Virginia was born on a Sunday, March 4, 1923, in Grouse Creek, Box Elder Co., Utah. The second child and second daughter of Wellington Irvin Richins and Ruby Douglas was born at 2 PM during Sacrament Meeting, in a house just west of the Grouse Creek church building. She was delivered by Sister Hadfield, a mid-wife, weighed 8 lbs. and was the smallest of the four children that eventually made up the   family. The mid-wife also lived in for ten days to help her mother recover, all for the cost of $20.00. Her older sister, LaRene, was two years older. She was named and blessed on May 6, 1923, by her uncle Wilford (Wiff) Richins. Two brothers, Herald Douglas, and Irvin Virgil, later joined the family, all the children being two years apart in age.

At age eight, she was baptized into the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints. This was done in Mide Wakefield’s pond in Grouse Creek, on July 2, 1931, and she was confirmed on July 5, 1931, by William Paskett.

Grouse Creek is a very small community in north-western Utah, that was settled by pioneers. Some of whom were Richins under the direction of Brigham Young, President of the Church. It had good farming and ranching possibilities, but not always a reliable water supply, being at the northern edge of the Salt Lake desert.

Many of the people were related to each other, marrying other inhabitants of the community or neighboring small towns. For instance, her father’s brother, Newell, married her mother’s sister, Martha Jeannette (Jennie). This couple never had any children of their own and were like “second parents” to Ruby and “Wellie’s” children. In addition, both sets of grandparents lived in the community.

Funeral of Lillian Paskett Richins Front Row – Melda Morgan, Virginia Richins, Eva Morgan, Myron Richins, Clifton Kimber, Evva Lee, Ora Lee, Larene Richins, Julia Cherry,
Second Row – Robert Leishman, Annie Richins, Eliza Richins, Herold Richins, AF Richins, Mary Jones, Sarah Richins, Orita Richins, Merla Lee, Nola Richins, Della Richins, Lawrence Kimber
Back Row – Oriel Blackburn, Martha Douglas, William George Richins, John Morgan, Newell Richins, Ruby Douglas, Wellington Richins, William Alma Richins, Isaac Lee, Orson Richins, Orva Wilford Richins, Myrtle Richins, Albert Morgan

Virginia attended school in G.C. in a school that went up to 10th grade in 2 or 3 classrooms. She was a good student, especially in spelling and handwriting, and skipped second grade. Beginning in 10th grade, Virginia and LaRene moved into Tremonton, a larger town, about 100 miles from G.C. for the winters to attend high school. The school district sent them $26 each monthly for living expenses. LaRene told of one occasion when the checks were late, and they were out of money and food. When walking home from school with some other girls, Virginia, who, according to LaRene, “was kind of a boob”, started crying right there in front of the other girls. LaRene, embarrassed, gave her a quick elbow in the ribs and told her to “Shushl” But she didn’t stop and the girls asked what was wrong. Virginia said, “I’m hungry and we’re out of food.” A little while after they got home, one of the girls showed up at the door with some cookies. The checks came the next day, and all was okay.

When their brothers were old enough for high school, the entire family moved to Tremonton for the winters. Virginia graduated in 1940, from Bear River High School. Her first jobs other than baby-sitting were for Ashcraft Jewelry, then a drug store, then back at the jewelry store. This was not long after the “Depression” and it was a struggle to get along. Her wages were $1.25 a day. Then she went to Ogden to Marinello Beauty College, and graduated the state board certification at 98%, in 1945. She worked in a beauty shop in Tremonton for Cliff Beard.

Cliff and Virginia Ulary, abt 1950

In 1946, at age 23, Virginia married Charles Clifford Ulary, whom she had met while he was in the Air Force, stationed in Ogden, Utah. He was originally from Northeast, Maryland, and his family lived there. They lived in Ogden for a while, then in Maryland with his parents, and then Ogden again, where, on Dec. 11, 1947, their daughter, Bonnie Jill was born. They   returned to Maryland in 1950, where he wanted to stay, but she didn’t want to. So, due to difference of religion and other difficulties she and I left and took the train back to Utah, with our only belongings being what was in our suitcases. They were later divorced in 1954.

In Utah, we lived for a while with her parents in Grouse Creek and with her sister and family in Tremonton. She eventually got a job at J.C. Penney’s and we moved to a basement apartment across from the church in Tremonton.

