Virginia Louise Gillett was born February 20, 1939, in Kansas City,
Kansas, the third child and first daughter of Ira and Atha (Morlan) Gillett.
Virginia was educated in the Kansas City, Kansas School system --
going to Mark Twain Grade School and Wyandotte High School. She graduated Cum Laude from Wyandotte in May, 1957, 14th in her class of 497.
Married the summer after high school, raising four children, moving often, plus working outside the home resulted in Virginia's college education being spread over a number of years and schools.
She finished classes at the following schools, some years taking only one course:
- Kansas State College, Manhattan, KS (1957/58)
- Fort Hays Kansas State College, Fort Hays, KS (1970)
- Penn Valley Community College, Kansas City, MO (1974)
- Kansas City, Kansas Community College (1974/75/77/80/81)
- University of Missouri at Kansas City (1981/82/83)
- Friends University, Wichita, Kansas
(1990/91)
In 1991, at age 52, she received the degree of Bachelor of Science
in Human Resources Management (with Honors) from Friends University.
On August 11, 1957, Virginia married Darrell Ray Knight. Darrell was born May 19, 1937, the son of Robert and Opal (Matlock) Knight of Kansas City, Kansas.
Four children were born to Virginia and Darrell:
- Elizabeth Ann Knight born September 13, 1958, in Manhattan, Kansas
- Vicki Sue Knight born May 19, 1960, in Kansas
City, Kansas
- Kevin Eugene Knight born July 23, 1962, at in
Kansas City, Kansas
- Kristi Diane Knight born June 3, 1965, in Fayette, Missouri.
Virginia and Darrell were divorced on December 13, 1971; Virginia and the children moved back to Kansas City, Kansas, to be near her family.
Virginia
Liz
Vicki
Liz
Kristi
Kevin
Vicki
Kevin
Kristi
On June 25, 1976, Virginia married Charles Transue in Kansas City, Kansas. Charles was from Lawrence, Kansas.
They were divorced on October 11, 1978.
On November 28, 1986, Virginia married Wilbert Henry (Webb) Oberheide in Kansas City, Kansas.
Webb was born on January 25, 1925, at his parent's farm near Paola, Kansas, the son of Dietrich George and Margaret Pauline (Tinken) Oberheide.
From necessity, Virginia worked even during the years when her children were young:
- 1959-1964 (with 6 weeks off for births of Vicki and Kevin) --
Crown Drug Company, Kansas City, Missouri -- started as clerk-typist, advanced to Secretary to the Vice President of Merchandising, then to Reorder Buyer.
- 1966-67 -- McCormick-Mathers Publishers, Wichita, Kansas -- company
published text books -- Secretary to the Vice President of Sales
- 1967-70 -- Trust Department of First National Bank, Wichita, Kansas --
Secretary/Administrative Assistant to the Vice President of the Probate Division
- 1970-71 -- Trego-WaKeeney Bank, WaKeeney, Kansas -- Teller, encoder,
and clerical duties plus Secretary to the Vice President
- 1971-72 -- Trust Department of Commerce Bank, Kansas City, Missouri
-- Administrative Assistant in the Probate Division
- 1972-2000 -- USBA (Uniformed Services Benefit Association, Kansas
City, Missouri -- association, underwritten by New York Life, provides group life insurance
to military personnel and federal employees -- during her 28 years at USBA she advanced from
Secretary to the Membership Secretary to
Vice President, Information Systems.
In her work career, Virginia went from using a manual typewriter -- to an electric typewriter and
copy machine -- to FAX machines -- to mainframe computer terminals shared by a group with programs written
in Assembler language -- to networked Personal Computers with work processed via imaging, programmed
in JavaScript and C+ -- full internet and intranet connectivity -- and telecommuting from home.
Virginia retired from USBA on September 29, 2000. She does volunteer work for Christ Lutheran Church
in Overland Park, Kansas, and enjoys reading, needlework and using her computer.
In 2007 she and her husband, Webb, moved to the Tallgrass Creek Retirement Community where they plan to spend the remainder of their days.
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