Virginia Ann Hostetter

COLUMBIA, MD. - Virginia Ann Hostetter of Columbia died Saturday morning at Gilchrist Center for Hospice Care in Towson. She was 46. In August of 2002, she was diagnosed with fourth stage lung cancer already metastasized to the brain. A lifelong non-smoker, for nearly four years she conquered every survival statistics for this aggressive cancer. Her family is convinced her strength and resistance came from her unwillingness to leave her son, Evan Skyler, 9, the most precious and important person in her life. Even when fatigued from chemotherapy and radiation she made sure of his involvement with Tae Kwon Do, Cub Scouts, Sunday School and recently baseball. They were both avid readers and one of their joys was reading together. Another was being out of doors and one of their last real adventures together was a month last summer camping in the wilds of northern Maine. Virginia grew up in Newport News, Va., the daughter of Glenn L. Hostetter and the late Elsie Thomas Hostetter and with two brothers and a sister. She graduated from Ferguson High School and became an accomplished cellist. In high school she was a member of the Peninsula Youth Orchestra and the Tidewater Youth Symphony. She went on to James Madison University in Harrisonburg, Va., earning a B.S. degree in Music Performance and then a B.S. in English. After graduation she was an editor of Canoe Magazine and then of Cross Country Ski Magazine. Virginia enjoyed these sports and was particularly pleased to represent Cross County Ski magazine at the Calgary Olympics. Virginia became well known in the Baltimore area as manager of the Cokesbury Bookstore on Rolling Road for 14 years. Beginning in 1991 she developed the store into the most successful and highest grossing of the United Methodist Publishing House national chain of bookstores. Her store expanded its product lines not just for Protestant Churches, but Catholic, Jewish and Eastern religions. The store was a source for many of a large general stock of books, research materials and children's books. A longtime member of St. Bartholomew's Episcopal Church, she served on the Vestry and took leadership in its Spiritual Formation ministry. She was an activist in peace efforts and education and loved that St. Bartholomew's was so involved in the Edmonson community surrounding the Church and that it gave up use of its Parish House to house a family from New Orleans escaping the aftermath of Katrina. She was especially supportive of the new pipe organ being built for the Church. In addition to her son and father, she is survived by her sister and brother in-law, Ellen H. and Charles Thompson of Nashville, Tenn.; brother and sister-in-law, Glenn and Carole Hostetter of Chapel Hill, N.C.; and brother, David, and sister-in-law, Sarah of Whiting, Maine; and six nieces and nephews, Sam, Emily, Ben, Asher, Isaac and Jasmine; four aunts, Evelyn Thomas Hartman of Yorktown, Va., Eleanor Thomas Pushcar of Mobile, Ala., Ann Thomas Wicke of Columbia and Doris Hostetter Simon of Ada, Ohio. She is also survived by a spouse, Mark Holman, Evan's father. Funeral services will be held at 2 p.m. Tuesday at St. Bartholomew's, 4711 Edmondson Ave., Baltimore, MD 55537, with inurnment in its newly dedicated Columbarium. In lieu of flowers, the family suggest memorial gifts to the Hospice of Howard County, 5537 Twin Knolls Road, Suite 433, Columbia, MD 21045.