Virginia T. Richter

Virginia (Ginny) was born to Henry and Maude Tucker of Attalla, Alabama on January 28, 1921. At age twelve Ginny lost her father and brother Howard to pneumonia. With their mother, Ginny and her younger siblings Evelyn, Norman, and Mavis endured the Great Depression with courage, resourcefulness, and faith. Hearing scriptures about God’s compassion for “widows and orphans,” they knew those passages referred to their family.

Graduating from Etowah High School, she was awarded a New Deal scholarship to attend Athens College (AL), where she met and married Henry Kessler Richter in 1940. After the war Henry and Ginny moved to Decatur, where Henry worked for Chemstrand/Monsanto and Ginny worked for the Social Security Administration. Henry and Ginny became pillars of Westminster Presbyterian Church. Ginny was ordained as a deacon and served with Presbyterian Women on local, regional, and national levels.

Ginny’s friends remember her as gracious, strong, beautiful, and charming. With twinkling eyes and a welcoming smile, she was the life of every party and the epitome of Southern hospitality. Ginny’s abundant reservoir of love poured out to strangers as well as friends, and was a special blessing to her children Don, David, Judy, and Marcia and her beloved grandchildren Jonathan, Katherine, Kessler, Lydia, and Daniel.

This past Saturday Ginny was affirmed in her life’s work as family gathered to celebrate the life and mourn the death of her daughter Judy, whom she had lovingly cared for over 56 years. Ginny was radiant as always on the final morning of her life, laughing with her children, and admiring the beautiful Fall colors. Unexpectedly, she died at home on Monday, November 21, with the same grace and beauty with which she had always lived.

A Service of Witness to the Resurrection will be held at 3pm on Wednesday, November 23 at Westminster Presbyterian Church (801 Jackson Street, Decatur 35601), preceded by a 2pm family visitation at the church. In lieu of flowers, the family requests that donations be made to the ARC of Morgan County (2234 Graham Avenue SW, Decatur 35601), which serves individuals with special needs.