Obituary: Virginia "Sweetie" Peck Winegar: The Dalles, Wasco Co., Oregon

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The Dalles Chronicle   November 8, 2002: Surnames: Winegar, Peck, Suratt, Ashley

    Virginia "Sweetie" Peck Winegar, 85, a resident of The Dalles and long time
resident of Tygh Valley (Oregon), died at the local hospital on Saturday, 
November 2, 2002.
    She was born November 7, 1916, in The Dalles to J. Emmett and Luttie Peck. 
She grew up in The Dalles and graduated from The Dalles High School and Linfield 
College in McMinnville (Oregon).
    She married Robert "Bruce" Winegar on January 1, 1941, in Camas, Washington.
She lived most of her married life in Tygh Valley, returning to The Dalles after
her husband died in 1990.
    She was a teacher, a painter, a collage artist, weaver, a bead artist, 
a gardener; a traveler, a lecturer, a historian and a fine cook.
    She collected Native American jewelry, beads, miniature books, snakes, 
carved wooden horses, hearts and books on plants, the Silk Road, the Gobi 
Desert, Samarkand, as well as local history. She was also an opera fan and 
a movie buff.
    Her special interest was alpine rock plants about which she was an expert and
her yard was full of species plants from the Atlas Mountains of Africa, the 
Pyrenees, the Himalayas, the Alps, the Olympics, the Rockies and the mountains
of Turkey.
    One of the highlights of her life was finding some plant fossils on 
Tygh Ridge which turned out to be fossils of the Metasequoia, an ancient conifer.
Until her finding it was not known the ancient tree was in this area.
    Survivors include her daughter, Annie Suratt of Salem (Oregon); her 
grandchildren, Mike and Lesa Ashley, Bend (Oregon); George Ashley and Betty, 
Wamic (Oregon); Gigi Ashley, Tygh Valley and Ty Suratt, Yamhill (Oregon); her 
great grandchildren, Nathaniel, Tiffnie, Steven and Stephanie.
    Graveside services will be held at 10 a.m. on Monday, November 11 at 
The Dalles Parklawn Cemetery with memorial services following at 11 a.m. at the 
fireside room of The Dalles Civic Auditorium. Reverend Karl Vercouteren will be
officiating. Spencer, Libby & Powell Funeral Home is in care of arrangements.
    Memorials may be made to Civic Auditorium Preservation, P.O. Box 1102, 
The Dalles,Oregon 97058;  Rorick House, 300 West 13th Street, The Dalles, 
Oregon 97058 or The Discovery Center, 5000 Discovery Drive, The Dalles, 
Oregon 97058

Written permission to reprint given by The Dalles Chronicle, The Dalles, Oregon