Born on April 30, 1934, in New England, North Dakota, a baby girl was born to a young couple. Virgina was their first child but they provided her with a baby sister before moving across the country to Oregon just a couple of years later. Eventually, she would become the oldest of five.
She was raised on a farm and when she was still young her dad was injured in a farming accident. She had to step up to do more chores. One of those chores was to help bring the horses in. They were well trained and would walk right behind her. She was so little compared to those huge farm horses and she was afraid they would trample her. She would speed up to put some distance between her and the horses, but no matter what she did the horses would just speed up with her. Years later, she still remembered that time in her life and would tell her granddaughter about it.
As Virgina grew up she came to know Jesus Christ as her personal Lord and Savior. She graduated high school and felt like the Lord was calling her to full time ministry. She applied to Simpson Bible College in Seattle, Washington and headed there for college.
There, when working in the dining hall as a waitress, she met a dishwasher named Russell Wayland. He had transferred from Prairie Bible College in Canada and was also studying to go into full time ministry. They often ate their meals with a small group of coworkers before heading to work to serve others. During those times, they started to get to know each other.
Late one afternoon, Russ asked her to go to a basketball game with him that night. Because of how late in the day it was she assumed that he’d asked out another girl and had been turned down. Deciding that she wouldn’t play second fiddle to anyone, she said no.
As Russ tells the story, some weeks later, after returning from a school break, he went down to the dean of women’s office to find something. (He’s always quick to point out that he had permission to be there.) When he got there he saw a group of young women standing around discussing what they were going to do that evening as the school’s strict curfew didn’t go into enforcement until classes resumed the next day. Russ went over to find whatever he was looking for and Virgina came over to help him. He knew that these young women would spend so long arguing about their different ideas they would never come to a decision and actually go do it. He said to Virgina, “I’m going to my aunt’s for blackberry pie and ice cream.” She was quick to respond, “Take me with you.”
That was their first date and Russ quickly knew he was in love. He knew he wanted to marry her and wrote to her parents to ask for their blessing. Her mother wrote back and said “You make your bed, you lay in it.” One day, they were sitting in Russ’ car eating lunch and he asked her to marry him. It had been just six weeks since they had begun dating and Virginia didn’t say yes. Instead, she told him that she would pray about it. I’m not sure how long she made him wait,
One weekend Russ, Virginia and two others were returning to school after leading some version of a Vacation Bible School as part of their school required ministry. On their way back their car broke down. One of the young men with them knew the town they were in and had a friend who lived there. They stopped at a payphone and he looked up the number in the phone book. He found the right name but when he traced his finger over to get the number his finger slipped down by a line. He didn’t realize that he had called the wrong person as he explained to the man who he was and their situation. They were sitting in the car when someone pulled up. When the man got out Russ and Virgina’s friend looked at them and said, “I don’t know who that is.”
As it turned out the man didn’t know them but he was a believer and he was willing to help them out. He took them all to his home and gave them a place to stay for the night. Virginia went upstairs to lie down for a bit. She was praying about Russ’ marriage proposal. She came downstairs and told Russ that the Lord had given her a verse.
Joshua 1:9 “Have I not commanded you? Be strong and of good courage; do not be discouraged, nor be dismayed, for the Lord your God is with you wherever you go.”
She told him then that she would marry him.
It was another year and a half before they got married. Right after their wedding they moved into a tiny little RV trailer and Virgina came down with laryngitis. She lost her voice for about a week. Over the years Russ would tease her, saying that had been the best week of their marriage.
As the years went by, Virgina gave birth to their first daughter, Leslie. Russ’ sister, Jeannie, and her husband, Mel, went into ministry with an organization called Village Missions. They’re a non-denominational ministry that sends pastors to rural areas all over the United States and Canada. They shared their experience with Russ and Virgina and encouraged them to join.
They eventually followed Mel and Jeannie’s advice and took their first church in Blodgett, Oregon. There, they gave birth to their second daughter, Teresa. They served at several churches in Oregon, Washington, Nebraska and Idaho, over their years with Village Missions. It was a hard life. They made less than $200 a month to support their growing family, as they added two more girls to their home. They had a hand crank washer that Virgina used to wash cloth diapers and all the clothes that her girls and husband got dirty. There were times that they had no idea how they were going to buy groceries but the Lord always provided. Sometimes it was in the way of church members giving them vegetables from their garden or people anonymously dropping off a bag of groceries on their doorstep. At one point they had a car that you had to put into reverse before you could put it into drive. It made stop lights a little more terrifying.
