By Stephen Cook
Virginia Krebs, the college’s first employee and first trustee emeritus, died Feb. 8 at the age of 94.
Krebs served on the college’s Board of Trustees from 1985 to 2008, having been elected for six consecutive terms. She was later named the college’s first trustee emeritus, after resigning from the board in October 2008.
“Mrs. Krebs dedicated her life to the education of children and adults throughout Johnson County,” Joe Sopcich, college president, said in an email sent out earlier today. “She truly was a leader in making JCCC one of the best community colleges in the United States. Our community is forever indebted to her and her family for all they’ve done to improve the quality of life in this county.”
A Celebration of Life memorial service will be held at noon, Saturday, March 8 in the college’s Polsky Theatre. Memorial contributions may be made to the JCCC Foundation.
Obituary
“Virginia Krebs, distinguished public servant, Johnson County Community College’s first employee and first trustee emeritus, passed away peacefully at the age of 94 on February 8, 2014.
“Mrs. Krebs dedicated her life to the education of children and adults throughout Johnson County,” said Joe Sopcich, JCCC president. “She truly was a leader in making JCCC one of the best community colleges in the United States. Our community is forever indebted to her and her family for all they’ve done to improve the quality of life in this county.”
Krebs was a member of the JCCC board of trustees from 1985 to 2008. She was elected to the board for six consecutive terms, the last in April 2005. When she resigned from the board in October 2008, she was named the college’s first trustee emeritus. As a college trustee, she served as clerk, treasurer, vice chairman and chairman.
Born Virginia Olive Witmer on August 2, 1919 in Denver Colorado, Virginia graduated from the University of Denver in 1940 and married Albert Krebs in 1942. They moved to Johnson County Kansas, and had four sons: Fred (1946), Jim (1949), Jeff (1961), and Bill (1963). Virginia, a wonderful mother and spouse, was active supporter of the many and varied interests of her family.
Krebs spent a lifetime contributing to the community and to Johnson County Community College. She began on a small scale, as she helped establish the Crestview-Merriam PTA and served as its first president. Later, she served as the president of the Hocker Grove Junior High PTA, president of the Shawnee Mission North High School PTA Council and president of the Shawnee Mission Area PTA Council. Her articulate and forceful support of public education in Johnson County earned her statewide recognition, and she was named program chairman for the Kansas State PTA.
In this position, she was able to help lead the movement for a number of key bond issues that began to establish the county’s public school infrastructure. This leadership role also gave her a broad perspective on the key issue of school consolidation, which loomed large in the late 1950s and early 1960s, and she was appointed to state task forces responsible for revision of the state school code and the consolidation of area school districts. From this, the Shawnee Mission Unified School District was formed.
In 1963, following her PTA involvement, Krebs was appointed by the board of county commissioners to a task force charged with studying the feasibility of building a community college in Johnson County. She worked for three years on this task force, which organized the creation of the community college taxing district and put the issue to the voters. This proposal was approved two-to-one by Johnson County voters in 1967.
When the first board of trustees’ election was held that year for the new Johnson County Community College, a total of 137 candidates ran for the six board positions. Krebs was urged by many in the community to run, but chose instead to become the college’s first employee, the assistant to the first board of trustees. She kept the official board records, was instrumental in helping the original board establish the philosophy and mission of the college, and helped the board hire the first college president. She and her late husband, Al, also helped the college find and occupy its first buildings in Merriam.
In 1969, Krebs was hired as the first director of community services at JCCC and figured prominently in the development of what became one of the largest and most successful continuing education programs in the Midwest. She helped identify needs and mobilize cooperation to create special women’s programs, special programs for senior county residents, a county-wide group to support the arts, a world affairs discussion program and family-oriented events, both educational and entertaining and was instrumental in establishing the college’s many cooperative agreements with community organizations that enable it to serve a range of educational and cultural needs. She continued to develop the college’s community services until she retired in 1984.
As a college trustee, Krebs received the American Association of Community College’s regional trustee award in 1993 and the Regional Leadership Award from the National Council on Community Services and Continuing Education, Region VII, in 1996. She was also recognized by the American Association of Women in Community Colleges, which conferred on her its prestigious Woman of the Year Award. In 2004, she was named to the Mid-America Education Hall of Fame at Kansas City Kansas Community College.
Krebs did not confine her community service to the college. She was widely recognized and respected in Johnson County, where she served as a volunteer for and on the boards of many different community organizations.
In 1988, she helped win public support for the purchase of the old Merriam School to use as a community center. The school was completely renovated and is now a heavily used public building. As a member of the Merriam Community Center Foundation, she sought to raise private funds to enhance the center’s ability to serve the community. In 1988, she was named the Merriam Citizen of the Year for her work on behalf of education and community services in that city she lived. She was also active in the Merriam Christian Science Church.
Krebs was also active in the establishment of the first Shepherd’s Center in Johnson County and served on the executive committee of the county’s Eldernet Coalition, a 150-member group formed to study the needs of the county’s elderly. She served on the Task Force on Programs and Services for an Aging Student Population and on the board of the Johnson County Area Vocational Technical School. In 1993, she was selected as one of eight Women of Distinction by the Santa Fe Council of Girl Scouts. In 2002 the Visitors Center on the first floor of the Carlsen Center was renamed the Virginia Krebs Community Room in honor of her. Representative Dennis Moore (D-KS) provided Virginia a wonderful Congressional Record tribute in November 2008.
Virginia is preceded in death by her siblings Robert and Mary of Denver Colorado, husband Albert, and her eldest son Fred, a history professor at JCCC for more than 40 years, predeceased her in December 2012. She is survived by her sons Jim and his wife Debbie, Jeff, and Bill and his wife Cindy. Virginia has four grandchildren, Kandi, Fred’s Daughter; Allison, Jim’s Daughter; and Kaitlyn and Emily, Bill’s daughters. Virginia leaves one great-grandchild, Aaryn, Kandi’s daughter. There are many nieces and nephews living coast to coast and friends from the community, JCCC, Christian Science, The Atriums, and Brighton Gardens.”
http://www.amosfamily.com/2014/02/virginia-krebs/
Compiled by Stephen Cook, editor-in-chief, scook35@jccc.edu.