Obituary
Virginia E. Palmer (Ginger)
July 20, 1944 – June 29, 2019
Celebration of Virginia’s Life
Sunday, August 18 at 3pm
Lopez Community Center
Virginia (known by many as Ginger) passed away peacefully after a battle with cancer. She was 74.
Born in Asheville, NC where her father was stationed during WWII, her early years were mostly spent in Philadelphia with family excursions up and down the east coast, and especially to Atlantic City and her grandparents’ farm in Bucks County PA. The family moved to the Ferndale, MI outside Detroit in 1955. After getting a degree in English from the University of Michigan in 1966, she began to explore by traveling to Hawaii where she lived for 4 years, working mostly in the hotel industry in Waikiki. After leaving Hawaii, she and her sister Ann drove across the country from Michigan to Los Angeles, seeing places like the Grand Canyon for the first time. They lived in El Monte, CA for a year. They explored the mountains around LA, the coast, the desert, and Death Valley. When Ann was traveling on business, Virginia explored up and down the west coast. Her travels led her to visit Lopez Island in 1972 with Connie Solarana, a friend from Hawaii, who had friends on Lopez with a cabin. The cabin owners invited her to stay for a while – and from that point on she lived on Lopez Island for the rest of her life. In 1974 Virginia, Ann, and Connie purchased forest land on Lopez. She had a house built in 1984 and lived there even though it took more than 15 years to finish the interior.
Life on Lopez provided her with an amazing variety of jobs. From fishing and net mending, office support for a lawyer, a government official, an escrow business, and others, providing house and pet sitting, gardening, cleaning, and many other part-time jobs. She became a certified Healing Touch Practitioner and many people and pets benefitted from her treatments. She and her sister cared for their mom after she had a stroke in 1996 and that led Virginia into doing home health care. She was active in the community and was part of the initial push to get a pool on Lopez and has always been a supporter of the Friends of Lopez Island Pool. She was on the Friends of Woodmen Hall board and she also worked at the Chimera Gallery. She was perhaps best known for her role as the Manager of the Lopez Island Farmers from 2003 – 2018. She was open and caring and made friends wherever she went. She touched the lives of many people on Lopez and beyond.
She always loved the water and swimming. As a child, she swam in the Atlantic Ocean and the freshwater lakes in Michigan. In high school and college she was in the synchronized swimming club. She swam in the waters of Hawaii and continued to swim and do water aerobics on Lopez Island and in the Anacortes pool for much of her life. It was her favorite form of exercise. She was one of the first advocates for building a pool on Lopez. Donations in Virginia’s memory may be made to the Friends of Lopez Island Pool.
She is survived by her sister Ann Palmer of Lopez Island, and niece Kelley Palmer-McGee (Casey) of Bellingham, WA.
So much of Virginia’s life is captured in the stories from those she touched. Please honor her by visiting the website at virginiapalmermemories.com and share your stories and memories and photos or read the stories other have posted.
Memories and photos may also be sent to:
Ann Palmer, PO Box 84, Lopez Island, WA 98261
or by email: apalmer123@msn.com