Virginia Dustin

Virginia Dustin

Virginia (Gini) Loranne Sheeley Dustin, passed away from complications of diabetes on March 4, 2021 in New York City, where she had lived for the past 40 years. She was 80 years old. Gini was born on March 30, 1940 in Miami, Florida and was the only child of Loran Sheeley and Erma Champlain Sheeley. She graduated from Miami Jackson High School in 1957 and went on to study Russian Language and Literature at Vassar College. After graduating from Vassar in 1961, she married Donald Dustin and settled in Poughkeepsie, NY where Donald worked as an engineer for IBM and Gini became an elementary teacher at St. George's School. Gini was a talented and beloved teacher who had a passion for the arts, especially music and theater, which she shared with her students and actively pursued in her free time. She was multi-talented, creating beautiful paintings, craftwork, poetry and short stories. After moving to New York City in the early 1980s she used her intelligence and creative talent to launch a successful 2nd career in publishing. Gini embraced the then-new Apple Macintosh computer and became an expert at desktop publishing, working for Scholastic Books and American Express. She also found new outlets for her love of theater and music, performing at numerous Manhattan venues. Gini loved to sing standards from the Great American Songbook and was particularly fond of singing Edith Piaf's Non Je ne regrette rien and La Vie En Rose in French. She continued singing in cabaret venues, piano bars and her beloved theater club, The Lambs, until the pandemic made it impossible to do so. Gini is survived by her children Michael Dustin and his wife Lynn of Oxford, England and Sarah Dustin Smith and her husband Paul, of Needham Massachusetts, and her grandchildren, Meredith Dustin and her husband Ryan Glass of Hanover New Hampshire, Emily Smith of Sunnyvale, CA, and Harrison Smith and Jennifer Smith of Needham, MA. Gini was funny, gracious, loving, tough and unforgettable. A memorial celebration of Gini's life will take place at The Lambs in New York City at a date in the future when it is safe to gather again. Donations in her memory can be made to the Actor's Fund (https://actorsfund.org/donate).