she visited a soup kitchen at least once a week in Hyannis, where she cooked and served meals. She also was involved in a program for troubled teens, said her son.

She loved children and realized her childhood dream of having 13 children when she had a classroom of 10 students and her three children at home in her first year of teaching, he said.

In addition to her son, Mrs. Locke leaves two daughters, Martha J. Totaro of Rocklin, Calif., and Carole A. Dollar of Eufaula, Okla.; a brother, Stephen T. Keefe Jr. of Prescott, Ariz.; six grandchildren and 10 great-grandchildren.

Two memorial services are planned. One will be held at 10:30 a.m. on Oct. 22 at Bellevue Cemetery in Harvard, and the other is scheduled at 10 a.m. Oct. 24 at Our Lady of Victory Parish in Centerville.