Editing Virginia Satir (section)

==Early years==
[[File:VirginiaSatir4.jpg|thumb|right|Virginia Satir]]
Virginia Satir was born on June 26, 1916 in [[Neillsville, Wisconsin]]. She was the eldest of five children born to Oscar Alfred Reinnard Pagenkopf and Minnie (Happe) Pagenkopf. When she was five years old, Satir suffered from [[appendicitis]]. Her mother, a devout [[Christian Science|Christian Scientist]], refused to take her to a doctor. By the time Satir's father decided to overrule his wife, the young girl's [[Vermiform appendix|appendix]] had ruptured. Doctors were able to save her life, but Satir was forced to stay in the hospital for several months.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Jones-Smith |first=Elsie |title=Theories of counseling and psychotherapy: an integrative approach |date=2012 |publisher=SAGE Publications |isbn=9781412910040 |location=Thousand Oaks, Calif. |pages=529–530}}</ref><ref name="satir">{{Cite web|title=Who Virginia Was and Why She Mattered |url=http://satirglobal.org/about-virginia-satir/ |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120425040023/http://satirglobal.org/about-virginia-satir/ |archive-date=2012-04-25 |access-date=2018-07-11 |website=The Virginia Satir Global Network}}</ref>

When Satir was three years old, she taught herself to read and by age nine, she had read all of the books in the library of her small [[one-room school]]. 
From early years, Satir demonstrated an interest in family dynamics. When she was five, she decided that she would grow up to be "a children's detective on parents, inclinations that would later become true through her therapeutic practices."<ref name="satir"/> She later explained that "I didn't quite know what I would look for, but I realized a lot went on in families that didn't meet the eye."<ref name="satir"/>

In 1929, her mother insisted that the family move from their farm to [[Milwaukee]] so that Satir could attend high school. Satir's high school years coincided with the [[Great Depression]], and to help her family she took a part-time job and also attended as many courses as she could so that she could graduate early. In 1932, she received her high school diploma and promptly enrolled in [[Milwaukee State Teachers College]] (now [[University of Wisconsin–Milwaukee]].)  To pay for her education she worked part-time for the [[Works Projects Administration]] and for [[Gimbels]] Department Store and further supplemented her income by babysitting.<ref name="satir"/> She graduated with a bachelor's degree in education, and worked as a teacher for a few years.{{cn|date=April 2024}}

During her time as a schoolteacher, she recognized that involved and supportive parents not only help students in the classroom but could also heal family dynamics. Satir began meeting and cooperating with the parents of her students and saw the family system as a reflection of the world at large, stating ''"if we can heal the family, we can heal the world."''<ref name="satir" />

Beginning in 1937, for three summers she took courses at [[Northwestern University]] in Chicago. Her interest in families led her to enroll full-time at the [[University of Chicago]] School of Social Services Administration where she obtained a master's degree in social work. She finished her coursework for her master's degree in 1943, and completed her thesis for her degree in 1948.<ref name="satir"/>