Venla M. Culley

Venla Myrtle Culley passed away on October 5, 2011 at 84. She was born October 18, 1926 in a farm house in Love County, Oklahoma outside Marietta, Oklahoma. She grew up during the Great Depression and was part of the great migration from Oklahoma to California immortalized in the novel Grapes of Wrath. Venla recalled not having enough to eat as a child, picking cotton and riding on freight trains. She lived in hobo camps with her father who played the fiddle. As a young child she was befriended by a wonderful lady she knew as Dr. Carrie who was one of the first women to graduate from Loma Linda Seventh Day Adventist medical school in Southern California. Dr. Carrie took care of Venla when her parents couldn't care for her and paid for her to attend the private Adventist school Campion Academy in Colorado with her older sister Viola in hopes she might become interested in Medicine. At age 13 Venla went to live with an Adventist family in Boulder, Vergyl and Ruth Reynolds. They had two children, William Reynolds and Joan Reynolds Shepherd who Venla helped care for. She graduated from Boulder High School and attended the University of Colorado in Boulder. The Reynolds family adopted her and her legal name changed to Venla Myrtle Reynolds when she was 14. Venla's mother strenuously objected hinting that someday her English name Goldsmith would amount to something. Ironically, this came true when Caroline Elizabeth Goldsmith's daughter Catherine Middleton married Prince William of Wales on April 29, 2011. Vergyl Reynolds was determined that anyone Venla married had the will and means to care for her and any family they might have. He was delighted when she married chemical engineering student and World War II veteran John Henry Culley, especially after he and Venla watched John win the Big 8 singles tennis championship in 1947 and John lettered in tennis at C.U. Venla fondly recalled that during her tennis class, John Culley came over to the class and asked the teacher if he could rally with Venla. The teacher agreed and John and Venla began to rally. Venla was amazed that wherever she hit the ball, John hit it right back to her. A few days later Venla came over to the tennis courts to see if she could see John Culley. Venla watched some players on the CU Tennis Team playing doubles and suddenly realized that the fellow in the long white pants was John Culley. Venla was so embarrased about how good he was, that she snuck away. She was always proud that she dated and married a champion. They married at Ruth and Vergyl's house on August 26, 1946 and celebrated their 65th anniversary in 2011. Venla loved children (she called them little people) and thoroughly enjoyed being a mother and grandmother. She felt it was her calling in life. At age 75, after being diagnosed with breast cancer, she and her husband took in their grandson and raised him for three years. Venla worked in sales to put all of her children through college. Venla loved playing and listening to music. She also enjoyed ballroom dancing, golf and travel. She and her husband went on over 40 cruises all around the world. She was generous and sometimes took along her children, grandchild and in-laws. She also sent her grandson on school trips to Europe and Asia. He nicknamed her "Tata Ven". She was a beloved wife, mother and grandmother. Venla is survived by her husband, retired Chemical Engineer John H. Culley II, her children John Henry Culley III, Matthew James Culley (Eileen) and Marsha Idelle Culley Baumann (John) as well as her grandson Matthew John-Lawrence Culley and her sisters Viola Mae Rhodus and Venita Marie Visser. Venla was proud of her Union army ancestors John Pate of the Second Arkansas Cavalry Regiment and Zachariah Taylor Goldsmith of the Sixth Tennessee Cavalry Regiment. May she rest in peace in God's loving care. Donations in Venla's honor may be made to Denver Hospice at http://www.thedenverhospice.org. For more information see Dorothy Goldsmith's Ancestry.com web site under her mother's maiden name Adeline Mae Johansen.