Virginia "Ginny" Poindexter

Virginia (“Ginny”) Hassell Poindexter, a resident of Carteret Landing in Morehead City, passed away October 21, 2025, at ECU Health Medical Center in Greenville. 

A burial service will take place graveside at St. Paul’s Episcopal Church, Beaufort, on Thursday, November 6, at 11 a.m., the Rev. Tambria (Tammy) Lee presiding.

Born in Beaufort to the late Charles Roberson Hassell and Virginia Howe Hassell, Ginny was the oldest grandchild of Lawrence Ward and Jesse Calloway Hassell, essentially the “matriarch” of the Hassell cousins. She attended Beaufort Graded School and graduated in 1955. When she was seven, she acquired polio, and required hospitalization at the Hickory Emergency Infantile Paralysis Hospital, missing the entire second grade. That experience motivated her to pursue a career in nursing.

In 1959, Ginny graduated with BS in Nursing from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. She went on to work in a variety of nursing jobs throughout North Carolina: in hospitals, as an instructor, and in public health. Her last job, working for the Orange County Health Department, and subsequently, the Carteret County Health Department, with high risk infants and their families, proved to be her most rewarding and reflected her devotion to children.

While at nursing school, a classmate from Canton introduced Ginny to her brother, Charles Crawford Poindexter, and they began a letter-writing exchange that turned into a romance, resulting in a 56-year marriage. Their union embodied the phrase “from the mountains to the sea,” and over the course of their marriage, they lived in various parts of North Carolina, while he pursued a career in education, and she, one in nursing. Ultimately, they retired to Beaufort and enjoyed their life together there, building their “dream house,” traveling, and reconnecting with old friends and meeting new ones, until Charles’ death in 2015.

In addition to nursing and her family, Ginny was devoted to her church. She was baptized at St. Paul’s Episcopal Church, and was married there, and upon retirement, she committed herself to serving the church in a variety of ways: in the church choir, through the Episcopal Church Women, and helping to create the church’s popular cookbook, “Let Us Keep the Feast.” She helped found the St. Paul’s Parish Health Ministry, and served as the church’s parish nurse. But perhaps her favorite obligation was “slattin’ and slingin’” in the Parish Hall kitchen, alongside dear friends, during the Beaufort Old Homes Tour, the church’s annual Harvest Bazaar, and other special occasions.

Ginny is survived by her daughter, Margaret Hassell Poindexter, of Swansboro; her brothers, Charles R. Hassell, Jr. of Raleigh; and Kent W. Hassell (Elizabeth) of Eatonton, GA; her grandson, Dylan Fondry and wife, Amy; great grandchildren, Jillian and Graham Fondry, all of Phoenix, AZ; and a number of nieces, nephews, and cousins.

If you wish to make a memorial donation, please consider Ginny’s favorite charity, St. Jude’s’s Children’s Hospital, www.stjudes.org. If you wish to honor her memory, please consider going to the Circle at Atlantic Beach and digging your toes in the sand. Or going to The Old Well in Chapel Hill and taking a sip for good luck. Or going to The Sanitary Restaurant in Morehead and enjoying some fresh bluefish.

Condolences and life tributes may be sent to the family at www.noebrooks.net.

Arrangements by Noe-Brooks Funeral Home, Morehead City, NC.