Vera Ann Peters Vandegrift

Vera Ann Peters Vandegrift was received in the arms of her loving savior Jesus Christ on December 16, 2023. Vera was born to Christine Witten Peters and Kenneth Keith Peters on September 14, 1932, in Huntington, West Virginia.

Her family stressed the importance of education, especially her Uncle John R. Witten who owned the Medical Arts Pharmacy. Her passion for reading and studies helped her to graduate as the class of 1950 Valedictorian from Huntington High School. She attended Marshall University pursuing a Bachelor of Arts in Elementary Education. She joined and served as an officer in the Gamma Beta Chapter of the Alpha Xi Delta Sorority. She also served as an officer in the Kappa Delta Pi Honor Society for Education and graduated Cum Laude on May 31, 1954, and began teaching with the Cabell County Public Schools.

She married Hugh Goodwin Vandegrift, son of Amos and Gertrude Vandegrift and nephew of George and Irene Caldwell in 1957 in Ashland, Kentucky. She completed her certification in Library and Information Science at the University of Kentucky, served as an officer in the Alpha Beta Alpha Honor Society for Library Sciences, and taught in the Fayette County Schools.

She and Hugh moved to Huntsville, Alabama when he was hired in Logistic Support at Redstone Arsenal. She taught school from 1960-1962 for the Huntsville City Schools while she pursued her Special and Secondary Education certifications at the University of Alabama.

She was employed from 1963 to 1968 at the Missile Intelligence Library of NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center (Redstone Arsenal), where she received numerous Letters of Commendation for her German and Russian linguistics and work in close support of Wernher von Braun, aerospace engineer, and space architect and his team on the Mercury-Atlas Missions 6-9, the 12 Gemini Missions, and the Apollo 8 Missions. 

She gave birth to their first child, John Goodwin Vandegrift and they moved to Germany in support of the Department of the Air Force at Ramstein. Their daughter, Christa Irene was born in Landstuhl and they resided in Zweibrücken. Her passion for history, languages, art, music, and architecture led her family to travel extensively throughout Europe.

The Department of Defense returned them state-side and they made a home in Killeen, Texas where she was hired by the Killeen Independent School District in 1979. She was an Elementary Librarian at Avenue D, Haynes, West Ward, Pershing Park, and Fowler helping thousands of students who came through her doors.

In 1989 she was selected as a participant in the National Endowment for the Humanities Honor Studies Program with Texas State University concentrating her studies on Texas Folklore and authored several NEH publications.

Frequently attending American and Texas Library Association events enabled her to make lasting friendships with renowned children’s authors including Madeline L’Engle, Roald Dahl, Eric Carle, Jane Yolen, Graeme Base, and Mary Brooke Casad, and adult authors James A. Michener, Larry McMurtry, and Rick Riordan. Those friendships built a foundation for her volunteering in the development of the Texas Book Festival along with First Lady of Texas Laura Bush which continues today as a premier literary event.

She served as Member-at-Large, Vice-President, and President of the Bell County Librarians. Vera designed the library at Cedar Valley Elementary where she continued working until her retirement in 2000 to become a full-time Nana. She loved her grandchildren immensely and supported them at every school, athletic, and Girl Scout event possible. For many years she volunteered at the Morgans Point Resort Library where she developed the Summer Library Reading Program that still exists today to provide children with opportunities to fall in love with reading.

She was preceded in death by her father, mother, grandparents John M. (Eliza Jane) Witten, Uncle John R. (Edna) Witten, and Aunt Mary I. (John) Thorn all of Huntington, West Virginia.

Left to cherish her memory are her brother Keith (Carol) Peters of Huntington, West Virginia, niece Jennifer Peters of Charleston, West Virginia, great-nephews Gage Bailey and Miles Harrison of Charleston, daughter Christa (Jason) Quigley of Morgans Point Resort, son John (Laura) Vandegrift of Gainesville, FL.  Grandchildren Jonathan (Jasmin), Caitlyn, and Jacob Quigley of Morgans Point Resort, Peri, Griffin, and Archer Vandegrift of Gainesville, FL, and Great-Grandchildren Jace and Jenna Quigley.  The Glen and LaVaughn Beauchamp Family, their daughter D. Kirkland who she referred to as her Texas Family.  Her daughter’s childhood best friend Tisha (Mike) Witt, and children Zachary, Taylor, and Jackson.  Her dear friend Dorothy Symmank and numerous friends she held dear.

In lieu of flowers, donations can be made in her name to the Temple College Foundation.