Virginia "Ginger" Ann Elligsen, most recently of Nehalem, died May 22, 2015, at the age of 87. Ginger was born January 10, 1928, and was the third child of four born to Fred and Faye Randall Southard, in Portland, Oregon. She attended school in Portland until the 8th grade when the family moved to Sherwood where she graduated from Sherwood High School in 1946. On November 30 of the same year she married Gerald Elligsen in Boise, Idaho. They made their home in Tualatin for more than five decades, resided in Echo, Oregon, for several years before moving to Nehalem.
In High School, Ginger was a proud member of the pep club. After trekking to Boise to marry her high school sweetheart, she worked for a time at the Clackamas County Welfare Office. While raising her son, she enjoyed being a den mother to the Cub Scouts and was an avid sports fan. After becoming a grandmother, she resumed working, this time in the hotel industry with a brief interlude in the banking community. After retiring, she sewed and traveled as often as she could.
Ginger is survived by her son, Gary Elligsen of Echo; grandchildren Gerry Elligsen of Nehalem, Deanne Irving of Irrigon, Lauren Elligsen of Gresham, Katelyn Elligsen of Portland, and Rachel Elligsen of North Powder; and four great-grandchildren. She is further survived by sister-in-law, Betty Southard of California, along with several nieces and nephews.
Ginger was preceded in death by her parents, her husband of 59 years, Gerald, sisters Dorothy McLain, and Betty Harris, and brother Fred Southard.
The family would like to express our sincere gratitude to the staff of the Memory Care Unit at The Springs in Sherwood for the care and compassion shown to Ginger.
Services will be at the Cornwell Colonial Chapel in Wilsonville Friday, June 5, at 11 a.m. At the conclusion of the service there will be a gathering for friends and family at the chapel. She will be interred at the Meridian Cemetery in Stafford.