Virginia Wynne Bengston

Virginia Bengston passed away peacefully at home on Saturday, June 6, 2013 with family and friends nearby. She had lived a long and busy life to the age of 96-1/2. Virginia was born to John and Viola Henderson in Glendale, California on January 7, 1917; the fourth of five children. After graduating from Glendale High School in 1934, she traveled to the bay area and fell in love with Berkeley and the University of California campus. She soon found work and housing, and attended school at UC Berkeley where she met her future husband and the love of her life, Carl Rodney Bengston. They were married by Carl's grandfather Carl Anderson, a Swedish Covenant minister, in Berkeley on June 18, 1938. After their marriage, Virginia and Carl made homes in San Luis Obispo, Fresno, Vancouver, Washington and Grants Pass, Oregon before moving to Santa Cruz in 1958. Virginia was a devoted wife, homemaker, mother and grandmother, and she loved keeping in touch with her extended family and friends near and far. She managed the affairs of her home and family with careful attention to detail. An accomplished gardener, she won first place in the 1945 Victory Garden contest in the greater Vancouver area and continued to feed her family from the southern Oregon farm where they resided for five years. Her wonderful cooking, canning, pickling and baking abilities were well known. After moving to Santa Cruz, she turned her attention to flower gardening at which she was equally talented. Soon after moving to Santa Cruz, she was introduced to a group of bridge players via the Welcome Wagon Club and her regular bridge games became a passion and an important part of her life for the following 55 years until her death. Her bridge partners were her dear friends and confidants for decades. She was fascinated by genealogy and spent many years researching her East Tennessee roots. After her husband retired, he became interested in genealogy as well, and she helped him research his Swedish heritage. Virginia and Carl traveled extensively and logged hundreds of thousands of miles in their motor homes throughout North America from Alaska to Mexico, across Canada, down the Atlantic coast and all points between. They also enjoyed many international cruises together and traveled throughout Europe and Scandinavia several times. Virginia was involved in many organizations including the Welcome Wagon Club, Santa Cruz Photography Club, Santa Cruz Women's Club (President in 1968), Scandinavian Society, Elks RV Club, Inner Wheel, Mended Hearts, 1st Presbyterian Church, Rotary RV Club and Santa Cruz Mineral and Gem Society among others. She is survived by two children, Ron Bengston of Davenport, and Nancy (Bob) Emerson of Carbondale, Colorado. Grandma "Gin Gin" is also survived by granddaughters Wendy Gregory, Cyndi Jones and Amanda Emerson-Burger and grandsons Brian and Kevin Bengston and Michael Emerson, along with six great-grandchildren and two great-great grandchildren, as well as seven nieces and nephews and their families. She was preceded in death by all of her siblings, by her husband of 67 years Carl, in 2005; and by her son Robert in 2008. A memorial service will be held at a later date to be announced. The family requests that any contributions in Virginia's honor be made to the Salvation Army, 721 Laurel Street, Santa Cruz, CA 95060; or to Feed the Children, P. O. Box 36, Oklahoma City, OK 73101-0036.