Accomplished musician had the gift of many arts

Virginia DeVillo Suttee Begando distinguished herself as an accomplished soprano and violinist, but a brush with a future president remained one of her fondest memories.

It took place at the 1964 Rose Bowl, when the Fighting Illini met the University of Washington Huskies in an epic contest (Illinois won, 17-7). Mrs. Begando sat with University of Illinois trustees, and acting on impulse handed her pompon to Ronald Reagan as he walked by. At the time, Reagan was an actor who was active in Republican politics.

"She always said she got to shake his hand -- before he was elected president," says her daughter, DeVillo Janecek of St. Charles.

Her family members now are cherishing those memories. Mrs. Begando passed away Oct. 31. The former 43-year Elmhurst resident, recently of St. Charles, was 86.

Mrs. Begando grew up in a small town in Kansas, where family members say she was born with all of the talent.

Her connection to Hollywood stars dates back to high school, when for one year, Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright William Inge taught drama at Cherokee County Community High School in Columbus, Kansas -- before he went on to write such memorable works as "Picnic," "Splendor in the Grass" and "Come Back Little Sheba."

"My mother was cast in a small role in a play he was directing," Janecek says, "but during the rehearsal process, he put her in the lead.

"Needless to say, the girl in the lead wasn't happy, but I think it demonstrates that he recognized her talent."

Mrs. Begando went on to attend Kansas State Teacher's College in Columbus, where she continued her involvement in musical theater and also played first chair violin in the college symphony.

It was during college that she met her husband, Dr. Joseph Begando. He graduated one year ahead of her and enlisted in the Coast Guard, stationed first in Everglades City, Fla.

Though she was one year shy of her college degree, Mrs. Begando left her native Kansas to marry him.

"She put her wedding dress in a box and got on a train," her daughter says. "She went to Florida to get married -- by herself, with no family."

Their life together would take them to meet all sorts of dignitaries, from Hollywood stars to academic leaders and heads of state.

Dr. Begando, who died in May, capped his academic career with being named the first chancellor of the University of Illinois Medical Center Campus in Chicago. He led the medical college from 1961 to 1983, before it merged with university's main campus to become the University of Illinois at Chicago.

Prior to that, Dr. Begando was dean of the pharmacy college at the medical campus. At the time, the couple settled in Elmhurst, where they raised their three daughters and where Mrs. Begando returned to her love of community theater, playing such memorable roles as Nellie Forbush in "South Pacific."

She also found an outlet for her music at Elmhurst Presbyterian Church, where she was their featured soloist, and where one of her most requested hymns, at services and weddings, was "Oh, Promise Me."

As the wife of a university chancellor, Mrs. Begando traveled and entertained with her husband, but she found even more rewards from her involvement with the University of Illinois Medical Center Auxiliary, which worked to enhance the hospital and its patient care.

A memorial service for Mrs. Begando, and Dr. Begando, will take place at 1 p.m. Dec. 22 at the Norris Funeral Home, 100 S. Third St. in St. Charles.