Victoria F. Wargo

Victoria “Vicki” Wargo passed away July 24, 2013 at the age of 92 at her home in the Village at Skyline in Colorado Springs. She was born on January 23, 1921, the seventh of eight children born to William Sidney Powless and Mary Elizabeth Lawrence near the Village of Tamms in rural Alexander County, Illinois. Only five of the children grew to adulthood, where the family lived on rented farms and were characterized by Vicki as being “poorer than poor.” Vicki left home as a teenager to work at a resort in the county and used her earnings to help support the family.

Near the start of World War II, she worked making munitions at the Western Cartridge Factory in East Alton, Illinois. She met handsome Marine sergeant Joe Wargo, a native of Arkansas, and the couple was married in East Alton on January 27, 1944. After the Korean War, Joe was discharged from the Marines, and immediately joined the Army. As military families do, they moved many times, living in several different states and twice in Germany. The couple had three children, all born in different states.

When Joe retired from the Army in 1967, the family moved to the Colorado Springs area, and bought a new home in Widefield. Joe died in 1983. Vicki had her own career with the federal Civil Service, and retired in 1985.

Vicki’s parents and all of her siblings predeceased her. She is survived by her three children, six grandchildren, and seven great-grandchildren: Daughter Carolyn Schinstock and husband Jim, of Hutchinson, Kansas and their four children Brad Schinstock and wife Joanne and daughter Victoria of Plano, Texas; Kristin Plants and husband Steve and son Austin of Grand Rapids, Michigan; Ryan Schinstock and wife Bridget and children Abigail, Emma, Riley, and Makenzi of Grain Valley, Missouri, and Julia Ellis and husband David and daughter Shantell of Albany, Oregon; Son Philip of Colorado Springs; and daughter Barbara Zimmer and husband Jim and children Zachary and Lauren, of Colorado Springs.

Vicki had a strong Catholic faith and had told her children that she was at peace with God and was prepared “to go home.” Cremation has taken place and there will be no visitation. A parish rosary will be held on Friday, August 2, 2013, 10:30 a.m. followed by a Memorial Mass at 11:00 a.m., all at the Day Chapel at St Dominic Catholic Church, 5354 South Highway 85/87 in Security. Inurnment will be in the Mount St. Francis Columbarium in Colorado Springs.

Online condolences may be made at www.dove-witt.com