Sister Virginia King (Formerly Sister Mary Austin)

Note: Sister Virginia completed this profile early in 2022. She died December 27, 2022. Her funeral was held January 19, 2023 at the Presentation Motherhouse in San Francisco, with burial at Holy Cross Cemetery, Colma. A recording of the funeral Mass may be viewed at https://vimeo.com/event/2765514. 

Sister Virginia was born in Oakland, California. Her parents, Ruth and Austin King, lived in Berkeley, just a few blocks from Saint Joseph School. The family moved to Richmond just before she was to start school, and her mother chauffeured her to Saint Joseph School until she was considered old enough to take the bus. At that time Saint Joseph School was the only Catholic school between Berkeley and Vallejo. They later moved to Rodeo, and she took the Greyhound bus to school every day until she graduated from the eighth grade.

She graduated from Ursuline High School in Santa Rosa and then went to Holy Names College for one year before entering the Sisters of the Presentation on June 30, 1952. The novitiate moved from San Francisco to Berkeley in June of 1954, and she was professed there on January 22, 1955. Sister Virginia continued her education at University of San Francisco where she got her B.A. in Education and then went to Dominican College in San Rafael for her Masters in Math. While at Dominican College, the National Science Foundation offered grants for math classes, and she received several of these. She received a minor in music while attending Saint Joseph College in Rensselaer, Indiana. Sister Virginia also had courses at Santa Clara University, University of California in Los Angeles, University of California Berkeley, and San Francisco State. It was at UCLA that Sister Virginia Espinal and she were able to revise and update the curriculum for the Family Finance Program used in our high schools at that time. She also attended courses in computer programs at various locations.

Much of her ministry has been in education. Sister Virginia remarked, “I taught grades 1 through 12 with the exception of the second and fourth grades, which somehow I missed. I taught elementary school in San Francisco at Epiphany, Saint Agnes and Saint Elizabeth, in Berkeley at Saint Joseph, in Oakland at Saint Columba, in Seattle at Our Lady of Fatima, and in Los Angeles at Our Lady of Lourdes. In 1963, I taught at Saint Joseph Presentation High School in Berkeley, and later Presentation High School, San Francisco, then left for Bishop Manogue High School in Reno, Nevada. During the high school years, I mainly taught math, history and religion, and at various times I taught chorale, was a building and business manager, math chair, stage director, audio visual and video production moderator, and class moderator.” Through her work in development, she was able to get several grants for schools including a computer lab and baseball field for Bishop Manogue, as well as government funding for insulation and heating systems for the buildings.

When she returned to San Francisco from Reno in 1985, she taught math part-time at Presentation High School and became director of the Health and Retirement Office for the Congregation. Sister Virginia became the Fleet Manager in 1994. She left the high school in 1990, one year before it closed. Since 1985 she also has been in charge of liturgies for the Motherhouse and plays the organ for services.

Among her hobbies, she enjoys her coin collection—especially the Jefferson nickels—knitting, and photography. She has enjoyed traveling and visiting some of the beautiful places here in the United States.
 

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