Virginia Kowalczyk had shelves of antique catalogs. She collected antiques, too, especially pottery and glassware. Growing up, her mother had been a collector.
"It was an interest that never left her," said Victor W. Kowalczyk, her husband of 67 years. "We lived in several different cities, and she always attended auction sales. I'm hoping to get rid of some of her stuff. She got rid of a lot of it in recent years by spreading some around the neighborhood and passing a lot of it onto family."
Her son, Scott Kowalczykof Marietta was the recipient of two pieces including a glass bowl that symbolized the family's Polish heritage.
"She had collected some of these things for more than 50 years, and wanted to pass them to the kids and grand kids," he said. "She considered them family heirlooms."
Virginia "Ginny" Simerville Kowalczyk of Marietta died on May 11 of congestive heart failure at WellStar Community Hospice Center in Austell. She was 91. The family has held a private memorial and plans to hold a burial on a later date at Rose Hill Cemetery in Rockmart. Southcare Cremation Society and Memorial Centers in Marietta is in charge of arrangements.
Mrs. Kowalczyk was born in Rockmart, a community in northwest Georgia's Polk County. She was the only child of the late Aline Morgan and Oliver Watson Simerville. She attended Shorter College in Rome briefly, then enrolled at the University of Georgia. She graduated from the flagship university in 1939 with a bachelor's degree in education.
During World War II, the antiques lover worked as an air route traffic controller at Atlanta Municipal Airport for the Civil Aeronautics Administration. She met her future husband, a CAA air traffic control instructor, shortly after completing her training.
"We met at the end of May and got married in August," Mr. Kowalczyk said.
The couple made Atlanta home for five years. At that time, Mrs. Kowalczyk taught at elementary schools in Rockmart and College Park. Because of her husband's job as an aviation instructor, they eventually relocated to cities that included Flint, Mich., Cleveland, and West Palm Beach. Mrs. Kowalczyk taught elementary school at some stops.
The couple lived in Myrtle Beach, S.C., for more than two decades before they returned to metro Atlanta permanently in 1998.
Wherever they lived, one thing was certain. They could count on the Tri-Delta sorority to make them feel at home. Mrs. Kowalczyk, who joined the sorority while at UGA, served as district alumni chairman in Maryland, Virginia, West Virginia and the District of Columbia.
"That was really a fine group to be associated with," her husband said. "We had family every time we moved thanks to that sorority."
Additional survivors include a daughter, Jan Kowalczyk of Marietta; and four grandchildren.
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