It was hard to stop Virginia Belknap. She was taking youth work trips with teenagers when she was in her late 70s.
The longtime Denver educator, who died June 26 at 92, was also a philanthropist who helped dozens of young people go to college and was still tutoring when she was in her 70s.
“We’ll probably never know all the young people she helped,” said the Rev. Glendora Taylor, a former co-pastor at Montview Boulevard Presbyterian Church, where Belknap was a member.
At Montview she volunteered to go to Appalachia on work groups with church teenagers who went there to help the disadvantaged restore their homes and property.
“Her church, education and helping young people were her lifelong commitments,” said Taylor, who now lives in Venice, Fla.
Belknap attended only one year at Hastings College, but she remained forever loyal, quietly giving money for years to help more than three dozen students go to the Nebraska school.
For her contributions to students she was honored in 1999 with the school’s highest non-academic honor.
Belknap had been on most every committee at the Montview church, especially those concerning children and education, and she was one of the first female elders at the church.
“She was one of the most interesting people I ever knew,” said longtime friend Shirley Burkhart, a Montview member. “She was always interested in other people.”
Virginia Wittenberger was born May 9, 1913, in Carleton, Neb. After a year at Hastings, she went to Columbia University in New York City, earning her bachelor’s degree. She moved to Denver in 1945 and earned her master’s from the University of Denver.
In 1960, she married J. Harrison Belknap, an electrical engineer. He died in 1974.
An elementary school teacher in Nebraska, Kansas and Denver, Virginia Belknap became one of the first female principals in Denver Public Schools, serving as the first principal at Phillips Elementary School.
Years later, after she officially retired, she mentored students at the school. Retirement also gave her time for another major interest: bridge.
Belknap liked to the tell the story of her principal years, when she had to double as the truant officer.
She suspected one missing girl wasn’t sick, so she parked her car outside the girl’s home about the time school was out. Sure enough, in a few minutes the girl and some friends came out of the house only to run into her principal.
Teacher and student shared laughs about the incident in later years.
Belknap is survived by her brother, Wayne Wittenberger, of Evanston, Ill.
Staff writer Virginia Culver can be reached at 303-820-1223 or vculver@denverpost.com.
