Virginia Yochum

1926 - 2016

Virginia Frances Glascock Yochum, 89, of Rensselaer, died on Jan. 5. Funeral services were held at 11 a.m. on Friday, Jan. 8 at Big Creek Presbyterian Church in Rensselaer. Burial services followed at Big Creek Cemetery. Visitation was held from 9:30 - 11 a.m. on Friday at Big Creek Presbyterian Church just prior to the funeral. Dennis Fletcher and Ky Martin officiated. Smith Funeral in Hannibal handled the arrangements.
Virginia was born on March 24, 1926 in Kansas City, the daughter and oldest child of Homer H. and Mary Dodd Neale Glascock of Rensselaer. After her mother died she became the stepdaughter of Grace Johnson Glascock.
Virginia grew up in the Rensselaer community and was a member of the 1943 graduating class of Rensselaer Consolidated High School. She attended Hannibal LaGrange College and the University of Colorado, graduating from Blessing Hospital School of Nursing in 1947. She served as Head Pediatrics Nurse at both Blessing Hospital in Quincy and Levering Hospital in Hannibal. She also held positions as General Duty Nurse at Children's Hospital in Denver and as Nursing Supervisor, In-service Floor Supervisor and Recovery Room Supervisor at Levering Hospital. In 1968 she became a Clinical Instructor at the Hannibal Public School of Practical Nursing. For 20 years she was both a stern taskmaster and a favorite teacher with her students. She retired from teaching in 1988.
A devout Christian, Virginia was baptized by the Rev. John Golden in Salt River at Asher Ford in 1936. That same year she joined Big Creek Presbyterian Church and remained a member the rest of her life. She was ordained a church elder in 1992. She served as the church's historian for decades, researching and compiling the church's history dating from its organization in 1834.
Virginia married Clarence Monroe Yochum on November 23, 1950 at First Presbyterian Church in Hannibal. They bought and lived on the Rensselaer farm where she grew up. She and Clarence were married for 53 years. He preceded her in death on Jan. 15, 2003. Her sister Patricia Ann Glascock McKee; brother-in-law Sherwood McKee and sister-in-law Nancy Louise Senior Glascock also preceded her in death.
Survivors include her brother, Homer H. Glascock II and his wife Bethel; two sons, John Daniel (Danny) Yochum of Hannibal and Paul Yochum and his wife Dawn of Monroe City; and two daughters, Ann and her husband Gary of Palmyra and Mary Jo and her husband Clarence, of Muscatine, Iowa; eight grandchildren, Drew and Michael Yochum, Emily Martin, Samuel Foreman, Alice Varghese and Aaron Foreman and Tyler and Grady Finchum; and nine great grandchildren.
Virginia was a longtime St. Louis Cardinals fan. She was an avid genealogist and historian who enjoyed researching her family tree and keeping in touch with relatives online and at family reunions.
The family requests memorials be made to Big Creek Presbyterian Church.