Virginia Rae Callan

Virginia Rae (Anger) Callan was born in Louisville, Kentucky and was an only child. Some branches of her family had lived in Kentucky as far back as the 1770s and were the founders of Kentucky and the USA. She has many famous Revolutionary War heroes in the family as well as ten (10) Governors of Kentucky; (9) nine Kentucky Secretaries of State; three (3) distant cousins were U.S. Presidents (Abe Lincoln, Gerald Ford, and General Zachary Taylor); C.S.A. President Jefferson Davis; and Vice President John C. Breckinridge. Congressman Henry Clay, "The Great Compromiser" and three-time Presidential Candidate is Virginia's cousin by way of Mary Todd Lincoln. The list of her famous cousins meant that Kentucky and U.S. history are important to Virginia and she conveyed her interests to her seven children as well as her pursuit of genealogical research. For over 1,500+ years, her cousins and ancestors have been involved in politics or ruled eight European nations. After her retirement from the University of Louisville, English Department, Virginia helped her youngest son, Brennan James Callan to found the Kentuckiana Cinematography Club (KCC) in 2005 to help network filmmakers, writers, producers, directors, musicians, and others in the entertainment industry. By 2013, KCC has members in over 80+ nations around the world. At each meeting, one or two guest speakers discuss their career to impart their decades of life experience to mentor other members of the KCC. It is important for senior citizens to be involved in their community and Virginia is engaged in the entertainment community and she acts in films as well as helps as a Script Consultant, Secretarial Support, Producer, Executive Producer, and other capacities. In the late 1970s and early 1980s, she matriculated through the University of Louisville to be conferred a BA-Liberal Studies Degree. For one of her classes, she began researching and writing a historical book about Northfield, Kentucky. In 2014, she hopes to finally publish that book. It has required decades of updates since it was not published previously. Throughout medical problems in 2013 of Virginia fracturing her left hand and her husband, Frank Callan enduring an amputation of his leg, Virginia has continued to participate with the film community at KCC meetings and acting in films. Not all of those are yet listed on this site. Even in her late 70s, she daily reads books for hours. She is grateful for the Louisville Free Public Library and their endless book supply. Virginia and Frank both like aviation and one year for their wedding anniversary, they took a hot-air balloon ride. Virginia has flown in a variety of General Aviation planes with two of her sons that are pilots. She has even flown in an open cockpit biplane in September 2009.