Virginia Kittredge

(From Clark Funeral Home)

Virginia Kittredge, 95, Neosho, died December 24, 2013 at Medicalodge in Neosho, following a lengthy illness.

 Virginia was born December 24, 1918 at Russellville, AR, the daughter of James and Lucille Winderoth. Her father died when she was a small child and subsequently, her mother married Joseph W. Gause, who adopted Virginia. The family lived in Russellville and Muskogee, OK during Virginia’s early years, but most of her youth was spent in Little Rock, AR, which she considered her hometown.

 After graduating from Little Rock High School, she attended Florida’s Stetson University for one year and then transferred to the University of Tennessee at Knoxville where she completed her degree, majoring in journalism. During WW II, she joined the American Red Cross. In 1946, she was sent to Fitzsimmons Hospital in Denver and following a transfer to Italy in 1947, she was staff assistant at Red Cross Clubs in Venice, Tarcento and Leghorn. Returning to the United States, she w as Field Director at the Winter VA Hospital, Topeka, KS; then at the O’Reilly VA Hospital, Springfield, MO and finally at the VA Hospital in Muskogee, OK.

Commendations by Red Cross supervisors included, ‘maintains a consistently friendly and cheerful attitude…willing to take on additional responsibilities…professional in her approach…excellent sense of humor…conscientious, dependable, resourceful..outgoing personality and excellent sense of humor.” Her Neosho friends are fully aware of her sense of humor and sharp wit.

During the Korean War, she was Recreation Director at the 8041st Station Hospital in Sasebo, Japan. After returning to the United States, she married Theodore (Ted) Kittredge on July 14, 1951. After their marriage, Virginia continued to work with local Red Cross Chapters, both in volunteer and professional capacities. During Ted’s 1951-53 period of Army service at Camp Crowder, the couple lived in Neosho and Virginia was Society Editor of the Neosho Daily News, owned by Howard Bush. After several years in Colorado and Arkansas, Virginia and Ted retired to Neosho in 1985. Virginia was a member and Deacon of the First Presbyterian Church and a member of Chapter JO, P.E.O. She is preceded in death by her husband, her parents and her brother, J. W. Gause, Jr. She is survived by three cousins, Joan Anderson, Springfield, MO; Jeanne Green, Franklinton, LA and Alfred P. White, Jr., Pine Bluff, AR. 

The family will have a memorial service at a later date.