Going to Disneyland with friends who moved in artistic, less conformist circles and being with Ken gave Virginia the opportunity to unleash more spontaneous, ebullient parts of her nature. It must have been a marvelous breath of fresh air; one imagines Virginia, Ken by her side, on rides at Disneyland, whirling giddily about, laughing, letting go of her image as a figurehead of respectability and dignity and becoming, with Ken's encouragement, momentarily carefree, as blithe-spirited as a girl.

Longtime friend Sister Ann Ida Gannon offers another perspective of Virginia during the years of her marriage to Ken Piper. Appointed in 1957 as president and superior of Mundelein College, Sister Ann Ida courageously led the college through some of the most progressive, innovative changes within the Catholic Church, an era beginning in 1962 with Pope John XXIII (1958-1963) and the Second Ecumenical Vatican Council, or Vatican II, followed by Pope Paul VI (1963-1978), Pope John Paul I (1978), and Pope John Paul II (1978-2005).

By 1950, Mundelein College was the largest Catholic college for women in the United States, and Sister Ann Ida Gannon distinguished her own term as president and superior by founding an intellectually vigorous religious education program, inviting theologians worldwide to lecture, and by encouraging active involvement in the civil rights, feminist, and antiwar movements, all of which set a liberal academic tone for the campus.

This young, remarkably progressive religious leader first met Virginia over the telephone in 1964. Sister Ann Ida remembers immediately "hitting it off" with Virginia, even in that first phone conversation, and theirs became a thirty-five-year friendship based initially on Virginia's philanthropic gifts to Mundelein and then evolving into a deep friendship between two intelligent women of faith who demonstrated equally powerful leadership and humility in their intersecting fields of work. Sister Ann Ida remembers the following:

(From left) Sister Joan Doyle, BVM and
Sister Ann Ida Gannon, BVM with Virginia, after
receiving an honorary degree at the Paul Galvin
Auditorium at Mundelein College

Virginia talked a great deal about her grandmother, whom she loved very much. She also told me the story of how her husband Paul's deep faith had influenced her decision to convert. I marveled that Virginia,and this was particularly true of her time in Phoenix,kept tabs on the gardener, all the various workers she'd had in Chicago: these were the important people in her life. Virginia was very busy and had a few close friends, but I think so many of her friends were friends she was doing something for, so one of my aims was to be a person who could do something for her.

There was an absolutely beautiful simplicity to Virginia. Her gardener, her maids, the people who worked for her, they all sat together at one table. She had a very genuine love for them. She had no airs and was surprised by the amount of Paul Galvin's fortune.

As a college president, I tried to raise a lot of money, and I've dealt with extraordinary types of people from all over the country as well as on various boards, and usually, people have several sides to them. For some, it's very important to be famous, to name-drop, to let you know that they know this or that person or that they saw the President of the United States. This was never part of Virginia's conversation. I wouldn't have known what in the world she'd done. In fact, when I did her records at one point, I was amazed at the extent of her charities. She was utterly unpretentious, a simple person who became a multimillionaire. Nevertheless, she was sophisticated enough to know that you have to fulfill the role you've been given, though she was never fooled by people's fawning or false praise.

Virginia with Ken and Jessica Critchfield

At the beginning of their marriage, Virginia and Ken lived in his modern condominium overlooking Lake Michigan at 1630 Sheridan Road in Wilmette.

In 1972, the year Ken and Virginia moved to Arizona, housekeeper Alma Althoff retired and moved to the Georgian, a beautiful retirement residence in downtown Evanston, her expenses fully paid by Virginia. Following Alma, Sister Mary Cyril Tirpak would become a source of loyal support and friendship to Ken and Virginia.

When Sister Mary Cyril began experiencing severe headaches, preventing her from teaching literature and music, the mother superior of the order asked if Sister Mary would be willing to care for an elderly couple, Ken and Jessica Critchfield, in their home in Oak Park, Illinois.

Gentle and kind, Sister Mary cared for Ken Critchfield until his death on January 16, 1972, at Scottsdale Memorial Hospital; she also cared for Jessica until her death on August 21, 1972, at Ken Piper's home on Sheridan Road in Wilmette. Jessica had been living at Ken's house with full-time care, and Virginia, Ken, Carol, and Sister Mary were all by Jessica's side when she died. Virginia's parents are entombed at Greenwood Memorial Cemetery in Phoenix.

Eventually, Virginia invited Sister Mary to live with her permanently. With Sister Mary in the official capacity of housekeeper, companion, and cook, their relationship over eighteen years assumed a rich dimension of friendship and mutual devotion. As Sister Ann Ida Gannon, who knew both women well, put it, "Sister was a very simple, beautiful person. Virginia had a great love and appreciation for her. Sister Mary was from a humble background; she was loving and dedicated. The two of them would sit there at the kitchen table, working together, just like sisters."

Soon after her parents' deaths, Virginia and Ken made a permanent move to Arizona in November 1972, purchasing a home under construction in Paradise Valley and having it custom-finished according to their specifications. While their new home was being completed, the Pipers lived in a home Virginia had bought in Mountain Shadows at 5635 East Lincoln Drive. With Motorola gaining such a significant industrial presence in the Valley, Bob Galvin and his family had also built a second home at the nearby John Gardiner's Tennis Ranch, and in 1973 Carol Critchfield purchased Virginia's home in Mountain Shadows and made a permanent move from Riverside to Paradise Valley.

After his marriage to Virginia, Ken's position at Motorola changed. Bob Galvin, still chairman of the board of Motorola, named Ken assistant to the chairman of the board, charging him with reducing employee healthcare costs. Motorola, at that point, was the largest employer in the Valley, and to help reduce the massive cost of employee healthcare, Bob needed Ken to put together a task force of attorneys, physicians, and businessmen who could make fair but cost-efficient healthcare recommendations that would benefit Motorola employees.

Virginia and Ken finally moved into their new home on 7818 North Arroyo Drive in Paradise Valley in 1973. Large but not ostentatious, the Pipers' home had four bedrooms, a kitchen, living room, dining room, atrium, and separate offices for Ken and Virginia. The backyard swimming pool was encircled by lush beds of roses, planted perhaps in lasting tribute to Ken's courtship of Virginia. The grounds were immaculately maintained, always freshly planted with geraniums and other bright seasonal flowers. Virginia had persuaded her gardener in Evanston, Dick Nowack, and his wife, Del, to relocate to Arizona and continue to work for her, which he did until Dick's death in the mid-1980s.