February 18, 1879 [St. Joseph, Missouri]– August 10, 1956 [Los Angeles]
Church was born Virginia Frame in St. Joseph, Missouri. She attended Smith College, where she published her first poems, graduating in 1898. She published her first play, Commencement Days, co-written with Margaret Mayo, with Samuel French in 1908. She married Col. John William Church (originally from Kentucky) in Richmond, Virginia, in 1908. They moved to San Diego in 1912, then moved to Pasadena, eventually settling in Los Angeles. Church’s first book, Teachers Are People, published under the name of “Miss Agatha Brown” in 1926, earned her some small fame — it was reprinted twice after WWII with additional poems. Around 1929, Church spent a year in Europe trying to find a cure for her failing eyesight. Her second book of poems, Silhouettes of the Latin Quarter, appeared in 1931. She died a widower in 1956 and is buried at Mountain View Cemetery and Mausoleum.
