IN MEMORIAM: Virginia Wilson, 71;
Teacher, Active In Community Life
ONEONTA – Virginia Hughes Wilson, 71, a teacher active in civic life whose honors included receiving Saturday Bread’s Saturday’s Bread Apron Award for exceptional service, passed away peacefully Jan. 6, 2019, surrounded by family after an extended illness.
She was born in Boonville and spent her early years in Utica and Lyons Falls. She attended the one-room schoolhouse in Collinsville diagonally across the street from her family’s farm. She had fond memories of helping her father with the daily farm chores and truly cherished her early family life.
After graduating from South Lewis High School, she attended Cornell University and the University of Maryland, graduating with a degree in biology. At Cornell, she met her future husband, Eric Wilson, and they married while he was as Naval officer stationed in Washington, D.C.
Ginny enjoyed her years of being a teacher in her early career. She worked with all grade levels and abilities and truly got joy from imparting knowledge to others. She later moved on from teaching and took a position as the secretary at the First United Methodist Church in Oneonta, a job she was passionate about for close to 25 years.
Many will remember her kindness and care in everything she did both for the church and the community. Ginny’s love for humanity shined through her work.
She was a member of the boards of Family Service Association and the United Methodist Women, and was an active voice for the Reconciling Ministries Network. She was honored with a Saturday’s Bread Apron Award for exceptional service and received UMW Special Mission Recognition Awards among other achievements during her lifetime.
Although she was generous to others with her time and talents, her true love was her family. Ginny grew up one of five kids and then had five children of her own. She was an amazing mother to two sets of twins (Rachel and Rebecca, Randall and Russell) plus a third daughter (Roselyn).
Ginny was an incredibly creative homemaker who could simultaneously make dinner, help with homework and get the family ready for the next project, show, or athletic event. She would put notes in lunches and draw faces on bananas. This would always bring smiles during the day. She would decorate for birthdays and was always the most thoughtful gift giver. She knew what everyone’s favorites were.
We thank her for her countless hours behind the wheel taking her children everywhere they needed to go, even if it meant several trips up and down the “S” curve at the high school. She did all of this with a mother’s love and we are so thankful.
Virginia leaves behind her husband of 51 years, Eric Wilson, and her five children and their spouses: Rachel “Kelly” Hansen (Eric), Rebecca Bresee (John), Randall Wilson (Elizabeth), Russell Wilson (Judith), and Roselyn Kinnick (Christopher). She will be greatly missed by 12 grandchildren and her siblings Charles Hughes (Norma), Margaret Pitcher (James), Marilyn Pidgeon, Carolyn LeVan (Timothy), sisters in-law Marjorie Hughes and Gwendolyn (Thomas) Chittenden, as well as their children and other members of the large extended family.
She was predeceased by her parents, Evelyn and John Hughes, and her granddaughter, Paige Scarlet Wilson.
In lieu of flowers, the family asks that memorial gifts be sent to the church at 66 Chestnut St. in memory of Ginny for the Pastor’s Discretionary Fund.
A memorial service will be at 3 p.m. Saturday, Jan. 26, at the First United Methodist Church in Oneonta.
To send an online condolence please visit www.grummonsfuneralhome.com