Timeline
July 20, 1944 – Virginia was born in Asheville North Carolina to Virginia W Palmer and Matthew P Palmer, who was stationed there during WWII.
1946 – The family returned to Philadelphia, where both parents had been born
1947 – Sister Ann was born, prematurely. Virginia stayed with Aunt Sally and Uncle “Eck” (Ed) for a while.
They often visited Aunt Grace who lived in Atlantic City and their grandparents who had a chicken farm in Bucks County, north of Philadelphia. Lots of large family gatherings were held at the farm with aunts and uncles and cousins. The infamous egg toss game was a staple.
1955 – Virginia’s father worked for General Motors and was transferred to Detroit. The family moved to Ferndale MI a suburb just north of the city.
1956 – Virginia fell and broke her right elbow and spent several months? In traction at Henry Ford Hospital in Detroit
1962 – Virginia graduated from Ferndale High Scholl and attended the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor
In Summers Virginia was a nanny to a family that had a house in New England
1966 – Virginia graduated from U of Michigan with a BA in English, and then decided to go to Hawaii. There she worked for various hotels in Waikiki and also worked for Connie Solarana and her husband
1968 – Ann went to visit Virginia in Hawaii (for a month, on her way to San Francisco) and stayed, got a job working for a computer company
1970 – Virginia returned to Michigan to help their mother Ginny thru surgery
1971 – Ann returned to Michigan, then Ann and Virginia traveled from Michigan across the country to Los Angeles where Ann had a job, still working for the Hawaiian computer company. They shared an apartment in El Monte and every weekend went exploring – the mountains around LA, the beaches, Death Valley. Having grown up on the east coast and in the Midwest, this was the first time either one had really spent time in the west.
1972 – Virginia traveled and explored around CA and then visited Lopez Island with Connie Solarana, a friend from Hawaii, who had friends who owned a cabin on Lopez. Ann returned to Hawaii. The owners invited Virginia to stay in their cabin, at Sea Ranch near the ferry. There she met John and Barb Nason who lived next door.
Virginia met Jack Nason, an attorney, who also lived at Sea Ranch. She worked for him for many years.
Early 70’s – Fishing and “Hanging Nets” – mending fish nets
1973 – Ann and Virginia went to the Monterey Jazz Festival for the first time
1974 – Virginia, Ann, and Connie bought 50 acres of land on Lopez Island. Virginia moved into the Gallenger cabin at Sea Ranch where John and Barb had lived (they were in Alaska I think)
1975 – Ann left Hawaii and spent 6 months living with Virginia on Lopez (at the house on Port Stanley Rd. belonging to Joyce Buffam). During that time, they took a memorable camping trip from Lopez to Monterey for the Jazz Festival and then continued on down the Sierras and into Mexico, to Ensenada. They returned up the Baja Peninsula and continued north thru rainy Oregon and back to Lopez. At the end of 1975 Ann left to (finally) go to San Francisco.
1980 – Virginia moved into Marty Walzack’s cabin off of Islandale Rd. (Nancy McCoy had lived there)
1981 – Virginia went to Ann’s wedding to Chuck in Walnut Creek
1984 – Ann and Chuck moved to Lopez Island in November, Virginia found them a rental house on Center Rd.
Chuck had purchased Connie’s share of the land on Lopez, and they divided the property. Virginia had the 20 acres on School Rd. and Ann and Chuck had the 30 acres to the south.
Virginia moved into her new, unfinished house
1987 – Ginny Palmer, their mom, moved from Michigan to Lopez. They put a double wide mobile home on the corner of Virginia’s property with a view of the fields and the Olympics
Ginny fit right into to life on Lopez – she played bridge, joined the golf club and the garden club. Later, she described her years on Lopez as the best years of her life.
1989 – in January, Kelley was born to Ann and Chuck in the midst of an historic winter storm
1995 – Ann and Kelley moved to Seattle
1996 – Ginny had a massive stroke at Ann’s house in Seattle. After 9 months in hospital and nursing home, Virginia and Ann were able to care for her at home, each having her with them for 2 weeks at a time.
1998 – Ginny passed away, she was buried at the family plot in Baltimore MD
2000? – Virginia took an epic 6 week trip to Australia
2003 – Ann and Kelley returned to Lopez so Kelley could go to high school here
2003-2017 – Virginia began her job as manager of the Lopez Island Farmer’s Market in 2003. During this time she was also on the Friends of Woodmen Hall Board, and did a wide variety of part time jobs: home health care, Chimera, property and pet sitting, Healing Touch, and lots of volunteer work. In September 2017 she and Ann went to the Monterey Jazz Festival for the last time. In 45 years, they only missed 2 years.
2018 – Sept. 4 – Virginia was flown off the island to St. Josephs Hospital in Bellingham. Her health problems did not allow her to return to Lopez, she spent most of the next 9 months in Anacortes at Fidalgo Care Center.
June 29, 2019 – Virginia passed away peacefully