Virginia Louise Greenfield 1918-2009 Virginia Louise Greenfield, 91, died in her sleep Oct. 7, 2009 in Annapolis, Md. Her daughter Joanne Dornan was by her side. Her son, Dr. Robert Greenfield and his wife, Tracy, were minutes away. Louise lived a long and, by any measure, a remarkable life. She was born April 23, 1918 in Bisbee, Ariz. She was the daughter of Norman McKenzie and Eva Irma Smith but she did not discover the identity of her parents for many years. She was quickly adopted, shortly after her birth, by Fred and Louise Sandtner. Fred was a superintendent at the Phelps Dodge copper mine just outside Bisbee. Louise lived in Bisbee until she was about nine. Here, she was introduced to the piano by nuns in the convent where she went to school. From the beginning Louise displayed signs of musical genius. In 1927 she moved with Fred Sandtner and his new wife, Elvene "Gustine" Sandtner to Los Angeles where they would live until Fred died of a mine-related lung disease approximately 1931. She loved her adoptive father with all her heart. She had many fond memories of him, one of which was dining with him, as a little girl, at the fabled Brown Derby restaurant in Hollywood. Her ashes will be entombed next to his at Forest Lawn Cemetery in Glendale, Calif. After Fred died, Louise and her stepmother, Gustine, moved to Gustine's childhood home of Frenchtown, Mo., near St. Louis. Here, Louise continued her piano studies and won statewide acclaim for classical concert performances. Upon graduation from high school in 1936, Louise matriculated at Northwestern University in Chicago where she majored in music and minored in English literature. Louise loved books as much as she loved music. All her life, her home was full of both. In 1938, she found it necessary to quit college and go to work. The Great Depression derailed many a college education in the 1930's. She returned to St. Louis and attended secretarial school. Her considerable skill at the piano was transferred by necessity to the typewriter. Within months she boarded a train to Washington DC where she was determined to become a top Capitol Hill secretary. She would accomplish this and much more. After arriving in Washington, Louise met a young George Washington University law student from Caldwell, ID. His name was George Greenfield. They fell in love immediately and were married the same month they met, April 1941. George's law school classmate and College of Idaho debating partner, future Idaho governor Robert E. Smylie, was their best man. George's studies were soon interrupted by World War II. He became an intelligence officer with the Office of Strategic Services (OSS). Louise also joined the war effort, working as a stenographer for a general at the Pentagon. Before the war ended, she and her husband had two sons, Johnny and Bobby. At the end of WWII, George resumed law school while Louise took a job with U.S. Senator Glen Taylor of Idaho. Within a year or so, she was offered a job by Drew Pearson, the nationally syndicated newspaper columnist. Pearson had offered to double her salary. With two young children, they needed the money but George asked her to give Sen. Taylor a chance to keep her. Taylor matched Pearson's offer and she stayed with the Senator's office. Upon graduation from law school, George accepted a position with a Washington law firm and passed the D.C. bar but eventually he convinced Louise that the family should return with him to Idaho. In 1950, the Greenfields moved to Boise, just in time for the birth of their third child, Joanne. Within a few years, George formed a law partnership with John Carver and Don McClenahan. During their years in Washington following the war, George and Louise had enjoyed the company of a number of artists, writers, musicians and other intellectuals. One of Louise's best friends in those days was Helen Swick Perry - an author and aide to Harry Stack Sullivan who was a world-famous psychiatrist. Louise took such an interest in the field that she became the founder and first president of the Idaho Mental Health Association in 1954. Helen Perry encouraged her from Washington, and her good friends Dr. Clay Wilcox and his wife, renowned Boise social worker Irene Wilcox, also helped her in this endeavor. Suddenly, in 1956, Louise and George decided to divorce, just months after the birth of their fourth child, Jimmy. Fiercely independent and self-directed, 38-year-old Louise boarded a DC-8 with her four young children and returned to Washington, DC. It was back to Capitol Hill. It didn't take her long to get a job. She soon became a secretary for a New York congressman. Within a few years, she became personal secretary to one of the most significant figures in the history of the U.S. House of Representatives - Rep. Morris K. Udall of Arizona. She would work for Mr. Udall through the 1960's during which time she would find her mother. In 1965, a fellow Udall staffer, Sylvia Gonzales, who was originally from Tucson, told Louise she thought her mother, Irma, might be living near some of her relatives in that city. Acting on this information, Louise tracked down the woman and discovered that this Irma was indeed her mother. Shortly thereafter, Irma flew to Washington and the two were reunited. Family treks to Tucson began. Joanne commenced a genealogy study and learned Louise's mother's family was from Sonora, Mexico and that Louise's father, long-deceased, was half Scot and half Chiricahua Apache. Louise Greenfield was the complete package as a Capitol Hill staffer. She was beautiful, sophisticated, smart, and skilled - but she possessed another quality, much in demand but seldom found. She was discreet, to the letter. Nothing escaped her eye, but nothing escaped her lips either, and she handled herself with all of the social grace of the elegant congressman she served. Louise was invaluable to Rep. Udall who, in the late 1960's, was putting the final touches on an extremely important achievement - the Central Arizona Project. This complex arrangement settled Colorado River water issues between Arizona and California and resulted in the construction of the largest aqueduct in the country. The aqueduct transported precious water from the mighty river, from a location near the California border, into central Arizona. This allowed for phenomenal growth in the Arizona Sunbelt over the next 40 years and created the modern metropolitan giants of Phoenix and Tucson. Morris Udall was later of two minds on this achievement. The Central Arizona Project was regarded as a triumph at the time it was negotiated and enacted, but as the environmental impact of the Project became more apparent over the years Udall, generally regarded as one of the nation's great environmentalists, became conflicted. Louise stayed late and worked countless weekends helping Rep. Udall accomplish the Project. Mo was so grateful to Louise that he co-signed the mortgage for her own home, a lovely Spanish-style townhouse on Veazey Street N.W. near American University. In his opinion, she had earned it. In this house, Louise would finish raising her children while she completed her career on Capitol Hill. On the day she made her final mortgage payment, she called the retired congressman to thank him again. Louise's final job was personal secretary to John Stark, the Executive Director of the Congressional Joint Economic Committee. For the last eight years of her career, she served such extraordinary statesmen as Sen. Hubert H. Humphrey of Minnesota and Rep. Hale Boggs of Louisiana. She loved the job. In return, she was much loved by the Committee and the staff. She retired in the Published in Idaho Statesman on October 14, 2009