Dr. Virginia Farmer, 91, of Urbana died at 4:30a.m. Tuesday morning (June 11, 2013) at Carle Hospital. In keeping with Virginia's wishes, there will be no services. Cremation has taken place at Renner-Wikoff Chapel, 1900 South Philo Road, Urbana, and she will be buried next to her mother at Pine Hill cemetery in Rush, NY. Dr. Farmer was born in Brooklyn, NY, in 1922, the only child of Max D. and Lorena Clickner Farmer. The family moved to Ballston Spa, near Saratoga Springs, NY, and Virginia was introduced to the violin at the age of four. Her love of the instrument was instantaneous and maintained throughout her life. By the age of seventeen she was a soloist with the Buffalo Chamber Orchestra. At eighteen she entered the Eastman School of Music in Rochester and after graduation with a B. of Music degree she played for a season with the Buffalo Philharmonic Orchestra and then with the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra. At the age of 22 she was chosen by conductor Dmitri Mitropoulos as one of the first two women in the string section of the Minneapolis Symphony Orchestra. After two years in Minneapolis Virginia then decided she needed further professional development and moved to New York City, where she supported herself as a freelqnce violinist while studying advanced chamber music and harmony for six semesters at Juilliard and then in 1952 earning a M. of Music and Music Education degree at Columbia University. She also worked with the Budapest String Quartet at Mills College, CA and she spent six summers at the Meadowmount School of Music in Westport, NY , studying with master teacher Ivan Galamian and coaching string ensembles under Leonard Rose and Josef Gingold. In 1957 she received a grant to study and perform at the Marlboro School of Music, VT with Rudolph Serkin, Isaac Stern, Alexander Schneider and other music luminaries. She also taught for three years at the Music School Settlement of East Third Street in NYC, for two years at Skidmore College, NY and for three years at the Guilderland Central Schools near Albany, NY as director of the string program. In 1961 Virginia came to the University of Illinois in Urbana determined to acquire a doctorate in music. She became a Graduate Assistant in Music in 1962 and Instructor in 1965, and upon receiving her DMA in 1973 she was promoted Assistant Professor of Music with tenure. One of the most exciting incidents during these times came in 1964 when the University of Illinois Symphony Orchestra, under Bernard Goodman and with Virginia Farmer as concertmaster, undertook a six-month tour under the sponsorship of the United States State Department in Central and South America. While teaching at the University of Illinois Dr. Farmer continued to attend summer string conferences as a master string teacher with a strong interest in the Baroque violin and Baroque music. She taught for fifteen summers at the International String Conference at Immaculata College near Philadelphia and performed often on her John Betts London 1784 violin at the Festival of Baroque Music at Saratoga, NY. She and fellow faculty member Kenneth Drake gave many recitals of Baroque and Classical music for Baroque violin and fortepiano and produced a CD, "Sonatas of the Classical Period" for VLM Recordings. Dr. Farmer was listed in the International Who's Who in Music from 1974 through 1992 and in 1982 was nominated to receive the Campus Award for Excellence in Undergraduate Teaching. She was also included in the "Incomplete list of Teachers Ranked as Excellent by their Students" in 1980, 1982, 1983, and 1984. She was a member of the professional organizations American String Teachers Association, Violin Society of America, and American Federation of Musicians as well as Phi Kappa Lambda, Delta Omicron, and theTuesday Morning Musical Club of Champaign-Urbana. Dr. Farmer retired in May of 1992 as Assistant Professor Emerita from the University of Illinois. She continued her performance career, however, in Baroque ensemble music as concertmaster in 1993 and 1994 of the Baroque orchestra of the Early Music Summer Schools at Cambridge University, England. From 1994 to 2000 she was an annual participant in the Ringve International Summer Course Festival in Trondheim, Norway, and the International Sommerakademie fuer Alte Musik in Innsbruck, Austria. She also took the time to become well acquainted with the cities of Paris and Vienna, Amsterdam and Glasgow. She also performed regularly with her music clubs in Champaign-Urbana, the Tuesday Morning Musical Club and Delta Omicron. Ill health confined her to her home the last two years of her life but she continued to practice and teach almost until the last day. She maintained a strong interest in the affairs of the world and of her wide circle of friends. She will be sorely missed. A scholarship in Virginia Farmer's name will be established at the Meadowmount School of Music, RSD #2, Box 2230, Westport, NY 12993. Those who wish to contribute to that scholarship may send contributions to the above address.