Virginia Hyde

Virginia Hyde, 79, has passed from this life in Pullman, Wash. She suffered a series of strokes starting in October, 2018, and she passed away on Jan. 2, 2019. She was preceded in death by her mother, Mary Hazel Crosswhite; her father, John Franklin Crosswhite; two brothers, Frank Samuel Crosswhite, Glenn Stephen Crosswhite; and a half-brother, Leigh John Crosswhite. She is survived in her near family by her husband, David Barnes; son, Mike Milano; sister-in-law, Carol Crosswhite; niece, Katherine Beasley; two nephews, Mark and Jason; and a great-nephew, Joshua the son of Katherine.

Virginia was born in Atchison, Kansas, on Oct. 5, 1938. Her family farmed there until WWII when they moved to Tacoma, Washington, for work in the defense industry. After the war, the family moved back to Kansas where her mother, Hazel, got a degree in education. In 1948, the family moved to Coolidge, Arizona, where Hazel taught in the local schools. Virginia attended high school in Arizona and then married a classmate, Jack Hyde, from which the name Hyde came. The marriage lasted only a few years, but the name Hyde continued. For a time she worked as a newspaper editor and other jobs in Arizona. Then (in only three years) she got a BA degree in German from Arizona State University. From this springboard she went to the University of Wisconsin and (again in only three years) she finished a Ph.D degree in English and came to Washington State University as an assistant professor in 1970.

Virginia was, for over 30 years, Professor of English Literature at Washington State University. Her teaching and research work usually dealt with the Victorian and later time periods. In that context, she taught a very broad range of courses and published critical works dealing with numerous authors. Some of her major publications deal with the poet and novelist D. H. Lawrence. Her book "The Risen Adam" which makes connections between Lawrence and the Bible, gained her international recognition. She was also invited by the Cambridge University Press to edit the definitive edition of the D. H. Lawrence work "Mornings in Mexico" which was well received.

In addition to her academic activities, she was also interested in other things in the world. One of our favorite places and things to do was to go swimming in the Snake River near Wawawai. She called it the "wine dark sea." Virginia's body was cremated and when I go, our ashes will be mixed and scattered into the waters of the Snake River at Wawawai. She was also a poet of great skill and was deeply involved in collecting a lifetime of poems she had written and was near to editing them into a book for publication. I will at some point try to finish that project. David Barnes, Loving Husband to Virginia Hyde.

The memorial service for Virginia will be held on Friday, January 18, 2019, at 2 PM at Kimball Funeral Home, Pullman, WA. Online condolences may be sent to http://www.kimballfh.com