MARY VIRGINIA DONAHUE

1944 - 2018

DONAHUE, Mary Virginia (Neil) Died at the age of 73 on Friday, July 13 in Hamden, Connecticut.

Ginny was born on August 7, 1944 in Oak Park, Illinois to Esther Wells Neil, a department store associate, and Henry Neil, a manager at an industrial wire company. At an early age, she moved with her family to Hingham, Massachusetts and excelled academically at the public schools there. She graduated from Wellesley College in 1966 and was an active and enthusiastic Wellesley alumna for the rest of her life.

After college, she moved to Washington, DC to work for the Department of Labor. Ginny married Jay Donahue in 1967 and raised four sons. Settling in Potomac, Maryland in the early 1970's, she began four decades of service with the Montgomery County public schools - as a volunteer, a PTA president and ultimately as an English Composition instructor at Winston Churchill and Thomas Wootton high schools.

Ginny had a lifelong curiosity for books, politics, art, language and travel. Her home was filled with books on an array of subjects, and she had strong opinions on almost any topic or author. She frequently attended musical and theater productions, from Broadway to regional theater to the local schools.

Ginny was known for her sharp wit and bone dry sense of humor. Even in her later years, battling dementia, she was ready with an offbeat joke or incisive comment.

Ginny is survived by her husband Jay, her four sons and her six grandchildren. A family service will be held this Friday in Hingham, MA. A public memorial will be held later this fall in Potomac, MD. Memorial donations may be made to the Ginny Neil Donahue ?66 Loan Fund at the Wellesley Students' Aid Society (www.wellesley.edu/studentsaid/donate.)