Virginia Stella

Virginia Carol Stella, age 90, passed peacefully at home under the view of Mt. Tam on October 7, 2024, in San Rafael, California. We’ll miss her open smile and hearty laugh! She loved her Sicilian heritage, Italian food and black licorice, sneaking a bite of your cannoli, and making meals for her family. Her applesauce--cut up apples, sugar, and cinnamon--and fresh squeezed pulpy orange juice exemplified her love of delightful simplicities.

Born 1933 in Cleveland, Ohio to Charles Stella and Josephine Sottosanti, she went to church on Sunday mornings, then roamed the Cleveland Art Museum in the afternoon, pausing for inspiration at her favorite painting of a girl with flowers by Odilon Redon. In the parks she gathered pods, branches and leaves with the help of her brother Chuck, who climbed the trees for her.

Aspiring to be a teacher and integrate arts and crafts into her lessons, she obtained her bachelor’s degree in Dramatic Art specializing in Education from Case Western Reserve University in Cleveland. After her master’s degree in Education from the University of Michigan, Virginia married Richard Metz, whose jitterbug caught her eye at their college school dance. She worked as an elementary school special needs teacher in both Ohio and Colorado before they settled in Marin.

After raising her children in San Anselmo, Virginia rekindled her artistic passion, developing as a professional artist. A lifelong learner, she studied art at the College of Marin, IVA, Dominican College, the Pacific School of Religion in Berkeley, and Holy Names University. She exhibited and sold her pieces in art fairs, exhibits, and from her home studio atop Camino de Herrera. Her specialty was charcoal and pastel drawing; her favorite subjects were the sacredness and beauty of nature surrounding her: landscapes, flowers, seed-pods. Her mixture of art and spirituality always sprang from a strong independent spirit!

Virginia had a down-to-earth Sicilian warmth, comfort, and appreciation for the smallest things in life. Her favorite color was sunflower yellow; she adored sunflowers and California poppies. Always an advocate for the underdog and those experiencing hardship, she gave freely of her time and resources to many non-profits and efforts, focusing on diabetes, those with mental illness, homelessness, and outreach groups of the Catholic faith.

Most of all, she loved her four children, Gregory Richard Metz, Melissa Stella Standish, John Hart Metz, and Nina Maria Westfall, as well as her grandchildren Andrew Metz, Jack and Wyatt Standish, Zachary (Ali), Austin, Joshua (Ammara), and Michael Westfall; and two great-grandchildren Kaylynn and Lucas Westfall. She cherished her cousins, her niece Becky Serabrini, her lifelong friends both near and far, her spirited Aldersly community, and especially her devoted St. Rita Church community in Fairfax. She loved the long phone call-- to remind you that she loved you…….

Asked about her inspiration as an artist, she expressed her hope for “…artists who are participating in the mainstream, creating new venues for art with a vision of using their gifts to bring hope to a broken world and heal the Earth and Her people.”

Celebration of Life: Saturday, Nov. 9, 11:00 at St. Rita Church, 100 Marinda Dr., Fairfax, California, followed by a reception in the church hall.

The family thanks Aldersly Garden Community, By the Bay Hospice, and Monte's Chapel of the Hills. Donations in lieu of flowers: Marin Open Space Trust or St. Vincent de Paul Society of Marin.

To send flowers to the family or plant a tree in memory of Virginia Stella, please visit our floral store.