Virginia Massengale Walker Hake Warden

Virginia Massengale Walker Hake Warden, “Ginny” was born September 12, 1919 in North Little Rock, Arkansas and died peacefully at home in Austin, Texas on November 8, 2017. She was raised by the Benedictine Sisters at St. Joseph’s Orphanage in North Little Rock.

After high school, she worked at Fr. Sill, Oklahoma, where she met Captain Richard Hake, whom she married in Salinas, California in December 1941. While Dick served overseas in WWII, Ginny moved to Worland, Wyoming, where she and Dick raised their five children. Ginny enjoyed the Worland social life, with Coconuts Dance Club, Dinner Bridge, golf, and parties at the country club. She loved the Hake family cabin in the Big Horns with all its fishing and hunting opportunities. One of our favorite photos is of her with a 5-point elk she shot on the opening day of hunting season. She also learned to ski and joined the Ski Patrol at Meadowlark.

Dick died in 1967 and Ginny married Colonel (Ret) Clifford Warden in 1974 and moved to Spokane, Washington where she and Clif shared their large families. In Spokane Ginny ran in the first Bloomsday Race in 1977 and became a “perennial”, finishing the race every year for 34 years until she retired from that event at age 91. For many years Ginny and Clif had a condo at Schweitzer Mountain where they enjoyed skiing and hosting visits from both sides of the family. She also enjoyed the activities of the Spokane Club, traveling with Clif in their motorhome, fishing trips, bridge groups and season tickets to the Spokane Indians with her baseball buddies. After Clif’s death in 2006 Ginny remained in Spokane until 2016 when she moved to live with family in Austin, Texas. One of Ginny’s favorite sayings was “Bloom where you are planted”, and she was comfortable and made friends wherever she was in the world.

Ginny is survived by her children Richard (Bernadine), Jennifer, Robert (Carla), Steven (Michele), and Melinda; her stepson Robert (Pattie) Warden; grandchildren Anthony, Kenneth, Claire, Margot, Anna, Bill, Valery, Jim, Amy, Brett, Jill, Cyndi; 19 great-grandchildren; and 2 great-great-grandchildren.

Cremation has taken place, and a memorial will be celebrated Saturday, August 4, 2018 at St. Mary Magdalen Church in Worland, WY. Her ashes will be buried at Riverview Memorial Cemetery in Worland. Donations in Ginny’s memory may be made to the Benedictine Sisters at: St. Scholastica Monastery Capital Campaign, P.O. Box 3489, Ft. Smith, AR 72913, marked as a donation for the Ginny Hake Warden Room.

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