It is with deep sorrow that we announce the world lost a bright light on September 14th, 2026. Victoria Fae Atkins (née Windecker) known to her friends as Vicki passed away peacefully in Tucson, Arizona. Throughout her 75 rotations around the sun, Vicki touched many lives with her wit, her humor, her intelligence, and most of all her unconditional love. Vicki was an educator and passed that drive to both her sister Melissa and her daughter Celeste. Vicki was born on October 26th, 1950, in Denver, Colorado to the late Annie Rue Windecker (née Lee) and Elmer (Jerry) Windecker. As a teenager, she spent a year of her life raising her young siblings after her mother’s untimely death until they were placed in foster homes. In her foster home Vicki met (and lived with from day one) her future spouse, retired Colonel Charles Atkins, who was staying with the family while attending college. After marrying Charles at age 18, she was a military spouse and devoted mother working different jobs and putting herself through college until their divorce in 1988. Vicki then spent the remainder of her career as an educator working with children on the autism spectrum and later, with adolescents with emotional and social issues in California. She retired from teaching in 2013 to take on her last and favorite position – grandmother (and co-parent) to her only grandchild Cheyenne Ariella Tianna Atkins. Cheyenne was the apple of her grandma’s eye. Vicki was devoted to her family. She was a loving sister, a dedicated and nurturing aunt, and exemplified unconditional love as a mother and grandmother. She taught Cheyenne (and Celeste before that) their love of reading, Motown, movies, word games, board games, and puzzles. She allowed Celeste to achieve her greatest dream of motherhood and her loftiest goal of becoming the first in the family to earn a PhD by being a stay-at-home grandma to Cheyenne. In addition to her parents, she was preceded in death by her eldest brother Michael, and her beloved nephews Keith Rodriguez and Jason Reyes. She is survived by siblings Melissa Everett (sons Joshua Reyes married to Tisha and father to Avery, and Jared Reyes), Teddiann Williams, Tawanah Ransom, Theodore Ransom, Carol Smith (son Marty Rodriguez married to Wendy and father to Jordan and Paul), and Jeanie Fisher (son Chuck Smith father of Mickie Smith). She was the heart of the matriarchal family consisting of daughter Celeste Atkins, and granddaughter Cheyenne Atkins, bonus granddaughter Tichina Ritchie (husband Jordan, son Yuri’el and daughter Yuriah). She is remembered fondly by extended family members and friends. We will miss her stuffing at Thanksgiving and her amazing chicken and dumplings. At the family’s request, there will be no funeral. Instead there will be a memorial tree in Better Place Forests (Flagstaff, Arizona). Celeste and Cheyenne want to visit Vicki in the place where some of their fondest family memories were made on annual trips to see Santa on the Polar Express. A small celebration of life is planned on what would have been her 76th birthday weekend: October 24th, 2026. Friends and family who haven’t seen each other in years (and some who have never met) will gather together, share stories of Vicki and create new memories of fun and family. Vicki’s body may have left this earth, but her legacy lives on in the memories of those who loved her and in the lives of Celeste and Cheyenne. She was the wind beneath our wings.