
Virginia Fife received the Key to the City award for becoming a centenarian.
While working as a homemaker, Fife joined the
service-oriented Elk Grove Rebekah Lodge in 1955.
In 1966, Fife was part of the hospitality committee for a
visit to the Elk Grove Odd Fellows Temple by Rebekah officials Maurine Presse
and Fern McCrum.
Fife was active in the Daughters
of Utah Pioneers organization and was involved in a project to improve the
Sloughhouse Pioneer Cemetery. Fife was born on March 3, 1917, in Hyrum, Utah, where she
spent the earliest part of her life. She was the seventh of the 11
children of Charles and Agnes Unsworth, who raised their family as members of
The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS).
As a member of the church, she enjoyed singing in her
ward’s choir.
In 1939, four years after
graduating from high school in Hyrum, Virginia came to California with her
friend, Clara Long.
It was during the same year, on Dec. 16, that William and
Virginia Fife were married in Reno. The
Fife family were among
the founding families of the Latter-day Saints Elk Grove Ward, and some of its first
meetings were held in the Fifes’ Bond Road home.
William died on March 30, 1989, and in 2003, after 58
years of living on the ranch, Fife moved from her longtime home. The Fife
family’s ranch was subsequently replaced with about 60 homes. She enjoys
mingling with other seniors at the Senior Center of Elk Grove on Sharkey
Avenue. In addition to having five children, Fife had 11
grandchildren, 28 great-grandchildren and one great-great-grandchild.