Wanda Modell Malone

Wanda Modell Malone, better known as Ginger or GG passed away peacefully on Friday, March 8th at the age of 100 (and 8 months!)
She spent her final days surrounded by family, and all of her favorite things such as watching the birds and deer out her window, lots of ice cream, and of course her one scotch and water every night, she attributed this to being the key to a long and happy life. Ginger was also so proud of being a Maker's Mark Ambassador since 2001.
Ginger was born in Ogden, TX on July 14, 1923 to Henry and Hattie Rogers. For much of her younger life she lived in Seymour, TX which is where she met her husband, Barney. Ginger and Barney were married on Oct 1, 1942 before Barney left for the war with the Navy. Once Barney returned from the war, the family moved to Newaygo, MI. Ginger was very involved in the community, working at the Valley Inn Hotel, the Red Cross, at the voting polls and volunteering at the Newaygo County Museum. She was also known as "The Christmas Tree Lady" and decorated the tall spruce tree on M37 in Newaygo for many years, even going up in the cherry picker to put the bows up high on the tree.
Ginger had a personality that no one could get enough of, between her witty comments, and her adventurous nature; she lived life to the fullest whether that meant a night out at the bar downtown, getting her hair done every Friday, enjoying golf or "re-homing" plants from one side of the highway to the hill by the river that she referred to as "her hill". GG was also never seen without her earrings and most importantly her lipstick!
In addition to her Friday nights at the Riverstop Saloon and Sportsmans Bar downtown, Ginger and Barney were members of the Newaygo County Sportsman's Club and the local VFW Post 4249 where she was the oldest member and enjoyed the ladies auxiliary. GG and Barney also enjoyed traveling to Drummond Island, Ruidoso, NM and their many trips back to Texas.
Though she loved lots of things, the most important thing to Ginger was her family. She was very proud of having 5 generations, and would show just about anyone the photos of all of the kids, grandkids, great grandkids and her great great granddaughters. She would spend hours looking at photos and always had some in her purse to pull out and show people!
Ginger was preceded in death by her husband Barney and her 10 siblings. She is survived by her daughter Janet Mast (Lynnwood), sons Michael Malone and Mitchel Malone, granddaughters Jill Drury (John), Marlo Mast, and Dana Suttle (Joe) and her many great and great great grandchildren. In addition, Ginger had a large chosen family and was considered a grandma to all.
A celebration of life to honor Ginger will be held sometime this summer.