Obituary of Ginger Blanchet

Virginia Blanchet, a retired registered nurse, passed away on her 70th birthday, Thursday, November 26 after a long illness. Ginger, as all her family and friends called her, came to Burlington in 1952 when she was 7 years old. She graduated from Burlington High School in 1963 with a graduating class of less than 90 students. She played a role in &quote;Oklahoma,&quote; the first ever Burlington High School musical production. She maintained close friendships with her high school classmates and was an active member of the 1963 Reunion Committee. She went on to earn her nursing degree from the Mount Auburn School of Nursing. She married her husband Don, Burlington High School Class of 1964, in 1968. They returned to Burlington in 1970 and have lived there ever since. Throughout her career Ginger worked at Mt. Auburn Hospital, Choate Hospital, and in the office of Dr. Dan Floru. Ginger was a lifelong faithful parishioner of St. Mark’s Episcopal Church in Burlington. She served her church in numerous ways including as Sunday School Superintendent, Teacher, Youth Choir Director, and Fall Fair Committee member. She was always an active participant in church celebrations, socials, and events. St. Mark’s was her second family. Ginger had a number of interests outside of work and church. She enjoyed ceramics and baking. Inspired by her mother’s chocolate chip cookies and fudge, Ginger made delicious apple pies and hermit cookies. She enjoyed flowers and gardening. She was an avid reader of Stephen King's books and other thrillers. Her favorite musicians were John Denver, Neil Diamond, and Barry Manilow. She and her husband Don loved to travel. Her last big trip was in 2010 when they took their entire family to Disney World. She had an outgoing personality and loved social gatherings with family and friends. Ginger was a committed wife and mother, enjoying the many challenges of raising three sons. She took great joy in seeing her sons marry wonderful women, and in the births of her four grandchildren. Her memory will always warm their hearts and bring smiles to their faces. Ginger was the beloved wife of Donald Blanchet; the loving mother of Scott Blanchet & his wife Trisha of Chelmsford, Craig Blanchet & his wife Tracey of Chelmsford, and Keith Blanchet & his wife Claudette of Dracut; cherished sister of Ernest Newton & his wife Edna of Tyngsboro, Charles Newton & his wife Nancy of Hudson, NH, Judy Luongo & her husband Robert of North Attleboro, and Linda Heigham & her husband Richard of Florida; and proud grandmother of Ian, Lucia “Lucy”, Chloe, and Hailey Blanchet. Funeral services will be held at St. Mark’s Episcopal Church, Burlington on Tuesday, Dec. 1 at 10 a.m. Visiting hours will be held at the Edward V. Sullivan Funeral Home, 43 Winn St., BURLINGTON (exit 34 off Rt. 128/95, Woburn side) on Monday from 4-8 p.m. Interment in Pine Haven Cemetery, Burlington. Memorials in Ginger’s name may be made to St. Mark’s Episcopal Church, 10 St. Mark’s Road, Burlington, MA 01803. December 1st, 2015 Virginia Lee (Newton) Blanchet November 26, 1945 – November 26, 2015 STRENGTH  COMPASSION  LOVE  LAUGHTER These are who my mother was. Strength: It’s Christmas of 2000. Keith, Craig, Trisha and I are all home for the chaos of Christmas morning. This is my mother’s favorite day of the year. The gifts. The grab bags. The family. The love. As usual the living room is a disaster zone and the dogs are going crazy with all the wrapping paper. But my mother has forgotten one more present upstairs, so she runs off. We didn’t even notice she was gone until – BOOM – something, or someone, fell upstairs. My brothers and I race up and there she is on the floor holding her wrist – “I’m fine, I’m fine, help me get these boxes downstairs so we can bring them to Nana’s.” We found out weeks later that she had actually broken her wrist. But this was mom. Strong. No way was she going to let a medical issue spoil her favorite day. In 2007 the birth of her third grandchild was imminent. Chloe was taking a very long time. My mother had just recently been diagnosed with Parkinson’s and Craig could see how much trouble she was having in the waiting room. But this was mom. Strong. There was no way she was going to miss this, certainly not due to a little pain. And so it was living with a nurse. Whether it was putting your hand through a plate glass window and having her steri-strip a wound shut that really needed 10 stitches (I still have the scar), putting ice packs on half a dozen broken noses or dealing with her youngest boy’s serious liver illness, she got us through all these things with her confidence and strength. Compassion: One summer, we were all getting ready to leave for our yearly sojourn to Point Sebago for camping. I woke up with a stinging pain in my belly. “Quit complaining,” she said, “eat your breakfast, we’re leaving for camp soon.” “But it really hurts!” “Take a Tums, you’ll be fine.” Well, none of that worked and she finally took me in to Choate to have it checked out. When they told me I had to have surgery right away for appendicitis I was never so scared. But she was a rock. She knew all the doctors, she knew all the nurses. She made it all feel routine. She took the worry away. In a lot of ways my mom was like an M&M – A hard shell with a soft inside. She certainly had a knack for channeling her father at times. My dad liked to tease her about that. We grew up in a house with parents who were very different, but so well balanced. The extrovert and the introvert, the people person and the science person – my mom’s compassion always came through just when he needed it. Love: As much as she loved her family, she also loved her animals and the church. She loved being surrounded by life, the birds, the dogs. Our first Sheltie – Oly – was the patriarch. Her protector. Keith would pretend to beat mom up to get Oly to run to her rescue, barking, growling. Mom would laugh and laugh. Her love always came out in a big way during the Holidays. This was her time. The excess of Christmas – her daughters-in-law have developed a bit of a nervous tick that they haven’t wrapped enough stuff to live up to the “Ginger standard.” The Thanksgiving pies – so here’s the formula: you take the number of people at dinner, add three and that’s how many pies you’re supposed to have. She loved taking charge, “playing Santa” and handing out gifts at Nana’s. And there was her love of this very church. The Newton family is an institution at St. Mark’s – her father dug the hole for this building after all. She followed in the footsteps of her mother, my Nana, Penny – THE Sunday school teacher. My mom loved running Sunday school and leading the youth Choir. This place was such a part of her and she such a part of it. Laughter: I think what sums up my memory of mom best is her laughter. Oh how she loved to laugh. And my brothers and I had this kind of unspoken competition to see who could make her laugh harder. This made for some very interesting dinner conversations. She loved camping with family and friends. Not the outdoor part, just the social part. I know she had very fond memories of Yogi Bear park and Point Sebago. She also loved to read Steven King books at a dark campground – who does that? One year at Point Sebago they were showing Friday the 13th as the late-night movie. I hounded her to take me. I made it through the opening scene before begging to leave. That was the longest walk through a dark campground I have ever made, and she smiled and laughed the whole way back. She loved her TV-time in the evenings, an apple at her side to watch Dancing with the Stars. In the earlier years we all watched Happy Days, Laverne and Shirley and her favorite – The Greatest American Hero. I’d sing you the theme song, but I think my family’s had enough. And she loved going with the kids to Disney World – probably not as much as the old man, but she couldn’t get enough of the Haunted Mansion, Small World, and especially the Hoop-Dee-Doo Musical Review. She loved music and singing – Neil Diamond, Barry Manilow, West-Side Story, Oklahoma. I still remember every year around Easter when they would show The Wizard of Oz on channel 56 – it was like an event in our house. My mother was the social heart of our family. I know that whatever outgoing qualities I have I owe to her. And I know that these qualities have brought richness to my life beyond description. STRENGTH  COMPASSION  LOVE  LAUGHTER These are who my mother was. These are who we are because of her.