Virginia Ruth Lathrope Brown

Virginia Ruth Lathrope Brown, age 88 years, formerly of Fredonia, Wis., passed away Tuesday, Aug. 16, 2022, in Milwaukee, Wis.

Virginia was born Nov. 5, 1933, in Dodgeville, Wis., the oldest child of Theodore Roosevelt Lathrope and Ruth Elizabeth (Newbury) Lathrope.

When she was a child, the family moved to Reedsburg, Wis.. With her sisters Margaret and Phyllis, she grew up in a small-town environment where they enjoyed biking, sledding in the winter, checking out stacks of books at the library, participating in band and Rainbow Girls. She made lifelong friends.

In high school, she competed and medaled in the rifle club with her dad as the advisor.

She spent a summer working as a “hired girl” for a farm family.

The child of teachers, she attended Stout Institute (now the University of Wisconsin-Stout), graduated with a bachelor of science degree in home economics (1955) and became a teacher. While at Stout, she made life-long friends (and met her future husband).

For more than 50 years, she participated in a letter-writing round robin group with Stout friends. Adding to letters and forwarding them to the group via snail mail, they kept up with each others’ lives before the digital age.

She taught high school for one year in Viroqua, Wis., and then married James L. Brown, a redhead from Chicago.

Jim’s service in the Navy took them to Great Lakes Naval Base, where their daughter Karen was born, and to Pensacola, Fla., where Jim served as a blimp pilot.

Returning to Illinois, their son Warren and daughter Laura, were born. Their return to civilian life eventually brought them to Waukesha, Wis.

Ginny was a full-time mom, putting her home-ec skills to good use as she raised her kids. She was involved in Boy and Girl Scouts. She began a 45-year involvement with the AFS international student exchange, which included being a host mom to students from Brazil, the Netherlands, Italy and the U.S., as well as acting as regional coordinator, planning AFS Milwaukee Week for many years and acting as a bus chaperone. She has influenced the lives of many students all over the world.

She taught foods at Waukesha County Technical Institute (later Washington County Technical College), especially classes in how to use a brand new invention — the microwave oven. She also taught cooking to people with handicaps and senior citizens and contributed to multiple cookbooks.

She was an active member of Salem United Methodist Church in Waukesha. She was a member of the Women’s Circles and volunteered with Vacation Bible School and many other activities.

For 35 years, Ginny volunteered as a county and state fair judge in clothing and food. She especially enjoyed interacting with the children who brought their items to be judged at the fair.

In the mid-’70s, Jim came home on a Yamaha 175 motorcycle and told Ginny she could learn to ride or spend some weekends alone at home. She rose to the challenge, learned to ride and rode her Honda 450 with Jim on his Honda 750. She enjoyed remembering she rode her motorcycle to the “four corners of the country.” They rode to Key West, Vermont, Colorado, San Francisco, the Continental Divide and many destinations in between. She enjoyed peoples’ reaction when she pulled off her helmet and they “could see her gray hair!”

In 1987, Jim fulfilled a lifelong dream to own a business and bought a hardware store in Waubeka, Wis. Overnight, Ginny became his right-hand assistant and learned inventory, ordering and store management.

She and Jim were involved with Waubeka Flag Day activities and she was a member of the Lioness and a member of St. Peter’s United Church of Christ, which is now Parkside Community United Church of Christ in Saukville. She was very involved and served on the Church Council for many years.

She and Jim were active grandparents, taking two or three grandkids at a time for “grandparent time” in the summer. Activities included trips to Wisconsin Dells, camping and time helping at the hardware store. She was known for vacuuming away all the spiders in the bunk room in the basement, putting chocolates on grandchildren’s pillows and keeping the candy dish stocked with lemon drops.

She loved her garden and loved to fill vases all summer with the flowers she grew. Jim groaned at frequent requests to “Stop the car!” so she could jump out and gather wildflowers. She was famous for her grape juice and jelly from her vines in the backyard. She enjoyed canning the bounty of the garden and shared the delicious results.

Ginny was the “Bionic Woman,” enduring surgeries too numerous to count and physical trials most of us could never cope with. She was the perfect patient, never complaining and always doing more than the doctors and physical therapists suggested. She met each trial with determination and the assumption that she would overcome it, and then did the work to make it so. Right now we rejoice that she is “walking and jumping and praising God.” - Acts 3 :9

Preceeding her in death were her parents Ted and Ruth Lathrope, her sister Margaret Harmeyer (2016), her son Warren Brown (2016), sister-in-law Pam Smith (2016) and her granddaughter Maria Schumacher (2002).

After Warren’s death, his cat Fred became Ginny’s lap-warmer and comforter.

She is survived by Jim, her husband of 65 years; her sister Phyllis Lathrope; daughters Karen Schumacher and Laura Brown; grandchildren Aaron (Erica Blom) Schumacher, Joanna Schumacher, Bethany Schumacher, Rachel Schumacher, Emma Schumacher, Yekaterina Schumacher, Noelle Schumacher, Antonina Schumacher, Lindsay Brandt and Gabriella Cabrera Brown; great-granddaughters Louisa Brandt and Quinn Schumacher;  and a great-grandson expected in September.

She is further survived by her brothers-in-law Frank (Bud) Harmeyer, Tom (and Fay) Brown and Lavell Smith. Her nieces and nephews, Kathy Pittinger, Jeannie Patzner, Dan Harmeyer, Denise Schwahn, Kurt Schwahn, Josh Smith and Rebecca Brown, share many memories and will miss her.

She is also survived by her AFS add-on children Fidel Blanco, Anne Robinson and Katherine Jacobson.

Ginny loved by doing. Her constant desire was to share a smile with all and lift others’ spirits. At the end of a recent conversation, someone commented, “I hope we’ll see some sunshine this afternoon.” Ginny replied, “Or we’ll make our own!” Her example of hard work, perseverance and grace under fire will continue to inspire and touch us all.

Funeral services were held Saturday, Aug. 20, 2022, at Poole Funeral Home, Port Washington, Wis.

Interment was at Greenwood Cemetery in Reedsburg, Wis.

Poole Funeral Home/Crematory, Port Washington, Wis., assisted the family.

Condolences are available at www.poolefh.com.