Virginia Thompson Hegland, 97, formerly of Pullman, WA was born at home in Scottsboro Alabama on March 10th, 1919, and she peacefully passed away at home in Windsor California on January 28th, 2017 with her children at her side. The middle of three children and the only daughter, her childhood was very happy, despite her increasing awareness of the racial inequities that later became a life-long concern.

Her parents' commitment to education meant that she was able to attend the University of Alabama during the Great Depression, and she graduated in 1940 with a major in English and a minor in Library Science. In 1943 she enlisted in the Navy and joined the WAVES program, where she worked in the Codes and Ciphers department of the Registered Publications Issuing Office at the Norfolk Naval Base. After the war, thanks to the GI Bill, she decided to continue her studies in English as a graduate student at the University of Chicago. On her second day there, a librarian introduced her to another veteran who had also just arrived on campus, and she and Leonard Hegland were married in Scottsboro in September of 1946.

After receiving their Masters of Arts degrees from the University of Chicago in 1947, Virginia taught English at the University of Illinois and in a number of high schools in Kentucky and Washington State while Leonard obtained his PhD and joined the faculty at Washington State University in 1953. In 1956, their daughter Jean was born, and in 1959, their son Joel arrived. Two other children, Alan and David Meyer, were born in 1958 and 1960 to Leonard and Virginia's dear friends Paul and Pat Meyer. After the tragic early deaths of their parents, Alan and David became an important part of the Hegland family. Virginia loved her family and particularly enjoyed activities with
them such as camping, attending plays at the Oregon Shakespeare Festival, and visiting with her family in and around Alabama and her in-laws in western Montana.

Virginia joined the faculty of Pullman High School in 1953, where she first taught History and English and later became the school librarian. She retired in 1981, two years after Leonard's untimely death.

She spent her retirement traveling, gardening, reading, playing bridge, quilting, bird-watching, visiting with her many dear friends, and enjoying her children and grandchildren. She also enjoyed doing volunteer work at Neill Public Library and the Pullman Senior Center. She had a life-long commitment to social justice and in her later years was thrilled to see an educated and capable black man become president, and to be able to vote for marriage equality.

In 2000 she moved into Bishop Place in Pullman so she could enjoy life without the demands of housekeeping, and in 2014, she moved from Bishop Place to Birdie House in Windsor, California to be closer to family. Although dimmed by dementia in her final years, she maintained her gracious, graceful, uncomplaining, and cheerful spirit to the end. She will be missed deeply by her children, Jean Hegland (Douglas Fisher) of Healdsburg, California; Joel Hegland (Kris Lau) of Snohomish, Washington; Alan Meyer (Kathy Ayer) of Fort Collins, Colorado; and David Meyer (Molly Wood) of Seattle, Washington, as well as by her brother, the Rev. James K. Thompson of Florence, Alabama, her eight grandchildren and four great-granddaughters. She was preceded in death by her husband Leonard Hegland and her older brother John Will Thompson.

The funeral service will be held at 2 PM on Saturday, March 11, 2017 at Kimball Funeral Home in Pullman. Burial will follow at the Pullman Cemetery. Memorial gifts might be made to Southern Poverty Law Fund, The League of Women Voters, or Neill Public Library. Online condolences may be sent to www.kimballfh.com