Virginia G. "Ginny" Allen

Greece, NY: Virginia G. Allen passed away peacefully on December 15, 2025 after a lengthy illness at the age of 94.

Ginny was born in Rochester in 1931. One of three children, she often shared stories of growing up in Sea Breeze during the Depression and WWII, experiences that shaped her pragmatic outlook on life. She spoke fondly of the simplicity and safety of her childhood in Sea Breeze, where most children at the Durand-Eastman School walked home for lunch, and she and her friends could go down to the beach unsupervised every day during the summers.

During her early teens, the family moved to Charlotte, where she could walk down Lake Avenue to the movie theater multiple times each week. After graduating from Charlotte High School, her first job was in the returns department at McCurdy's department store downtown. Shortly thereafter, she found full-time work as a keypunch operator in the payroll department at Kodak Park, which is where she met her future husband, Bart Allen.

Ginny and Bart wed in 1957 and moved to Greece in 1958. Ginny left Kodak in 1960 to be a full-time homemaker when their first child was born. Twins followed in 1963, and Ginny gamely took on many of the duties expected of mothers in the 60s and 70s: she baked cupcakes for school birthday parties, she was a Cub Scout den mother, she made children's smocks for art class out of Bart's old dress shirts, she volunteered as an afterschool instructor for the Junior Great Books program, and she served as co-president (with Bart) of the PTA at Lakeshore Elementary School.

After her kids went off to college, Ginny worked for several years as the part-time bookkeeper at the Greece CSD public radio station, WGMC 90.1, and volunteered for 15 years in the gift shop at the Strong Museum.

Ginny loved to travel, and she and Bart took the kids on many vacations around the country. In retirement, she and Bart made trips to Europe, Canada, Alaska, Hawaii, the Panama Canal and enjoyed many organized excursions through Elderhostel. After Bart passed in 2003, Ginny continued to travel, with friends and on her own, and she was proud to say that she had visited all 50 states (she picked up her 50th while visiting her sister Karen in Denver, CO when they drove across the border to have lunch in Kansas).

Ginny would be the first to acknowledge that she had no passion for cooking, but for Thanksgiving and Christmas she always managed to pull off the perfect traditional meal that left everyone full and satisfied. She was accomplished at needlepoint, a lover of old movies and BBC dramas, and was an avid reader. Until a stroke in April 2025 took away her independence, she was reading a book per week and using her iPad to keep up with the news and current events. She valued her many friends and tried to stay in touch by telephone when travel became too difficult.

Preceded in death by her husband Bart and her older sister Joan, Ginny is survived by her children, Matthew (Gretchen), Aleta, and Bradley (Paige); grandchildren Samuel, Nathan, and Rachel; step-granddaughter Jena (Gaetano); step-greatgrandchildren Carmine and Leo; her younger sister Karen (Tony); nieces Debbie (Dave), Pam (Brian), and Melissa (Chuck); and nephew Damon.

The family extends its heartfelt thanks for the kind and gentle care that Ginny received from the volunteers and staff at Teresa House Comfort Care Home in Geneseo, NY, and from the dedicated staff at LeRoy Village Green Nursing Home.

A celebration of Ginny's life will be held in the spring when travel will be easier for family and friends. In lieu of flowers, please consider making a donation to Teresa House, 21 Highland Road, Geneseo, NY 14454 or at https://teresahouse.org/donation.