Virginia Redding Tuechert

Virginia (Redding) Tuechert passed away peacefully at the age of 95 on July 15, 2003, surrounded by her family. She was born Dec. 9, 1917, in Murphys, Calif., a small town in the gold country of the Sierra foothills, to William Leonard Redding and Marion (Schaeffle) Redding. Virginia graduated from San Francisco State College with a degree in education and began teaching elementary school in Marysville, Calif., to what she called "the grapes of wrath kids" at the end of the Great Depression. She contracted rheumatic fever after her second year teaching and spent the next two years recuperating. Though the disease weakened her heart, she recovered enough to return to work as a secretary in an office building in San Francisco in 1947. It was there that she met her first husband, Theodore Lyman, whose great-grandfather and namesake came to St. Helena in the 1870s, founding a winery named El Molino (after the Old Bale Mill, which he had purchased along with 600 acres). After marrying in 1948, Virginia and Theodore lived in Berkeley, Calif., where they had two children. They divorced in 1955. In 1958, Virginia moved with their two children to St. Helena, Calif., where she began teaching special education at St. Helena Elementary School. She pursued her master's in special education and later became the director of the Wintun Child Development Center in Napa. In 1967, she married her second husband, Karl Tuechert, a native of Germany and an officer in the Luftwaffe during the second World War. She became a widow in 1970, when Karl died unexpectedly from complications after kidney surgery. She retired from teaching in 1974, after touching the lives of hundreds of students and dozens of co-workers. She continued to stay active, first traveling in the U.S. and abroad, and then turning her home into a mini-day care center for preschoolers. She was passionate about gardening and poetry and was active in her church. She most enjoyed spending time with her grandchildren and great-grandchildren. She is survived by her sister, Patricia (Redding) Danielson of Murphys; step-daughter Anne (Lyman) Davenport of Sunnyvale, Calif.; daughter Margaret Lyman of Berkeley; son William Lyman of St. Helena; step-grandsons Chris Davenport of Walnut Creek, Calif., and Matthew Davenport of San Francisco; grandchildren Anne (Lyman) Han-Shuman of Cotati, Calif., Julia (Lyman) Gifford of Sebastopol, Calif., Ian Murphy of Boston, Ginny (Murphy) Prince of Oakland, Calif., Trinity Lyman of St. Helena and Electra Lyman of St. Helena; and great-grandchildren Elora and Kamala Han-Shuman, Lydia Prince and Indiana Gifford. A memorial service will be held Sunday, July 28, at the Methodist Church, 1310 Adams St. in St. Helena, at 4 p.m. Memorial gifts may be made to Connolly Ranch, 3141 Browns Valley Road, Napa, CA 94558.

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Virginia Redding Tuechert

December 9, 1917 - July 15, 2013