In 1955, she met Boyd Empey, widowed brother of Stirl Empey, who had been our neighbor in Ogden. Boyd was in the Navy, in San Diego, CA, and after some dates and corresponding thru the mail, they became engaged and were married and sealed in the Idaho Falls Temple, on July 6, 1955. Boyd had a son, Ray, by his first marriage. So, we moved to San Diego, Ca.

Virginia, Boyd and Raymond Empey – Wedding Day

Boyd was overseas a fair amount of time during their marriage and there was a lot involved in being a military wife and managing our home by herself while he was away. He retired after 22 years in the Navy in 1966. We lived in an area of San Diego called Linda Vista, at 2042 Burroughs St., a two-bedroom bungalow-type house that had once been military housing. We went to church in Linda Vista at the Fifth Ward.

On February 26, 1958, their son Richard Clair was born. At the time of his birth, Boyd was at work in Long Beach on a ship that loaded fuel onto other ships, and he was in the process of doing just that when word came to him that my mother was going to the hospital to have the baby.

He started to hurry to finish his work so he could drive the 90 or so miles back to San Diego, and he almost tipped over the ship that they were refueling by filling all the tanks on one side instead of balancing them as he filled it. He made it in time, anyway, and “Ricky” weighed in at 8# 12 oz., and 23 inches long. (WHEW0

In 1960, they bought a house in an area called Kearny Mesa, slightly north of Linda Vista, but still in the same ward. The address was 7132 Batista St. This was a nice three-bedroom, two bath house. During the years I was in high school she worked part-time a bit but was usually at home. She took a class in cake decorating and food preparation, and made and decorated my wedding cake, when I was married on Jan. 7, 1967, to Jerry Northcutt, in the Los Angeles Temple.

She was very active in the Church. Some of her varied callings were: Relief Society Homemaking leader, counselor, and president: Primary teachers and president; Sunday School teachers; Visiting Teacher message leader; MIA Laurel teacher, YW president, Stake YW counselor; and Relief Society quilting chairman. She taught the YW camp crafter program since its beginning, and wrote and directed winning road-shows for several years in a row.

She did not travel much. Vacations were usually trips to Utah and Idaho to see relatives. But in her teens, she took a trip to New York with an aunt and uncle. Also, she and Boyd and Rick took a trip to the Seattle World’s Fair, and she and Boyd later went to the Hill Cumorah Pageant in New York and to Nauvoo, Ill. and Missouri (church history sites) with her sister and husband.  Her mother died in 1956, and her father in 1969. Rick went on a mission for the church to Washington, D.C. in 1977, and that was the first time she and Boyd had been alone (without kids) since their marriage.

Virginia had a lot of faith and courage and loved the Church. She would not tolerate arguing, unclean jokes, wicked ideas, or dishonesty. She dedicated a lot of time to the church thru callings and loved to study the Gospel. She graduated from the LOS Institute, in San Diego. In some ways, I think the church activity helped fill the loneliness when Boyd was away.

She loved children and wished she could have had more. She often tended for young mothers in her ward and was always willing to tend mine. She was always willing to give somebody a ride to church or the doctor.  She had a great deal of compassion for older people, and had several friends who were older ladies, such as Ruth Hansen and Pauline Bronson. During the late 1970’s and early B0’s, there was a Vietnamese Branch of the church that shared the ward building and attended Relief Society Homemaking meetings with fifth ward, at the time Virginia was ward quilting chairman. Despite obvious language differences and barriers, she taught the sisters to tie quilts at Relief Society. They would come to her on Sundays at church and hold her hand and smile.

Her health was usually quite good. She had a miscarried pregnancy in 1962 or 63, and a broken ankle in 1981. She got sick in August, 1982, and after an examination was told she had uterine cancer. The doctor recommended radiation therapy for her which she took but it weakened her a lot and made her ill. She was to have a hysterectomy in January 1983, but when she entered the hospital to have it, the cancer had spread to her liver and they didn’t operate. They started chemotherapy which made her lose weight and hair and only helped a little. But she was able to leave the hospital for about 4 weeks in March and attended Rick’s marriage to Diane Longson in the Los Angeles Temple, on March 5, 1983. She went back into University Hospital in April and went down physically from there until she died, around midnight, on May 30, 1983, Memorial Day. She was buried on June 4, in Escondido, CA, (about 30 miles north of San Diego).

Information compiled from Family Search