With her family by her side, Virginia Vereschagin Talbot Homer died peacefully in Chico on Friday, October 11, 2024. She was born on April 30, 1932, to Alex and Anna Vereschagin on her Russian immigrant grandfather’s original family farm in Orland, a farm where she would reside for the remainder of her life.
She attended Orland schools, excelling in music, leadership, and academics while honing her social skills with “The Girls,” friendships that would endure a lifetime.
After high school, she attended Mills College in Oakland for one year. She then transferred to the College of the Pacific in Stockton, where she fell in love with her “sweetheart,” Quentin “Doc” Talbot, to whom she was married for 35 years until his death in 1991.
She spent her entire life after college dedicated to education, starting as a young teacher in Rio Linda, then at Sierra View School in Chico, before starting a 30-year career as “Mrs. Talbot” at Mill Street School in Orland. An advocate for reading and writing for children at an early age, she touched the lives of thousands of children attending Orland public schools, often using her talents and love for music as a tool in the classroom.
Following her retirement in 1994, she drew upon her classroom experience to become an author and lecturer on education. Her first book, Teaching Reading, Writing, and Spelling, would be followed up by five additional children’s books providing unique learning experiences in lively and colorful text.
Additionally, she enjoyed playing her grand piano daily, as well as bridge with a host of her friends. She even bowled and played a competitive round of golf in her later years.
She was also an avid traveler, both with “Doc” and her second husband, Lloyd Homer (another College of the Pacific graduate: married 1996-97), and with her grandchildren and great grandchildren. She was proud to have travelled to all 50 of the United States and to six of the seven continents. (Sorry, Antarctica. She hated the cold!)
She has been honored as an Orland High School Alumna of the Year; as a Glenn County Teacher of the Year; and as a Masonic Lodge Teacher of the Year. She was also selected for the Northern California Reading Teacher Award and was a candidate for California Teacher of the Year.
Virginia is survived by her two children, Terri Talbot Speicher (Richard Speicher) and Todd Alex Talbot (Denise Simpson Talbot); brother Alex Vereschagin Jr.; four grandchildren; and eight great-grandchildren. She was preceded in death by her husbands, Quentin J. Talbot and Lloyd Homer; and grandson, Kyle Alex Talbot.
A celebration of life is planned for 11 a.m. on Saturday, October 19, at the Federated Church in Orland. Virginia would always say, “I had a wonderful life!”
Her loved ones thank her family and friends for making it such a joy for her.
In lieu of flowers, please make a memorial donation to Just for Children, P.O. Box 573, Orland, CA, 95963, or to a favorite charity.
Arrangements are under the direction of Sweet-Olsen Family Mortuary, Orland.
The Glenn County Observer 