Virginia Reddick, president of the United Senior Citizens of Bend, died Thursday at St. Charles Bend. She was 81.
“It was sudden and shocking," said her son March Reddick, of Bend. He said his mother died at 2:30 a.m. as the consequence of a major stroke.
Reddick became president of USCB around 2000, he said. “She devoted her life to the seniors."
“She’s probably put in more hours towards the betterment of the senior community than any other person in Bend’s history, and her presence will be sorely missed," said attorney Bill Buchanan, who represented USCB. “Literally thousands and thousands and thousands of hours that were dedicated to helping seniors, particularly the lower-income seniors who had the greatest need."
According to her son, Virginia Reddick was born March 26, 1931, in Milwaukee and attended business college in Houston. She moved to Hollywood, Calif., where her family relocated its printing business. He said she later moved to Huntington Park, Calif., and after working in the steel industry became a pioneer in the business side of cellular telephones.
She was married briefly in the 1950s and divorced; she moved to Bend in 1994, he said.
Reddick was part of the USCB campaign in the 1990s to raise funds to help build Bend’s Senior Center, 1600 S.E. Reed Market Road. However, the organization in 2012 fell out with the Bend Park & Recreation District, charging the district shortchanged the seniors in whose interest the center was built. USCB demanded a refund of the money it helped raise, but the district declined.
Niswonger-Reynolds Funeral Home is in charge of arrangements, said Holly Houston, a manager with the firm. March Reddick said a memorial celebration is being planned.
— From staff reports
