By Nicole Hamilton
The Cincinnati Enquirer

Long before the term "organic" became commonplace in big grocery stores, Virginia Restemeyer was teaching Cincinnatians about health food and alternative medicine therapy.

A longtime supporter of organic farming, she grew vegetables in the backyard of her Clifton/University Heights home for almost 50 years and was a partner in a popular Winton Place organic produce business.

Mrs. Restemeyer died Oct. 11 at Rydal Park Retirement Home in Jenkintown, Pa. - a Philadelphia suburb - of cancer. She was 80.

Her daughter, Virginia Restemeyer of Philadelphia, said her mother's love of gardening formed during the Depression.

Raised in downtown Cincinnati, Virginia Lee Harris graduated from the old Woodward High School and earned a bachelor's degree in business administration in 1944 from the University of Cincinnati.

She married William Restemeyer, an engineering professor, in 1943.

In 1971, Ms. Restemeyer helped found a nutritional awareness group, called Food Cranks, whose purpose was to introduce natural foods. She was a member of the National Health Federation and Natural Foods Associates, and represented them at national conventions.

In the 1970s she helped establish Wooden Shoe Gardens, an organic produce market in Winton Place.

Her husband died in 1989.

Other survivors are son William of New York City; and two brothers, James Harris of Austin, Texas, and Robert Harris of Lakewood, Calif.

A memorial service will held Nov. 22 at Vine Street Hill Cemetery, Clifton. Memorials: Magee Rehabilitation Foundation, 6 Franklin Plaza, Philadelphia, PA 19102.