The Times - Serving Waitsburg, Dayton and the Touchet Valley

Virginia Neace was born in Waitsburg, Washington on July 22, 1921 to Loette McKinney Rinehart and John Prizer Rinehart. She passed away on December22, 2014 in Portland, Oregon where she had lived for the past several years. Her father died at a young age and her mother and Virginia lived with her Grandparents until Loette married Chester Keiser. The family then moved to the Keiser farm outside of Waitsburg. She attended grade school and high school in Waitsburg where she was involved in many activities. She was the Queen of the Days of Real Sport Court. After graduating from high school she attended Washington State College for 2 years before returning home to support the war effort by working for Green Giant. In 1944 she married her high school sweetheart Denney Neace in New York City at the Little Church Around the Corner. Denney had just graduated from the US Navy V-12 program at Cornell University and been commissioned an Ensign in the Navy. The newlyweds moved to Florida where they made their first home until Denney shipped out to the Pacific. After the war they returned to Waitsburg where they lived and farmed the Neace and Keiser farms until retirement. They raised their son Lewis and retired shortly after he entered Whitman College. Virginia was very active in the First Christian Church and in local organizations including Eastern Star, PEO and the Pythian Sisters. She was Worthy Matron Eastern Star Chapter #9 in 1961 and President of PEO Chapter BE in 1962. She served as a state officer of the Pythian Sisters and traveled throughout the US.

Virginia gave up her violin for the organ as she grew older and enjoyed playing in her leisure time. After retirement Virginia and Denney spent winters at their Arizona home, and summers in Waitsburg and Long Beach Washington. She was preceded in death by her husband, Denney, in 1988. Her later years were spent at their home in Waitsburg, then in retirement homes in Walla Walla and finally in Portland, Ore. near her son and daughter-in-law Drs. Lewis and Gwynneth Neace. She has one grandson, Major Denney Lewis Byron Neace, an Air Force Cyberwarfare Officer and his wife Carolyn Neace.