Virginia (Lewis) Atkinson's Obituary
Virginia (Lewis) Atkinson passed away peacefully, at age 89, on September 9, 2019 near her home in San Diego, California. She was born on November 4, 1929 in Los Angeles, California, the youngest child of Mathilde and Guy Lewis.Ginger grew up in Hawthorne with her older siblings Bob and Margaret. They lived for a time in Playa del Rey before moving to Los Angeles, where she graduated from George Washington High School in 1947. At Santa Monica College she met Carl Atkinson while studying dressmaking. They were married in 1948 and moved to San Diego. There, they built a home and raised 2 daughters, Candy and Darcy.Over the next 20 years many of the family’s summers were spent camping, fishing and waterskiing with friends at Estero Bay, near Ensenada, Mexico. Ginger spent time keeping an organized home, volunteering as a Girl Scout leader, room mother and going to PTA meetings. She was an excellent seamstress and cook, her chocolate cinnamon rolls became a delectable, holiday tradition.Before they divorced in 1976, Carl built a house on their property so Mathilde could move down from Los Angeles. Ginger cared for her mother there until Mathilde’s health declined and she passed away in 1981. Meanwhile her daughters had married and delivered three grandbabies: Candy’s daughter Heather and Darcy’s children Hannah and Levi. In January of 1999 she married Chuck Miller. They did a little traveling and he passed in 2007.After retiring from Enartec, a water engineering company, in the mid 1990’s, Ginger did her best to fill her time with cooking and crafts, family, friends and neighbors. A longtime family friend, Bill Romero became her caretaker in 2017. He recognized and encouraged her energy, good nature and all-around silliness, making the last few years of her life far less solitary and far more interesting.Ginger was preceded in death by her parents, her sister Margaret Wolski, her daughter Candy Black and husband Chuck Miller. She is survived by daughter Darcy Daniells, grandchildren Heather Patrick, Hannah Hatton and Levi Hatton; brother Bob Lewis; great-grandchildren, a variety of nieces and nephews and dear friend Bill Romero. In lieu of flowers, donations can be made to the local hospice organization of one’s choice, they just make everything easier. A service is planned for October 5th at Paradise Hills Southern Baptist Church, reception to follow, time to be determined.
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