Virginia Adele Russell Hoskisson

The world lost an amazing soul when Virginia Adele (Russell) Hoskisson passed away on April 16, 2022, in Logan, Utah, at 93 years old. The youngest of four children born to David and Mary Russell, Virginia was born in Provo, Utah on November 9, 1928, and grew up in the mining town of Eureka, Utah. Personally experiencing the struggles of the Great Depression instilled a strong sense of empathy and became a catalyst for helping the poor and those in need, advocating for society’s least fortunate, and eventually choosing a life of public service. Similarly, her insatiable curiosity about the world as a child lead to a lifelong joy of learning, inquiry, and adventure.

After moving to Provo as a teenager and graduating from high school, Virginia earned an English degree from Brigham Young University, then embarked on an award-winning career teaching elementary school in Salt Lake City before moving to Corcoran, California. During that time, she married Kenneth Hoskisson, a fellow educator, in the Salt Lake City temple on December 28, 1953. A few years later, the couple moved to Europe and spent ten years teaching in Department of Defense schools in West Germany and France, where she began a life-long love with Paris. Virginia enjoyed being immersed in new cultures and the couple spent much of their free time traveling extensively throughout Europe and parts of the Middle East. She felt a sense of awe in nature and enjoyed outdoor activities like swimming, hiking, and skiing. Later on, this sense of adventure and love of travel and learning from new experiences extended to her children through family vacations that often included visits to historical and cultural sites.

After starting a family, Virginia and Kenneth returned from Europe, moving to California in 1967 with two daughters and a son, all under five years old. In 1971, the family moved to Blacksburg, Virginia, where Virginia raised her children with the same spirit she brought to her students. Virginia excelled at playing tennis, her favorite sport, and loved to swim, often with her young children clinging to her back. She found pleasure in simply participating, never caring about who won the match or had the fastest lap time. While living in Blacksburg, she fell in love with the mountains and always relished the vibrant autumn leaves changing colors, a love which continued after her and Kenneth retired and moved to Logan in 1994.

Her warm smile, sense of humor, and heartfelt enthusiasm brightened Virginia’s classroom daily and revealed her love for every student. As a kindergarten, first, second, and third grade teacher, she truly delighted in children’s innocence and celebrated each individual, filling her classrooms with art and music representing many cultures. She felt a strong responsibility to treat everyone with kindness and fairness and delighted in her students’ unique personalities, while always urging them to seek other people’s perspectives and respect their opinions, as she strived to do, even when she might not personally agree with them. She encouraged each child’s questions and creativity, extending to them her own natural love of the arts. Though she downplayed her beautiful singing voice, she treasured singing in choirs throughout her life, and could frequently be heard humming a tune or breaking into song around the house. She especially enjoyed listening to classical music and filling her home with Christmas carols all day during the holidays. This same love applied to art, whether doodling on a napkin, making a charcoal drawing in her sketchpad, or creating an impressionist oil painting. It is no coincidence that wherever she went museums and concert halls were some of her favorite destinations. In addition to music and art, she collected art books and classic literature and was a voracious reader of literature and poetry, spending afternoons immersed a favorite book, following events in the newspaper, or enthusiastically reading children’s books to students and her children and, later, grandchildren. She also relished writing, from poetry to earnest letters to friends and the sincere notes in cards she sent or left on her children’s nightstands to support them during a difficult time, or apologize after an argument, or in their lunch box just to say she loved them. Her writing reflected her caring personality and how she would listen attentively to your problems, empathize, and try to make you feel better.

Virginia touched so many lives through her kindness and will be greatly missed by all who had the fortune to have her in their lives. She is survived by her husband Kenneth, daughters Tam and Heather, son Mark, six grandchildren, and six great-grandchildren. Per her wishes, there will not be a funeral; however, the family will be holding a graveside service and celebration of her life at Larkin Sunset Gardens in Sandy, Utah at a time and date to be determined in the next three to six months. Details will be posted on the Larkin obituary website a month or more before the celebration.