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| Virginia, the child who showed up at Sandy's door |
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| Virginia with female family members |
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| Jeff Freeland, Class of 1977; Judy Stalnaker, 1983 North Marion graduate; Cynthia Nosack, Class of 1979; Ronnie Freeland, 1985 North Marion grad; Robert Freeland, 1983 North Marion graduate. |
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| Virginia at Cindy's wedding |
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| Judy with Virginia's grand-niece Mackenzie |
CATCHING UP
WITH
Virginia
Littleton Curtis
A lifetime
of being a helping hand
Virginia
Littleton Curtis, Class of 1957, has spent nearly all of her 80 years taking
care of others.
Sandy Weils
Shaffer Cook, Class of 1959, remembers when fourth-grader Virginia showed up at her family’s kitchen door one morning in
the dead of winter in a dark green snowsuit
while second-grader Sandy was eating breakfast.
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| Virginia (right) with Sandy at 2017 get-together |
Virginia told Sandy that Virginia’s aunt, Toots Booth,
had told Virginia she could walk Sandy to school.
The two
families lived across the road from each other, so pairing them for the walk to
the one-room Davis Ridge schoolhouse seemed natural.
But Sandy
wasn’t the only one in Virginia’s charge. “Sandy had three cousins who also
walked with us,” Virginia recalled.
As for
Sandy, Virginia said, “I was her big sister. I took care of her.”
Thus began
a life of “taking care” of others and a life-long friendship.
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| Virginia as MHS senior |
Even after
they both began their Monongah High lives, “We were
locker buddies at Monongah High School,” Sandy said.
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| Sandy as MHS senior |
The two
girls have walked through life together ever since Virginia showed up at
Sandy’s kitchen door.
Sandy added:
“I can
still see her standing there like it was yesterday. Funny how some
memories never die.
“Yes, her
dark green snowsuit with her black hair and big brown eyes are stuck in my
memory.”
Sandy added:
“I just had a really nice visit with her in September in Fairmont.”
Walking a cadre of children safely to David Ridge School was just the beginning for Virginia helping others.
“Virginia was the oldest of her three siblings and had to babysit a lot,” Sandy said. “When Virginia babysat, I spent time with her. We were like sisters.”
Virginia remembers bailing out Sandy, too. “Sandy got caught on an electric fence on one of our walks and I had to rescue her,” Virginia said, chuckling at Sandy’s hangup.
Virginia’s penchant for helping others stayed with her forever. “I was a nurse’s helper for 40 years,” she said.
Virginia broke her back taking care of, and lifting, her mother when Mom had the debilitating Alzheimer’s disease.
As for life at 80, Virginia said she’s doing fine. Her doctor checked her out and just had her “take a little bit of Vitamin D.”
Virginia added about Sandy:
“We used to walk in the rain under an umbrella and pretend that we were driving.”
Sandy chimed in:
“We walked many miles to school up to that Ridge. Winters were tough when we were small and the snow was deep.
“We never ever got into trouble of any kind; we would have both been killed at home if we had. We did share lots and lots of laughs and giggles over many things. We lived on farms and did lots and lots of farm chores.
“Virginia married and moved to Kentucky while I got married and moved to Indiana.
“My husband (Michael Shaffer, on the Monongah High 1955 state football champs and 1956 state runnersup and a pitcher on the 1955 MHS state champ baseball team) was in Virginia’s graduating class of 1957 so she did know him. Her husband passed away at an early age as did mine so they never got to meet.”
Virginia’s husband, Robert Gerald Freeland, survived being wounded while serving his country in Korea but, after 22 years of marriage, passed away from his only heart attack. Without warning, Virginia was a widow with five children. More taking care in her life.
They lived in Kentucky near the Indiana border for a few years before winding up in Fairmont.
The first time I saw Bob, he was up a tree. “He was a tree trimmer,” Virginia said, “and he was trimming a tree in Monongah.”
That brings to mind the singsonging we did as children: “Virginia and Bob sitting in a tree. K I S S I N G.”
Bob fell . . . not out of the tree, but into Virginia’s heart. And Virginia tumbled into Bob’s heart even though “I was bashful when I was a Monongah High senior,” Virginia said. But not now.
They have five children.
Jeffrey Allen lives across the hill in Four States. Robert, Jr. resides in Maryland. Daughter Judy Stalnaker shares Virginia’s 12-room house on a Four States farm. Ronald is a Veterans Adminstration Hospital electrician in Clarksburg and lives in Lumberport. Cynthia Mosac lives on Bice’s Run in Bingamon.
Virginia and Bob have nine grandchildren and four great-grandchildren.
As for Aunt Toots, Virginia’s mom later married a Booth, making Toots Virginia’s aunt.
Later, Sandy married Bob Cook. They live on Fort Myers Beach in Florida.
Sandy continued:
“Virginia was my mentor when I started to the big high school in Monongah. We were lockermates for two years. Virginia was two years ahead of me in school so she graduated in 1957 while I didn’t graduate until 1959.”
By the time Virginia graduated from Monongah High, where she was in the school chorus for two years, she had moved to Watson with Aunt Toots, but that didn’t end the friendship. Far from It.
Sandy added:
“Virginia is a great person with a heart of gold. She has been a wonderful mother and raised a beautiful family. Her children are wonderful to her so you know she did a terrific job of raising them.”
While Virginia Littleton Curtis lives in Fairmont, Sandy Cook lived in Fort Wayne, Indiana until retirement and a move to Punta Gorda, Florida and later Fort Myers Beach, Florida.
But their friendship lives forever in their hearts no matter how far apart they are geographically.
Virginia also remains in frequent contact with Maddona Galford, who lives in Carolina. “We were in all four grades together,” Virginia recalled. “We sat next to each other in all the classes for four years.”
Virginia has been a regular at the Monongah High Alumni Reunion for about 15 years.
Her travels mostly revolved around going to Air Force bases where relatives were stationed, including in Wichita and New York.
If you want to renew your acquaintance with this remarkable, helping-hands woman, Virginia’s phone number is (304) 278-3511. She lives in Fairmont. She had moved to Watson with Aunt Toots while finishing up at Monongah High.
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| Sandy was busy at Monongah High |
