Find your gift - Virginia (Hogg) Gjovig dedicated her life to elementary education

A 28-year-old Virginia Hogg is pictured in 1948 when employed as a fifth and sixth grade teacher for the school system in Russellville. Her father, Truman Hogg, died when she was eight followed by her and her mother moving to Enon. Hogg graduated from Russellville High School, earned her education degree at Warrensburg and taught at schools in Mid-Missouri and Kansas City. She later became the wife of Maurice Gjovig, who passed away after they were married only six years. Courtesy of Jeremy P. Ämick

At the tender age of eight, Virginia Hogg was living in Jefferson City with her parents. The joyful memories that should have filled this moment in her life were shattered when her father, a veteran of World War I, was only 35 years old when he unexpectedly died from carbon monoxide exposure in their home.

Despite this tragedy, Hogg came to enjoy the education she received in her youth. The teachers who provided her with positive memories helped to inspire her to live a life in service to others as an educator.

Shortly after her birth on March 22, 1920, her father moved the family to St. Louis to work in the banking industry. He eventually chose to return to Mid-Missouri and settle in Jefferson City, where he died on July 19, 1928.

After this tragic and unexpected loss, her mother moved back to the farm in Enon where she herself had been raised several years earlier. This would help ensure she had a close and loving support system of family available while she raised her daughter. It was near Enon that Hogg attended a one-room school and, after graduating the eighth grade, transferred to Russellville High School.

She and her mother were also active members of the Enon Baptist Church, where young Hogg often demonstrated her talents as an accomplished pianist during various events.

“Miss Virginia Hogg went to Jefferson City Thursday as a member of the Russellville High School debating team,” the California Democrat printed on February 27, 1936.

Following her graduation in the late 1930s during the waning years of the Great Depression, she took steps to continue pursuing her educational goals. In June 1942, she traveled to Jefferson City to take the teachers examination. The Moniteau County Herald reported on September 24, 1942, “Virginia Hogg of Enon has enrolled in the Warrensburg Teachers College, according to the college report.”

The following year, on August 5, 1943, the Eldon Advertiser noted, “Miss Virginia Hogg returned home Saturday from Warrensburg where she has completed a course for a two-year elementary teaching certificate. She has been employed to teach the Grant School the coming year.”

Throughout the next several years, Hogg continued teaching at Grant School (west of Enon) while attending the summer term at the college in Warrensburg. She went on to earn her bachelor’s degree in education and was hired to teach fifth and sixth grade classes at her alma mater in Russellville in late summer 1947.

By 1949, she had moved to Lake Ozark and was employed as a sixth-grade teacher at the School of the Osage. Dedicated to continually improving her educational background, she traveled to Denver in the summer of 1950 to complete classes at the University of Colorado.

A major step in her career occurred in late 1953 when she moved to Independence and went on to teach at several elementary schools within the Kansas City school system.

“Mrs. Grace Hogg of Enon wishes to announce the marriage of her daughter, Virginia, to M.E. Gjovig,” shared the Eldon Advertiser on December 3, 1964. “The Rev. Dale DeLong performed the ceremony Monday morning at the Christian Church in California, Mo.”

At the time of their marriage, Virginia was 44 years old. Although her husband had a son and daughter from a previous marriage, the newlywed couple did not have any children together.  

Her husband was employed as the chairman of the board of the Grain Belt Transportation Company in the Kansas City area. Unfortunately, they were only able to enjoy a little more than six years of marriage since Maurice Gjovig died of a heart attack in early 1971. The 69-year-old was laid to rest in Overland Park, Kansas.

Virginia eventually retired from teaching and remained in the Kansas City area until 1979, at which time she moved back to the Enon area to help care for her aging mother. For the next five years, she and her mother enjoyed the final time they were given together.

The Eldon Advertiser printed on March 29, 1984, “Mrs. Grace Hogg, 89, died Saturday at Charles E. Still Hospital after a lingering illness. She was a lifelong resident of Enon. Mrs. Virginia Gjovig, her daughter, is her only survivor.”

Having lost virtually everyone who had showered her with love over the years, Virginia found solace in many social activities including those associated with Enon Baptist Church. On October 26, 2013, the 93-year-old retired educator passed away and, like many of her family, was laid to rest in Enloe Cemetery.

“The meaning of life is to find your gift,” said famed Spanish artist Pablo Picasso. “The purpose of life is to give it away,” he added.

Purpose came to be inextricably woven into the drive of a once young woman from Enon who sought to become an educator. Losing her father when she was only a child and a husband after only a few years of marriage, Virginia never wavered in sharing her gift of teaching with elementary age children in several Missouri school systems.
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Jeremy P. Ämick is the author of the historical compilation “Beyond the Moreau.” 

Grace Hogg (formerly “Russell”) is pictured in late 1920 holding her daughter and only child, Virginia. Courtesy of Jeremy P. Ämick