Virginia Blain

Virginia Rae Blain passed away peacefully on May 20^th at Pelican Landing in Detroit Lakes, MN.

Virginia (Ginny) was the adopted child of William and Gertrude Black. She was raised in Grand Forks, North Dakota and graduated from Central High School.  Ginny attended the University of North Dakota where she was a member of the Gamma Phi Beta Sorority.  She studied Physical Education.

Ginny married William Blain in September of 1954 and began a life of travel, adventure, and parenting four beautiful daughters – Elizabeth (Gene) Veeder of rural Watford City, ND; Patricia (Mike) Mitchell of Glendale, AZ; Holly (Verlyn) Sandhurst of Detroit Lakes, MN; Barbara (Steve) Erickson of Maple Grove, MN. Together, the family includes eleven grandchildren and eleven great grandchildren. The family brought joy into Ginny’s life.

Ginny was active in Girl Scouts.  She was a group leader at Girl Scout Summer Camp where she taught swimming and served as a lifeguard. Later, Ginny served as a volunteer Girl Scout Neighborhood Chairman.

She worked in her family business, Black’s Sweet Shop, and later as a receptionist in the office of the Registrar at University of North Dakota. After a move to Fargo, Ginny became the business manager of the UND Medical School Family Practice Clinic.

During the years when Ginny’s daughters were young, the family were avid campers and traveled across the country.  Ginny cooked the family meals over the camp stove and made sure that everyone had their sleeping bags and special places in the tent.  Every night was an adventure.

Ginny had a passion for flowers and always had a garden in her care. She loved to play bridge and found bridge partners wherever she was, even aboard a cruise ship.

Ginny was a willing partner to her husband Bill. Together they enjoyed sailing their family sailboat. When flying the Flying Club airplane, she served as navigator always wanting to know where we were.

On the Veeder ranch she drove the feed pickup as we fed the cows.  She learned to drive a stick-shift. Rather than drive the older car, she preferred our Mazda RX7 sports car.

Grace Lake and Lake Melissa were two of Ginny’s favorite places to be.  She warmly welcomed and entertained family members and others to enjoy the Minnesota lake experience. 

Friends were an important part of Ginny’s life. She had a way of making people feel at ease with her smile and engaging laugh.

Ginny was a happy person. We will miss her.

Her Mother, Father, and sister, Linda Lingvay, proceeded Ginny in death.