October 11, 1927 – March 5, 2026
Unique. This word perfectly describes our Ginna, the nickname her two-year-old, big brother Joe gave her because he couldn’t say Virginia.
Ginna uniquely lived in the house of her birth near downtown Kansas City, Kansas, until she moved to Village Shalom Assisted Living at age 95. Ninety years earlier, she began her half-block walks down the alley behind her house—how she forevermore loved alleys!—to Central Grade School. Teenage Ginna walked more than a mile to Wyandotte High School, and after graduation she took a bus to Junior College in Kansas City, Missouri, where she learned skills for her professional life.
As an insurance underwriter, Ginna’s favorite job was at G.R. Fiss Co. that was owned by former football pro Galen Fiss. Galen appreciated Ginna’s underwriting excellence and her love of football. Ginna acquired her knowledge and love of the sport from her big brother Joe and little brother Paul. They were enthusiastic football fans, and she was an enthusiastic fan of her brothers and, thus, their favorite sport.
Ginna was family-centered. She adored her mother, Doris Taylor Gorman, attending Mass at St. Anthony’s with her until her death in 1992. Both Doris and Ginna doted on Joe and June’s daughters Laura (Presko), Carol (Dixon), Janet (Branham) and Paul and Barbara’s Cynthia (Rider) and Anthony. They indulgently babysat all five of these lucky ones when they were little, playing game after game with them even though Doris and Ginna disliked games.
And, my, the fabulous clothes Ginna gave to her nieces and nephew! Quality and exquisite style were Ginna’s trademarks. She bought only the finest from upscale shops for herself, and she did the same for her little loves. Shopping was Ginna’s favorite pastime, lavishing her fine taste and generosity on relatives at birthdays and Christmastime.
What says the most about Ginna’s exceptionalism, though, is the purchase of her first car. In her late twenties, Ginna asked brothers Joe and Paul to drive her to Parrish Chevrolet in Liberty, Missouri, where she handed over $2,000 in cash and bought a brand-new, two-toned, aqua and white, 1955 Chevrolet Bel Air. She named her new love Baby Doll.
This cash-in-hand purchase of a new Chevy is all the more noteworthy because Ginna didn’t know how to drive. Her brothers gave her a few lessons after she bought Baby Doll but basically she taught herself how to drive in the vast parking lots of the Fairfax industrial district.
Ginna was an original.
We greatly treasured our unique Ginna, and the remaining four generations of us will continue to do so through her memorable spirit.
Ginna’s services will be private. Memorial contributions may be made to Catholic Community Hospice, 16201 W. 95th St., Suite 200, Lenexa, Kansas 66219. This excellent organization with its superb staff and volunteers gave Ginna and her family caring, thoughtful, pain-saving support for which we are deeply grateful.
