Virginia Frances Lee Upham

Virginia Frances Lee Upham, loving wife, mother, grandmother and great-grandmother passed away Monday, July 13, 2015.Church service: 10:00 a.m. Thursday, July 16th, 2015 at the First Christian Church, Mineral Wells. Interment: Woodland Park Cemetery. Mrs. Upham's body will be lying in repose at Baum Carlock Bumgardner Funeral Home in Mineral Wells on Tuesday, July 14th from 8:00 a.m. to 9:00 p.m. and Wednesday, July 15th from 8:00 a.m. to 9:00 p.m.Virginia was born on February 24, 1924 in Phoenix, Arizona to William Standifer Lee and Stella Frances (York) Lee. She had two sisters, Norma Estelle and Mary Joann and one brother William Kendall. Virginia graduated North Phoenix High School, Phoenix Arizona and attended Phoenix College. While attending Phoenix College, Virginia had taken flying lessons and applied to join the Women Air Force Service Pilots (WASPs) during World War II. The service had filled their quota but that did not prevent Virginia from pursuing her love of flying, she continued taking lessons and received her pilot's license in 1944. She instructed Air force pilots in instrument flight training in Link Trainers at Williams Air force Base in Chandler, Arizona for the duration of World War II. After the war, Virginia became a flight attendant for American Airlines based in New York City and later Los Angles. On a flight from Dallas to Los Angeles, Virginia met Chester R. Upham, Jr. After a short courtship they were married on December 16, 1946. She introduced Chester to flying, which started a lifelong devotion. When Virginia received her helicopter pilot rating in 1977, she became only the 233rd member of Whirly-Girls International, an organization where female pilots can share information and camaraderie and is dedicated to advancing women in helicopter aviation.Virginia and Chester lived in California for a short period after their marriage. Having grown up in the Arizona desert, Virginia had never had the opportunity to learn how to snow ski, Chester introduced her to the sport in January 1947 on a trip to a ski area near Los Angeles. It goes without saying that Virginia's first experience was anything but what she had expected. They parked on the highway, and rode a chairlift to an area that was served by rope tows. After offering a few pointers, Chet went off to ski with a friend leaving Virginia on her own. The combination of the rope tow and the six foot long wooden skis resulted in a couple of falls. After her second fall Virginia discovered that once she got back up she was not able to walk. With the help of a fellow skier she made it back down the mountain where she waited for Chet. Never one to complain or make a fuss, she put off going to the doctor until the next day when she learned she had broken her leg just above the boot. One would think that after such an inauspicious beginning, Virginia would be a bit apprehensive about skiing, but on a trip to Aspen Colorado in the early 1950's she took lessons from an Austrian instructor. While there was a definite language barrier, this time Virginia learned to ski and it would become an integral part of her life. She enjoyed skiing with her family until she was eighty years old.In May 1947 Chester and Virginia joined his Father back in Mineral Wells to help manage the Upham Gas Company. Virginia commuted by Ercoupe (a small two seat airplane) between Mineral wells and Texas Christian University in Fort Worth, landing at TCU airport, a grass runway near the campus. In January 1956 the Uphams sold the company, then formed what is now known as Upham Oil & Gas Company, an exploration and production company operating in the North Central Texas area. Some of the very first wells drilled are still producing today. It was during this time that Chester and Virginia became owners in Loveland Ski Area in Colorado. This was a lifelong passion for both Chester and Virginia, at the time of her death she was still majority owner of both Upham Oil & Gas Company and Loveland Ski Area.Virginia is survived by daughters Barbara Lee Upham and partner, Bob Dempsey, Dr. Mary Kathleen Upham, son Chester R. (Robert) Upham III and wife Lorelei Beck Upham, grandchildren, Kathy Garrett Gear and husband Wade, Mary Melinda Mayes-Kelly and husband Robbie, Ashley Upham Steormann and husband Steve, Slade Upham and wife Sadie, Olivia Upham and Zach Dempsey, five great grandchildren, Katie and Libby Gear, Madelyn Kelly, Jackson Steormann and Fitzgerald Steormann, sisters Norma Hutchison and husband Gordan, Joann and husband Ted Shockey, many nieces and nephews. She was preceded in death by her husband of 61 years, Chester R. Upham Jr, son Richard Lee Upham, Brother William Kendall Lee, DVM, Father William and Mother Stella.No words can explain the impact Virginia has had on so many lives; she will be missed by all of those who were blessed by her presence.