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Obituary |
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Headline: Virginia Wiehn worked hard, was a plucky lady OBITUARY: She would deliver an occasional off-color wisecrack in a soft Southern drawl By: Robin Hinch, The Orange County Register 17 Aug 1999 Virginia GILMER Wiehn was in her 70's when she had her eyebrows tattooed on. It was a purely practical decision. Her hands had gotten to shaky to pluck them, her vision wasn't so sharp, and, well, eyebrows matter. Looking nice wasn't a frivolous thing to Virginia. It was part of her emotional foundation. It was simply, who and how she was -- proud, colorful, meticulous. The clothes you saw complementing her gentle blue eyes (GILMER eyes, the family called them) and gently permed (shampoo and set every week) told you lots about Virginia. They were stylish and well put together as her tidy Orange (Ca.) home, as lacy and feminine as her coquettish spirit, as colorful as her sense of humor, and as bold as her pride and independence. Virginia was a woman who held her head through tough times, wept over romantic tales, and wisecracked her way out of many situations. And who always looked nice. She was 79 when she died Friday at home. One of eight children born on a farm in Tennessee (Dyersberg), she was named Johnnie after her father who said the next child would be named after him even if it wasn't a boy. She refused to use the name though, and went by her middle name instead. When Virginia was young the family moved to Missouri (Pemiscot Co.) where hoeing radishes was replaced by picking cotton. Her schooling ended with the eight grade so she could work the fields full time and help her Mom at home She was 16 when she married Albert Elvin Smith (on 2 Nov 1936 Pemiscot Mo.) , also a cotton picker. They became sharecroppers and Virginia told many times of how they managed to save enough money during their first year of marriage to buy a new kitchen stove. At the end of 1937, Virginia's parents (John Leslie GILMER - Maggie Dunn JOHNSON) bought a big truck and insisted that all eight children, their spouses and offspring move with them to California ( they all did). Virginia was pregnant with her first daughter, and gave birth two weeks after they arrived in San Bernardino (San Bernardino, CA) ( Ruby Lynn Smith 24 Jan 1938 ) . In 1945, Virginia and Albert moved to Orange (Orange Ca ). Virginia packed and graded oranges while her mother watched their daughter. Albert hauled fruit. Virginia worked most of her life. From the packing house she moved to grocery stores, where she managed the deli department and worked as a checker. She and Albert bought Virginia's dream house on Waverly Street in Orange in 1952. It was brand-new, lath and plaster, one story with a big back yard. When she and Albert divorced in 1964, Virginia managed to buy him out and keep the house. She called it her Tara, and liked to tell people how she had been able to buy the house not once, but twice. She was a plucky woman and a hard worker, unabashed by divorce and proud of being able to support herself and her family. She set a strict moral code for her girls (Sherry Fay 1947 Orange, Orange Ca) that prohibited swimming (they might drown) , teen-age trips to the Rendez-vous Ballroom in Balboa, and getting pregnant, heaven forbid out of wedlock. " It would kill me " she said with such drama they almost believed her. She was not, however, troubled by the occasional off-color wisecrack or pointed remark, which she delivered sweetly in her soft Southern drawl. " I'd like to buy her for what she's worth and sell her for what she thinks she's worth ." Virginia would snort of someone she held in little regard. Or, when chasing after an errant grandchild : " When I catch you , I'm going to jerk a knot in your tail!" She could cook a Southern meal like nobody's business -- greens, beans and ham hock, fried chicken -- and if someone dropped by in the afternoon she'd whip up a perfectly appointed plate of cheese, crackers and relishes in seconds. In 1970 Virginia met and married Wilfred "Bill " Wiehn (pronounced wane) , a retired Air Force pilot. The adjustment from life as an independent single woman wasn't always easy, but Virginia was at last able to retire and enjoy travel and leisure. And she kept on wisecracking until the day she died.