Russ was still with Village Missions but his ministry had changed, instead of being at just one church he was traveling all over the country. He was on the road when he got a call from his third daughter, Victoria, she was letting him know that Virgina had just given birth to their fifth child. “It’s another girl Dad!” She told him and they welcomed Lynn into their family.
Lynn was born seven years after their fourth daughter, Kimberly, and her sisters would later recount how they loved playing with her because it was like having a live doll they could dress up. Virginia loved her girls and she wanted to make sure that they had the life skills they would need.
Virginia hadn’t known how to cook when she got married so from the time her girls were small she would line them up at the kitchen counter and put a large glass mixing bowl in front of them. The girls, balanced on stools, took turns putting ingredients into the bowl, one at a time then mixing them in.
The most important thing that Russ and Virgina taught their girls was about their faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. Each day before they went out the door to catch the school bus, Virgina made her girls recite their verse of the day. They were always running late for the bus but that didn’t matter, Virginia was adamant that they say verses every single day, without fail.
Another principle the girls were raised with was Russ and Virgina’s emphasis on hospitality. Russ would often bring home guests for a meal. Since this was long before cell phones, Virginia rarely had advance warning. Even so, she would always find a way to feed them. Sometimes, that was something as simple as peanut butter and jelly sandwiches. If anyone needed a place to sleep Russ and Virgina always provided one.
After their older four girls were out of the house, Russ got a call asking him to move from North Bend, Oregon to Camano Island, Washington and help his brother, Bill, at his Village Missions church there. They packed up and made the move, that was only supposed to be for a couple of months. The Lord had other plans and they ended up there for over a decade.
Eventually, Russ and Virgina retired from Village Missions. Camano Chapel threw them a huge retirement party. They made sure that all five of their daughters, their son-in-laws, and all sixteen grandchildren (two more were born later) were flown in for the party. Years later Russ and Virgina recounted their joy at having all of their family together, and what a surprise it had been when Leslie and Victoria’s families were brought out on stage. Leslie, and her husband Scott, were and still are, missionaries in Austria. Victoria’s husband, George, was in the Air Force and stationed on the other side of the country. The church had managed to keep it a surprise that they had flown everyone in for the celebration.
A few days after Russ’ retirement from Village Missions he took a new job with AWANA. He spent the next several years traveling with them while Virgina stayed home on Camano Island, continuing her own quiet ministry of hospitality and faithfully serving behind the scenes of the church. Eventually Russ retired, again, and they moved back to North Bend, Oregon to serve, once more, at Hauser Community Church.
Russ had several more retirement parties over the years and Virgina was always right there beside him, faithfully serving wherever the Lord sent them. When they were both in their eighties they moved in with their second daughter, Teresa, and her husband, John. By that time it was evident that Virgina’s memory was starting to fade. Though she continued to read her Bible and faithfully pray, she had stopped telling stories of her childhood or their years in ministry. She continued to love Russ just as much as she had since the day she finally gave him an answer to his proposal.
Virginia loved to take care of people. Russ and Virgina owned a cabin in northern Washington where they allowed pastors and missionaries to come stay when they needed a rest. They also got their family together every year for a wonderful, and loud, family vacation/reunion. One year their granddaughter brought a friend who hurt her foot while out on the porch. Someone went inside to ask Grandma for a band-aid but she couldn’t find one. Two days later one of her daughter’s came out to the porch, “Grandma said someone needed a band-aid?” She may have been two days late but her love for taking care of people meant that she hadn’t forgotten and she wanted to make sure everyone was cared for.
By the end of her life, Virgina had forgotten many things but she never lost her sweet and loving nature or her devotion to the Lord. This was evident in how comfortable she was with prayer. Virgina Wayland was a woman who put her trust in the Lord and walked through life with a quiet courage and confidence because of her faith in Him. No matter how dire the circumstances she turned to the Lord in prayer, trusting Him to carry her family through it. He never failed them and she made a point of sharing that with everyone who would listen. Her greatest mission in life was to share Christ with others, wanting all of them to join her one day in heaven. Her second greatest joy was her family, followed by those she was devoted to serving inside and outside the church.
Virgina leaves behind five daughters, five son-in-laws, eighteen grandchildren (plus a bonus one), nineteen great-grandchildren, and hundreds more whose lives she touched through the years.
I am honored to be one of those grandchildren, and although we all miss her, I rejoice in knowing that when she passed away she was met by Jesus with the words that she longed to hear. “Well done, good and faithful servant.” One day I will see her again in heaven. Until then I’ll strive to have the kind of love and courage that she exuded every day of her life.
