Virginia Field Bruno died peacefully from Covid related complications August 12, 2020 at age 94 in Santa Rosa. Virginia Bruno was born in Long Beach, California in the summer of 1926 to Oliver and Ruby (Hale) Field. She grew up with her two older brothers on the Palos Verdes peninsula where open fields and hills were commonplace. Horse stables were a common feature for homes; offshore the majestic Catalina Island was home to bountiful abalone and fish.

Virginia’s love of the outdoors began with a childhood that included raising and training horses, collecting a menagerie of different animals, exploring and appreciating California’s wilderness, just as her father and mother did. She hiked with her family through Yosemite and the Sierras throughout her life, experiencing California’s glorious beauty, diversity and the importance of protecting nature’s treasures. Her life was devoted to supporting organizations that preserved California’s most treasured forests, streams and ocean life.

She graduated from UC Berkeley and received advanced degrees in zoology, ecology and library science from the University of Michigan and Immaculate Heart College. She taught science in a Wilmington middle school where she met her fellow teacher and future husband, Gordon Bruno...(Click the information source link below to read more.)