Virginia (Sims) Coffin Ramsay

1928 - 2009

Virginia “Ginny” Coffin was the firstborn of four daughters to Richard G. and Susan Sims Coffin (Charlotte “Chuckie”, Susan Gale “Gale” and Carolyn (Lyn).

She was born in Grand Rapids, MI where Dick and Sue Coffin had settled, his having a sales position at White Star Petroleum, a position that would prove to be a springboard to a long and successful career with the Mobil Oil Corp.

Not much is known about Ginny’s early years, though at an early age she learned to play the piano and had a gift for music.

Dick Coffin accepted a job with Mobil in the New York City metropolitan area in the late 30’s or early 40’s and he and Sue moved to Manhasset, Long Island, where Ginny attended and graduated from Manhasset High School.

Upon graduation she enrolled at the University of Michigan, where, during her sophomore year she met the man who would become her husband, B.T. “Bud” Ramsay. They had met as a consequence of Bud’s having dated Ginny’s roommate…and it wasn’t long before Bud and Ginny made their connection.

The couple would marry and begin a family in November, 1948, neither one of them particularly interested in finishing school. In less than a year Ginny gave birth to Richard Coffin Ramsay in Albion, MI, where they had settled, as Bud had taken a job with a manufacturer of baking equipment, Union Steel Products.

Not long thereafter, Bud joined the US Marine Corps., the young family relocating to Morehead City, where Bud would complete his basic training at Camp Lejeune and where, in August of 1952, Ginny delivered Child #2, daughter Kelly MacKenzie Ramsay.

When Bud’s military stretch was over, they returned to Albion, and in May of 1954, daughter Laura Susan “Su-Su” Ramsay was born. Through a business associate of Dick Coffin came an opportunity for Bud to join the Mobil Oil Corp, and just weeks after Su-Su was born, the family pulled up stakes and headed for southern California.

Ginny was a stay-at-home mother, as was almost always the rule in those days. She was an excellent homemaker, mother and wife—the Ramsays were indeed “one happy family”.

They bought their first house in May of 1955 for $16,500. Bud’s job paid him $334/month—gross! They eked by, rarely going out, instead hosting or attending Friday or Saturday night gatherings at friends’ houses, where everyone would drink, dance, laugh and smoke, often times Ginny playing the piano for singalongs at the end of the evening.

She and Bud didn’t allow themselves any cocktails during the week except for Wednesdays, which they called “Hump Day”. Not because they didn’t want to, but because they couldn’t afford it!

Ginny became an excellent seamstress, creating many, many dresses and outfits for herself and her daughters. She volunteered for the Young Republicans, of which both she and Bud were card-carrying members. She became interested in golf. In short, she was the quintessential 1950’s housewife, running the household while Bud brought home the bread.

They moved back to Wooster, Ohio in late 1960, where Bud had accepted a new opportunity with a company called Rubbermaid. This move would come to define Bud’s professional life. It also preceded several other moves in a very short time—North Carolina, Pittsburgh and finally back to northeastern Ohio, all within a three-year period.

Times were different then. There were still precious few women in the work force. As new and better opportunities came Bud’s way, he jumped at them purely out of a desire to do what was best for his family. In turn, Ginny was ever supportive and believed that it was important for her to go where the opportunity was. She was not (yet) a “working woman”, but she shone in her role as loyal wife, caring mother and Bud’s teammate as they navigated through these times. She also had become the most well-grounded of the Coffin sisters—a rock for her younger siblings in troubled times.

As the children grew, left for college and became self-sufficient, Ginny began to enjoy more activities for herself. She became an excellent golfer, eventually becoming the women’s club champion at Mt. Lebanon Country Club outside Pittsburgh. She took a position as secretary for a local elementary school principal. And she went back to school (Kent St. University), falling just short of completing enough course work for her degree.

By this time Bud had started up his own company—a manufacturer’s rep agency that would become one of the most successful in his trade, and, true to form, Ginny was at his side…comptroller, bookkeeper and office manager…roles she flourished in well after Bud passed away in 1988.

Every summer found her at “the Cottage” at Sims Ranch. After lunch “nap time” was severely enforced and Ginny was often to be found sleeping in the outdoor hammock. She loved to bathe in the lake and truly enjoyed spending time with her family welcoming children, spouses and grandchildren.

A phenomenally healthy woman all her life Ginny Ramsay left this world in April of 2009, ironically dying of post-surgery complications, and was predeceased tragically by daughter Su-Su in 1981 and by her beloved husband Bud in 1988.

She was a loving wife, mother, daughter and friend. She was an accomplished seamstress, piano player, golfer, bridge player and an avid reader. She loved all kinds of music, but she especially liked Frank Sinatra, Tony Bennett and Perry Como….She, like Bud, enjoyed her cocktails and loved a party.

She LOVED to laugh, did so frequently, and when she did, others in her company couldn’t help but laugh with her—it was truly infectious. Through their early adult years and into middle age, Ginny and her sister Gale became exceptionally close—when they were together the laughing (cackling more like it!) was out of control.

Ginny was a woman of great strength….showing amazing resolve in the aftermath of the tragic death of her daughter and coping with the unthinkable reality of having had a child predecease her, and just seven years later, losing her husband at age 61...

Ginny was so many things—most of which have been noted here, but one thing she was not particularly accomplished at was cooking! Her pizza consisted of a hard-as-cardboard crust with a few spoonfuls of tomato sauce on top and a sprinkling of grated parmesan. Franks and beans were a weekly dinner staple in the Ramsay household, along with eggs and bacon, Franco-American spaghetti, tuna casserole (cornflakes on top!) and tacos. You would never find her name in any cookbook, but Bud and the kids NEVER went hungry. As the family began to prosper, her favorite thing to make for dinner was reservations.

Ginny lived in many states around the country (Michigan, New York, North Carolina, Virginia, California, Pennsylvania, Ohio), but her true HOME was always the cottage in Au Gres, Michigan. As a child, an adolescent, a young adult and in her later years, it was this place that made her happiest, and her imprint on the property remains very much in force today.

She was many people, Virginia Coffin Ramsay... Mom, “Gin-Gin”, Aunt Ginny, Grammie….but it was the same generous, fun and loving woman who was all of those.