Virginia Walker Warden

Ginny was born September 12, 1919 in North Little Rock, Arkansas and died peacefully at home in Austin, Texas on November 8, 2017. She was raised by the Benedictine Sisters at St. Joseph's Orphanage in North Little Rock.

After high school, she took a job at Ft. Sill, Oklahoma and met Captain Richard Hake, whom she married in Salinas, California in December 1941. While Dick served overseas in WWII, Ginny moved to Worland, Wyoming, where she and Dick raised their five children. One of our favorite photos of her is with a 5-point elk she shot on the opening day of hunting season in the Big Horn Mountains. Dick died in 1967 and Ginny married Colonel (Ret) Clifford Warden in 1974 and moved to Spokane, Washington. She ran in the first Bloomsday Race in 1977 and became a “perennial”, finishing the race every year for 34 years until she retired from that event at age 91. Ginny and Clif shared their large families, and their Spokane home was a focal point for their many children, grandchildren, and great grandchildren. After Clif’s death in 2006 Ginny remained in Spokane until 2016 when she moved to live with family in Austin, Texas. One of Ginny’s favorite sayings was "Bloom where you are planted", and she was comfortable and made friends wherever she was in the world.

Ginny is survived by her children Richard (Bernadine), Jennifer, Robert (Carla), Steven (Michele), and Melinda; her stepson Robert (Pattie) Warden; grandchildren Anthony, Kenneth, Claire, Margot, Anna, Bill, Valery, Jim, Amy, Brett, Jill, Cyndi; 19 great grandchildren; and 2 great-great grandchildren.

Cremation has taken place, and a memorial will be celebrated this coming summer at St. Mary Magdalen Church in Worland, Wyoming. Her ashes will be buried at Riverview Memorial Cemetery in Worland. Donations in Ginny's memory, if you wish, may be made to the Benedictine Sisters at: St. Scholastica Monastery Capital Campaign, PO Box 3489, Ft. Smith, AR 72913, marked as a donation for the Ginny Hake Warden Room.