Virginia Lambkin Horner marks 100th birthday

Virginia Lambkin Horner marked a milestone birthday Oct. 8 as she turned 100.

The eldest daughter of Leonard and Mary Lambkin, Virginia was born in Great Falls in 1921 and spent much of her life in Lincoln, growing up at her parents' hotel, the now -iconic Hotel Lincoln.

Brenda Vehrs, Virginia's granddaughter, said Virginia and her younger sisters Ellen (Mulcare) and Betty (Disney) were "all kind of special girls" for their time.

"They all got to go to college," Vehrs said. "Their Dad, Len, sent them to Helena for music and dance. it's an interesting story when you think about how remote Lincoln was from the bigger towns.

Virginia attended Missoula County High School in Missoula and graduated in 1940. That May, as she was about to graduate from high school, she was the subject of a small article in the Missoulian that made note of her plans to study journalism in college, as well as her hobbies of "strange bugs and Mexican jumping beans."

She began studying journalism in Missoula at Montana State University (now the University of Montana) that fall, and roomed with her older brother, Leonard, Jr. in an apartment above the Wilma Theater.

In 1943 she married Joe Horner, whose parents, Ralph and Ellen (Nell) Horner had worked the Constellation Mine in Shuey Gulch near the Mike Horse during the '30s.

Both Joe and Virginia's brother Leonard served in Europe during World War II. While Joe made it home, Leonard was killed in action during the Battle of the Hurtgen Forest in Germany.

Virginia went on to get her bachelor's degree in education from the College of Great Falls and in 1944 gave birth to her first son, Joseph, followed three years later by the birth of her second son, Michael. She and joe welcomed their third son David in 1952, and in 1955 she gave birth to her fourth son, Stuart.

Virginia's teaching included time working with her sister Ellen at Lincoln School, teaching the 5th through 7th grade students, while Ellen taught 1st through 4th grade. She left Lincoln School in 1958 when she and Joe moved to California, and she continued her teaching career there.

By 1962 they were back in Montana. Virginia began teaching at Helmville school before taking a job as the 4th grade teacher in Vaughn in 1967. From there she moved on to Great Falls and then spent 13 years teaching at Franklin School until her retirement in 1981.

In 1994, Virginia and her sisters shared their memories of growing up in Lincoln in "Gold Pans and Singletrees," the Lincoln history book published by the Upper Blackfoot Valley Historical Society.

Virginia and Joe spent a lot of time traveling after retirement and built a log home on 2nd Avenue South in Lincoln.

Joe passed away from cancer in 2004 and by 2017, when she moved into the Grandview assisted living facility in Great Falls, Virginia had lived in the house they owned in Great Falls' north Riverview area for 50 years.

Unfortunately, Vehrs said a family celebration of Virginias 's centenary birthday is on hold for the moment, due to a COVID-19 quarantine on Grandview. But they're not worried. She broke her hip a few months back, which caused her family quite a bit of concern for a while, but her son David said, "She came back stronger than ever, as usual."