Virginia Mae Russell

"Virginia Mae (Woodruff) Russell, beloved wife of Robert H. Russell, Jr., died peacefully on Monday at the age of 87, following a long illness. She and her husband, Bob, were married for 65 years and lived for most of those years at 94 Woodbridge Street in South Hadley. They moved to Loomis Village, a retirement community, in 2010. In addition to her husband, for many years the President of J. Russell & Co. in Holyoke and then Russell Engineering in West Springfield, she leaves her two children, Robert Henry (Rusty) of Cambridge, MA, and Holly Virginia, of Chapel Hill, NC, the wife of Donald M. Reid, and two grandchildren, Otis Russell Reid, a doctoral candidate in economics at MIT, and Hadley Woodruff Reid, a junior at Stanford University. Mrs. Russell, known to all as Ginney, grew up on Sargeant Street in Holyoke, the only child of Bertram D. Woodruff and Ida M. Richter. She graduated in 1945 from Holyoke High School, fifth in her class, with first honors, then attended Bryant College of Business Administration, at the time located in Providence, RI, from which in 1946 she earned a diploma in the secretarial program. While working for a summer during high school at J. Russell & Co., she met her future husband, a student at Kimball Union Academy in Meriden, NH. They were married at the Second Congregational Church in Holyoke on October 22, 1949. In the 1960s, she was active both as a Cub Scout den mother and the leader of a Brownie troop, in which her son and daughter, respectively, participated. After raising her children, she worked for a decade on the support staff of the Mt. Holyoke College athletic program, and then for a second decade on the staff of the Valley Health Plan (later Kaiser Permanente), an HMO in Hadley, MA. Mrs. Russell remained active in her community throughout her life. This included service at her family's church, the First Congregational Church (Center Church) of South Hadley, as well as committee work at Loomis Village, and with other civic and cultural organizations. She was a great lover of cats and provided a home for many cats of note. She also was an avid gardener and, when not at her family's vacation home in Wallingford, VT, she threw herself into the creation of several elaborate gardens at her home on Woodbridge Street and then at Loomis Village. Funeral services will be private. Calling hours are on Friday, March 27, 3-6 p.m. at Beers & Story Funeral Home, 646 Newton Street, South Hadley. A memorial service will be held on Saturday, April 11, 2015, at 2 p.m. at the First Congregational Church, 1 Church Street, South Hadley, followed by a reception in Fellowship Hall. In lieu of flowers, donations may be made to the Memorial Fund at Center Church or Dakin Pioneer Valley Humane Society, 163 Montague Road, Leverett, MA 01054. "