Virginia Ann Van Dyke, 95, a resident of the Verboort Community and long time member of Visitation Church, passed away on September 30, 2023 at Jennings McCall Senior Living Center, Forest Grove, Oregon.

Virginia was born on June 8, 1928 in Williston, North Dakota.  She was the oldest of two children born to Antone and Selma(Knutsen) Huschka. At age 6, Virginia moved with her family to Livingston, Montana.  In 1941, they relocated to Forest Grove.  Two weeks after this move, World War II broke out and her father went to work in the shipyards.   She graduated from Forest Grove High School Class of 1947 and remained in Forest Grove the rest of her life.  

Virginia was very industrious.  She started working while in high school.  Her father went with her into Portland to see an acquaintance and said that ‘Virginnie needed a job’ and her father’s friend told her ‘to be there on Monday morning.’  So she started working at JC Penney, traveling by bus to downtown Portland.  Upon graduating from high school she changed employment to working at the Forest Grove High School office.  She kept the year books from her years at the high school and followed classmates and students throughout their lives by ‘finding them in the yearbook’.  During World War II she did her civic duty by volunteering to watch for airplanes and balloons.  This involved spending Sunday afternoons sitting atop the bank building in Forest Grove often in the company of Jane Van Dyke (Stanley).  She always said they were so ‘relieved not to see anything’.  After working at the high school, she went to work at Dr. Bump’s office where she was employed until she married. 

As a young person, Virginia loved music and dancing.  On Saturday evenings, she and her girlfriends would take the bus to Hillsboro to go dancing.  They were always careful to catch the last bus back to Forest Grove, where to would find other dances to attend.   At one of these dances she met Ralph Van Dyke.  He asked her out for a few dates and after about the 4th date he told her he was not coming back.  She responded, “That’s fine with me.”  They saw nothing of each other for 4 years and then bumped into each other at the Banks BBQ.   They resumed dating and were united in marriage 10 months later on July 2, 1952.  Virginia spent the next 67 years of her life working hard as a housewife, mother, parishioner and spoiling Ralphy. They resided in the house that Ralph was born in until 1961 when they replaced the old home with a new one.  She was a perfectionist and could come up with solutions for the farm often causing Ralph to refer to her as ‘that fussy little Norwegian’.  She had a great deal of patience with all the animals—wild and domestic-- and bottle-fed and coddled anything that just needed a little extra help to get on their feet.  If one ever wanted to know where Virgina was, you just looked for the cats.   She could not hide from them.  

In her retirement years, she was able to enjoy numerous hobbies including sewing, cooking, crocheting, gardening, traveling and clamming.  She could never resist the urge to find and try new recipes, (and she would always improve that recipe) much to Ralph’s enjoyment!  

She is preceded in death by her parents; husband, Ralph; youngest son; Ben; and brother and sister-in-law, Emery and Yvonne Huschka.

She is survived by five children: Walter Van Dyke of Ontario, Oregon, Patricia Van Dyke of Portland Oregon, Anthony and his wife Sheryl Van Dyke of McMinnville, Oregon, daughter-in-law Tonya Van Dyke of Forest Grove, Oregon, Donna Cherry and Steve McKinney of Johnson City, Tennessee, Margaret and her husband, Dennis Strieff of Portland Oregon; four grandsons; Bryce, Brett, Nathan, and Ryan, and one great granddaughter, Roan.

The family suggests donations be placed in Virginia's name to the Visitation Catholic Cemetery, 3150 NW Thatcher Rd., Forest Grove, Oregon 97116, or Huschka House Transitional Living, PO Box 774, Johnson City, TN  37605.