Harshbarger, Isabelle Hoge

Isabelle Hume Hoge Harshbarger, 101, died July 4, 2006, at her home in Blacksburg, Virginia.

She was born October 3, 1904 at “Wheatland,” the Hoge mansion which stood just east of Hoges Chapel in Giles County, Virginia. She was the sixth and youngest child of John Thompson Sayers Hoge and his wife and cousin, Florence Eliza Snidow, who was the daughter of Anna Eliza Hoge, of Montgomery County and her husband John Chapman Snidow. Isabelle inherited the Hoge family longevity, and, like her mother before her, she lived to see the year in which she was born, one century later.

She attended the boarding school formerly associated with the the State Normal School for Women, in Radford, now Radford University. When the boarding school was dissolved in her senior year, she continued her studies at the college, class of 1924. She enjoyed attending her 75th and 76th college class reunions.

While in school in Radford she began violin lessons, which she continued in Blacksburg and Lynchburg. In later years she played first violin in the local orchestra and occasionally for weddings. For a few years she taught grade school in Hoges Chapel (then known as Hoges Store) in a two-room school house that stood in what was called the “Kerr Field.”

In 1935 she married Boyd Harshbarger, a faculty member in the Mathematics Department at Virginia Tech, who later founded and served as head of the Statistics Department. She lived the rest of her life in Blacksburg with the exception of two years, June 1940 to June 1942, when she returned to, “Wheatland” to live while her husband was away obtaining his Ph.D. degree at George Washington University.

She regularly entertained the faculty and students of the Statistics Department and established life-long friendships with them and with others involved in Statistics in other universities. For years she and her husband (and later she and her daughter) were known as formidable bridge opponents at the University Club duplicate games.

She was a life-long Presbyterian and was the oldest member of the Blacksburg Presbyterian Church. Throughout her life she exemplified the graciousness, kindness, unfailing courtesy, and hospitality so characteristic of southern ladies in the Edwardian period of her birth.

She was preceded in death by her husband, Dr. Boyd Harshbarger; her brothers, Joseph Haven Hoge, Chapman Snidow Hoge, John Thompson Sayers Hoge, Jr., and Willard Tyler Hoge; and by her sister, Nannie Sue Hoge Dillard. She is survived by her son, John Hoge Harshbarger of Richmond, Virginia, and his wife, Dorothy S. Harshbarger, and by her daughter, Barbara Hume. She is also survived by two nephews, Dr. Powell G. Dillard, Jr. of Lynchburg, Virginia, and Dr. John Chapman Hoge of Boynton Beach, Florida; and a special niece, Mrs., Barbara Hoge of Giles County, Virginia; and special friends, Mr. and Mrs. Youtong Fu of Ashburn, Virginia. She also leaves behind her beloved white toy poodle, Shirley.

The family would like to express its sincere gratitude to her caregivers, Patricia Lovern, Liz Johnston, Ellen Robinson, Louise Rogers, and Sylvia Price. In lieu of flowers, the family suggests contributions to the Blacksburg Presbyterian Church, P.O. Box 144, Blacksburg, Va. 24060, or the Hoge-Howe Cemetery Fund, 742 Brickyard Road, Pembroke, Va. 24136, or the Boyd Harshbarger Endowed Graduate Study Scholarship Fund, Pack Building, Virginia Tech, Blacksburg, Va. 24061.

Graveside services will be held Sunday, July 9, 2006 at 2 p.m. in the Westview Cemetery with the Rev. Alex Evans Officiating. There will be no visitation at the funeral home. Arrangements by McCoy Funeral Home, Blacksburg, Va.