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Text	Click on the Print ICON to print this article <div class="died"> <p><img alt="" src="/imageuploads/valedgington.jpg" style="border-style:solid; border-width:15px; float:left; height:196px; margin:10px; width:200px" /></p> <p>Ms. VALENTINE EDGINGTON, (Wife of COL ROGER), passed away 1/10/2023. Val was 94 and had been married to Roger for 71 years.</p> <p>Valentina Edgington was born in a small village in Romania to Austrian<br /> parents. Forced to move back to their homeland by WWII, it brought her<br /> from Romania to Linz, Austria. While in her early teens, she spoke four<br /> languages, Russian, Romanian, German and English. As the oldest<br /> daughter of a family of ten, she found herself occupied with raising<br /> many of her younger siblings. In 1950, “Val” met her future husband,<br /> and she married Sgt Roger Edgington in 1951. Finding difficulty with<br /> her immigration, her husband sought help from his Iowa Congressman,<br /> Henry O. Talle, and a bill was passed in Congress that resolved the<br /> problem that faced many soldiers regarding immigration of their wives.<br /> <br /> In early June 1951 the couple moved to Paris and then to Vienna the<br /> following year when Edgington was called to active duty as a Second<br /> Lieutenant. Movement in the military was not uncommon and Val moved<br /> 27 times in the years Colonel Edgington was in service. Approximately<br /> ten of those years, the couple were stationed in Europe. Their last Army<br /> assignment was at West Point, NY, Edgington was the Comptroller of the<br /> US Army Military Academy. During their years in the military, they<br /> adopted two wonderful children, Steven and Lisa, both are graduates of<br /> the University of Oregon and now enjoy successful careers in San<br /> Francisco and Portland, OR.<br /> <br /> Val and Roger lived many places. Germany, Austria, France, Hawaii,<br /> Kansas, Indiana, New York and of course Washington, DC. Although Val had<br /> been trained as a seamstress, she began new opportunities, painting with<br /> oils, teaching other Army wives the skills of cooking and even making<br /> hats. She made her daughter's wedding dress, which was totally<br /> unmatched to anything available. Colonel Edgington retired from West<br /> Point and the family moved to Portland Oregon in 1976. A two-vehicle<br /> convoy motored across the USA with their children and two pets. A new<br /> academic environment emerged for Val. Her skills were expanded, At<br /> Portland State University, she taught wives of the faculty, to include<br /> the Deans, how to cook European food, Wiener Schnitzel was her favorite<br /> specialty. She also hosted numerous dinners as the President's wife,<br /> they continued to travel, and June of 1989 found them in Bejing, China<br /> with other members of their faculty. This was a reciprocal.<br /> visit to four of the University presidents in China. Significantly two<br /> of the Presidents were in “house arrest” due to the student activity in<br /> TinAmmon Square . Unfortunately, the visitors from the United States<br /> were unaware of this mission by the students. Ironically, later, Val<br /> and her husband were in Bonn, Germany watching the large TV in the city<br /> square showing the wall in Berlin collapsing... Valentina is an<br /> extremely talented and traveled person, whether sitting in a box seat<br /> next to the Governor of New York, at a football game in West Point or<br /> giving a small child candy on a street in Mexico, or dancing with a US<br /> Senator at the Thayer Hotel at West Point. She always knew what to do<br /> and set the example for others... Although never in uniform, she served<br /> this country as a military wife and experienced many separations where<br /> she could not go, Korea, Vietnam etc.<br /> <br /> In January 1997 the Edgington's moved to Sun Lakes and lived on East<br /> Nacoma for 25 years. During That period, they traveled on cruises and<br /> visited Val's family in Austria. Recently she developed dementia and<br /> she struggled with that for two and a half years. Doctors recommended a<br /> Memory Care facility. Shortly after her arrival there she contracted<br /> the COVID-19 Vuus. She was one of eight and one did not survive. After<br /> four months there, her husband relocated her to a Villa facility here in<br /> Sun Lakes. They enjoyed the period for about 20 months and then slowly<br /> she started to be unable to express herself and passed away on<br /> 1/10/2023. . She will be remembered fondly by many. There will be no<br /> event at this time but sometime in April, the month of their wedding<br /> anniversary, there will be an event, and everyone will be notified of<br /> that in advance.</p> </div>
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