Virginia S Gallup

Our loving mother, grandmother, great grandmother, and great-great grandmother Virginia S. Gallup passed away peacefully in her sleep on Monday, February 27, 2023 at the age of 98.
Virginia was born the first of three children November 12, 1924, in Ucon, Idaho. Her father, Dan Simmons, was on an LDS mission in Denmark when she arrived on Earth. The second child was Garner, a boy, and them Mary Dee, the youngest girl.
Virginia grew up on farms in Ucon, Idaho and Rexburg, Idaho where she learned the value of hard work, sacrifice, and thriftiness. The farm in Ucon was owned by her grandfather Simmons to the best of our memory. During her time in Rexburg, she lived off and on with her grandparents John and Charlotte Garner. Some of her early childhood years were during the Great Depression era when thrift and frugality were prized even on the farm. Things were scarce and her family sometimes ate corn on the cob for breakfast. Another staple was potatoes. They raised their own chickens.
During her formative years Virginia learned to play the piano and to sing with the beautiful voice she was gifted with. She possessed musical talents endowed from on high and from her parents, who were also gifted musically.
Virginia’s loyalty, dependability, congeniality, and beauty were characteristics and traits that attracted many to her. For example, when Virginia was about five years old Leah Belle Davidson came to Ucon, Idaho to visit her grandparents. That visit sparked a friendship that endured throughout the years. Leah Belle would only visit in the summers but that never hampered their friendship. Virginia had many other friends, but Leah Belle was her closest.
Virginia was involved in musical activities and plays in high school at Madison High School in Rexburg, Idaho. She graduated from high school in 1941. She was very attractive inviting a lot of male interest. After high school she attended Ricks College in 1942 (now BYU Idaho) for a while.
In the 1940’s Leah Belle extended an invitation for Virginia to go to San Diego, California to get a job and stay with her and her husband Ray Hawkes. Ray was stationed there during World War II in the Navy. It was in San Diego she met John Marlin Gallup whom she started dating. They soon fell in love, returned to Utah, and married in the Salt Lake temple on November 2, 1945. That was two months to-the-day after World War II ended.
During the early years of married life in Utah, John and Virginia live in Bountiful, Salt Lake City, and Provo. Virginia was able to put her musical ability on display as a member of the Mormon Tabernacle Choir as it was known then. During the Utah years of marriage, they had two children, Mark, who was born in Provo and Sharon who was born in Salt Lake City.
Before he finished his degree, John and Virginia moved to Sugar City, Idaho where John took a job with the Boy Scouts of America in the Idaho Falls Council. This was around 1954. Three years later James David Gallup was born as the third child in Rexburg, Idaho. Virginia had learned great home economics skills and was very resourceful as a homemaker and cook. Virginia always managed her clean home well and knew how to prioritize family affairs. Two of her other outstanding gifts were having a “green thumb” and taking up painting.
By 1959 John and Virginia had moved to McMinnville, Oregon on a transfer with the Boy Scouts of America. This was an agricultural area in the Willamette Valley and Virginia was able to further hone her homemaking skills even more canning the rich harvests of the valley such as fruits, vegetables and fish from the bountiful rivers and shores of Oregon. She directed ward choirs and played the piano and organ regularly. It was also a blessed year for the family as it increased by one child when Jay Paul Gallup was born in McMinnville, Oregon.
By the mid 60’s (1965) Virginia and her family moved to Eugene, Oregon at the southern end of the Willamette Valley. Virginia took a job at McCracken Freight Company as a billing clerk at which she served for a number of years. In mid1989 Virginia was asked to play the organ at the dedication of the Lake Oswego, Oregon Temple.
In her later years Virginia returned to Utah and lived in Riverton, Utah and Eagle Mountain, Utah during which time she served as a guide at the LDS Conference Center in Salt Lake City.
During the last ten or so years Virginia lived in St. George, Utah with her daughter Sharon.
Virginia is survived by her son Mark (Sylvie), her daughter Sharon, her son Paul (Nancy), eight grandchildren, twenty-seven
great-grandchildren, and one great-great grandchild.
A visitation will be held on Tuesday March 7, 2023 from 11AM to 12 PM at the LDS meeting house located at 550 East 700 South in St. George, Utah 84770. Funeral services will follow at the same location, starting at 12 noon. Interment will take place at 1:30 PM at the Tonaquint Cemetery at 1777 South Dixie Drive, St. George, Utah 84770.