Monroe history buff witnessed Charles Lindbergh’s big flight

Published 9:21 pm Saturday, July 21, 2007

Forget her Snohomish address. Virginia Fyke, 87, was all about Monroe.

She cared about the history, not just by sharing her memories, but also by digging into the past to preserve the city’s charm.

Perhaps her love of the old days was cemented while visiting New York in 1927, when her family heard from an uncle that some fool pilot named Charles Lindbergh was going to fly across the Atlantic in a single engine airplane.

“The entire family piled into my grandfather’s Hupmobile car,” Fyke said. “It was an eight passenger vehicle.”

On the grassy field, the 7-year-old saw a lanky figure, wearing jodhpurs, giving instructions.

News of the impending flight spread like wildfire. Broadway theaters let out at midnight so folks could rush to the airfield.

“Men in formal attire were accompanied by women running across the wet grass,” Fyke said, “Unmindful of high heels, diamond tiaras and ermine wraps.”

As Lindbergh continued his famous adventure in “The Spirit of St. Louis,” Fyke’s family huddled for 33 hours around a table radio, anxious for news.

Proud she witnessed history, she retold the story again and again through the decades.

Virginia Fyke, 87, died June 20 after suffering for years with Alzheimer’s disease. She was born in Memphis, Tenn. and lived near Monroe for 42 years.

She was a member of the First Presbyterian Church, where she served as an elder. Fyke volunteered at Valley General Hospital in Monroe and was a hospital guild member. She is survived by her daughter, Cheryl, and her husband, Scott Jamtaas; grandson Bryan Jamtaas; and three great-granddaughters.

The caring woman stationed herself to comfort families in the recovery and emergency rooms at Valley General Hospital during her guild volunteer days.

Fyke was also an active volunteer at the Monroe Historical Society Museum.

“She was always ready to help,” said Nellie Robertson. “She helped catalog more than a thousand or so historical photos, a monumental task that earned a Malstrom Award from the Snohomish County League of Historical Organizations.”

The photo collection includes 1870s-era portraits of town founders, turn-of-the-century glimpses of a muddy Main Street, historical buildings and special events.

“She helped host school groups who toured the society’s museum,” Robertson said. “She wrote several historical articles for the Monroe Monitor/Valley News, the most memorable one about the silk train that highballed through Monroe on its way to East Coast markets. The silk train got the right-of-way on the trip so that the silk cocoons would not spoil before they reached their destination.”

The clothes-conscious woman wore coordinated outfits suitable for the season. She changed colors of her attire, depending on whether it was June or September.

“After her husband, Vernon, died, she became a volunteer host at the Monroe Historical Society Museum on Wednesdays. Not only did she share Monroe’s history with visitors, but much of her own, as well giving them a picture of her childhood.”

A careful record-keeper, Fyke took pride in organizing memories, her daughter said.

She wrote an encouraging letter to Sen. Hillary Clinton in 1992, and saved a note she got back, handwritten and signed, from the wife of a presidential candidate.

“Best wishes, Hillary”

Cheryl Jamtaas said her mother was a very social woman. The family made several moves with her father, a military man. Wherever they lived, her mother wanted to know what made the place the way it was, Jamtaas added.

Beth Stucker from the Monroe Historical Society Museum said Fyke was always a cheerful, ambitious person.

Fyke enjoyed sharing stories about her childhood in Tennessee, the Depression and the bold pilot with high school students who she invited into her home. She told visitors that in her 1937 high school class of 358 students, she was one of only 35 who could afford to go on to college.

It’s one thing to know history, it’s another to share with the community.

Her friend, Nellie Robertson, said Virginia Fyke was an example of all that was good in an American woman.

Kristi O’Harran: 425-339-3451 or oharran@heraldnet.com.