Virginia R. "Ginny" Bimstein

Bimstein, Virginia R. "Ginny"
Aug. 16, 1920 - Nov. 17, 2013
Virginia R. "Ginny" Bimstein, 93, a longtime resident of Bradenton and Sarasota, died peacefully in her sleep on November 17 at the Benderson Skilled Nursing Facility in Sarasota. Mrs. Bimstein moved to Bradenton from Washington D.C. with her husband, Donald Bimstein, in the early 1980s after both had retired from their DC-area jobs. Mrs. Bimstein had worked nearly 20 years for the U.S. Department of Health, Education and Welfare. In retirement, she and her husband traveled extensively for more than two decades until they both encountered health problems. Donald Bimstein died of congestive heart failure in 2011. Born in Ocean City, New Jersey, on August 16, 1920, Mrs. Bimstein grew up in Riderwood, Maryland, outside of Baltimore. After completing high school, she moved with her mother, Julia Vail Rust, and brother, Breckenridge, to Virginia Beach where she met her first husband, John F. "Jack" Kiernan, while he was serving in the U.S. Army Air Corps. When Jack Kiernan died in May 1959, Ginny faced supporting three young children with little job experience of her own. Ginny took courses in typing and shorthand and secured a federal government secretarial job for which she was frequently cited for excellence. As a widow with three children, Ginny's primary focus was on working and supporting her family. But in 1965 she reluctantly agreed to join a friend and attend a dinner dance at the Mayflower Hotel where Donald Bimstein asked her to dance. Friends say that it was love at first sight and the two were married in June 1969. The couple continued to entertain friends with their dancing well into their 80s. Mrs. Bimstein is survived by three children, Patricia Kiernan of Palm Beach, Michael Kiernan of Arlington, Virginia and Joseph Timothy Kiernan of Miami, four grandchildren and her brother, Breckenridge Rust, of Raleigh, North Carolina. Graveside service will be 1:00 p.m. Wednesday at Skyway Memorial Gardens in Palmetto. Arrangements are by Jennings Funeral Home & Crematory.