Virginia Prussman
Virginia Rose Braun Prussman was born April 15, 1923, to Robert Simon Braun and Rose Hannah (Hess) Braun in Minneapolis, Minnesota, the eldest of four daughters. She grew up in Robbinsdale, Minnesota, moving to Minneapolis, Minnesota, when she was 13 years old. She graduated from Marshall High School in Minneapolis in 1941. Virginia died April 9, 2021 at Regent Park Nursing Home in Holyoke.
Virginia had secretarial training in high school but no experience, so she traded her office skills for a radio course at the Beck School of Radio, just to obtain some experience. She passed the civil service exam and soon found herself working as a secretary to a captain at the Pentagon in Washington, D.C., at the age of 18. She found one of her lifelong best friends and soon-to-be roommate, Claire Conway, on the train trip to D.C., and they lived in an apartment together until she married W. Neal Prussman from Amherst.
Neal graduated from Holyoke High School in 1937, went on to Grand Island Business College in Grand Island, Nebraska, for two years, passed the civil service exam and was working at the decoding room at the State Department in Washington, D.C., and lived in the same apartment building as Virginia. They were married on June 12, 1943, in Minneapolis.
Neal was drafted into the Army and served in WWII. When he was honorably discharged, Neal and Virginia moved north of Paoli to farm. Their son, Bob, was born in 1946, Shawn in 1951 and Lori in 1958.
Ginny did not love the rural setting, coming from Minneapolis and working in Washington, D.C., but she did love her close friends and their families. They soon became her new family, and she often said she did not know what she would have done without them. She was so thankful for the Paoli community.
Ginny was always busy, first with her children and then their activities. When Lori was in junior high, she decided to take a job at the welfare office in Holyoke as a secretary. She loved that job so much. She was able to get out and see people every day, and she loved all her co-workers and the people she helped. It was a good time for her.
She then decided to become the Avon lady, a true calling to her second nature. She loved getting out and seeing people and selling all the fun things Avon had to offer. She sold Avon for many years. It was like Christmas when her orders came in; she always made it so much fun!
Neal and Virginia traveled extensively in their later years — Europe, Hawaii, Mexico, Alaska, New Zealand and most of the continental United States — either with family or their close friends, or people from their square-dancing group. Oh, how they loved to square dance, which they did, until their health would not permit them to dance anymore.
Virginia was preceded in death by her parents; her husband in 2013; her daughter, Lori Ward in 2018; her brother-in-law, Gerry Finn; sister and brother-in-law, Jackie and Frank Holy; brother-in-law, Robert Huber; brothers- and sisters-in-law, Dale and Shirley Prussman and Lloyd and Lena McGivney; and sisters-in-law, Lola Prussman and Dela Prussman.
Her survivors include Robert and Janell Prussman of Fort Collins, Shawn and Tom Edwards of Haxtun, and Warren Ward of Fort Collins; her sisters, Doris Finn of Wayzata, Minnesota, and Barbara Huber of Minnetonka, Minnesota; brother- and sister-in-law, Lyle and Jean Prussman of Evans; grandchildren, Kristin and Rick Stouffer, Jason Prussman and great-grandson Jacobb Prussman of Denver, Ross and Haley Edwards and great-grandchildren Leah and Amber Edwards of Haxtun, and Grant and Audree Edwards and great-grandchildren Knox, Otis and Wade Edwards of Haxtun; great-grandchildren, Jordan and Caitlin Stouffer and great-great-grandchildren Breck and Madden of Fort Collins, and Peyton and David Goggin and great-great-grandson Dawson of Thornton; and numerous nieces, nephews and cherished friends.
Visitation was scheduled for Wednesday, April 14, 5-7 p.m. at Baucke Funeral Home in Holyoke.
The funeral service will be held Thursday, April 15, at 10 a.m. at Baucke Funeral Chapel in Holyoke, with Jeri Soens officiating. The service will be livestreamed on Baucke Funeral Home and Monuments’ Facebook page.
Interment will take place at Holyoke Cemetery.
Baucke Funeral Home is directing the service.