A Life Story
This one we got at the funeral: Johnnie "Virginia" Wiehn Born Johnnie Virginia Gilmer on 1 April 1920. ( Dyersberg, TN ). So named because her father, John Leslie Gilmer, wanted her to be a boy and when she wasn't he named her Johnnie anyway. She was the fifth child born to John and Maggie (Johnson) Gilmer and ironically enough three sons were born after her. She was raised on a farm in TN. Never having much in the way of material things, but according to her always plenty of good things to eat because they raised all their own food including their meat. Her mother was an excellent cook as well as a God fearing, loving mother to her eight children. It is not certain at what age Virginia was when she left TN. And moved to MO. (Pemiscot) where they raised cotton for a living. She spoke of many hard days spent picking and chopping cotton. At age 16, on Nov 2, 1936 she married Albert Elvin SMITH in a small town in MO. She spoke of how on their wedding night their prankster friends separated them and walked them through cotton fields all night returning them to each other the next morning. The two of them became sharecroppers and she often recalled stories of buying food on credit all winter and when the crops came in they would pay their bill. She was very proud of the fact that after their first year they had enough left to buy a kitchen stove. Sometime toward the end of 1937 her father went to her mother and asked her if she would like to move to California (Maggie had a sister there) . Her mother said that she would go only if all of her children would go also. So her father went out and bought a truck and about 20 (we think closer to 26 ) GILMER's, including the spouses and children, came to California in that truck -- much like the Jodes in "The Grapes of Wrath " Virginia was in the last stages of pregnancy with her first child at the time. They arrived in California (San Bernardino) on 10 Jan., 1938 and her first child Ruby Lynn was born 24 Jan. Shortly after the birth (1945 ) she and Albert settled in Olive (Orange Ca). They moved several times between Olive and Orange and eventually settled in Orange (Orange Ca) shortly after the war ended in 1945. In 1947 she gave birth to a second daughter, Sherry Fay She and Albert spent their early years in California working in the orange industry, she packing and grading oranges and he hauling them. She and Albert lived together in Orange until 1964 when they. Their last home together being the one she lived in until the time of her death. Virginia in the meantime had gotten into the grocery business working both as a deli manager and a checker. Beginning in 1959 when she was diagnosed with cancer, her life was plagued with multiple health problems. By this time she had two granddaughters. She went through a tumultuous period in her life beginning with her illness in 1959 until she remarried in 1970 to Wilfred "Bill " Wiehn. Shortly after her marriage she retired. She had a few years which she enjoyed immensely, traveling, etc., but she was never really free from health problems -- many of which were the result of the very aggressive treatment she received for the cancer. Her life continued to be plagued with illness but she subsequently had much joy brought into her life in the form of more grandchildren. She had seven altogether and from them, five great grandchildren one being her namesake, Chloe Virginia and her youngest Cassidy Nicole. There is another one on the way that she unfortunately did not live long enough to learn about. Her grandchildren and great grandchildren loved her very much and it made her sad that her health was not good enough to have them over more and to be able to cook for them. One of her greatest joys came in cooking a good meal. She was very God fearing, loving, and caring person. Her pride was very strong and she was meticulous about her appearance. She would often say to her children, " What would the neighbors think, " There was a story she told about when she was very young and some terrible flu or other illness went through the community in which she lived. A baby died and nobody would prepare this baby for burial because they were afraid of contracting the illness, so she volunteered. She bathed and dressed the baby and fixed his hair. This is the kind of person she was. She was strong and loving and always willing to listen and console. You could always count on Virginia for a good laugh and even up until just a few days before her death, she was still able to crack a joke. Her passing has left a big hole in the hearts of all who knew and loved her. But with the strength and love of God that she passed on, we will carry on her life throughout many generations to come Born April Fool's Day, died Friday the thirteenth, what a legacy of love she left behind. Her physical presence will be sorely missed, but the love she taught us will live in our hearts forever
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