MACLEAN, Virginia Ellen
Virginia Ellen MacLean, a dearly loved member of the Ojai community, died peacefully in her home on July 5, 2016. She was 80 years old.
Ginny, as she was affectionately known, was born to Nelson Kenneth and Ellen Margaret (née Thuesen) McElmurry on January 20, 1936 in Lansing, Michigan, the second of four children. When she was eight years old, she and her family moved to the San Francisco Bay Area where she lived for much of her youth. After high school she attended Pacific Union College, then became a nurse at Glendale Adventist Medical Center.
In 1957 Ginny married John David Frederick, M.D. and had two children, Brian David and Gina Elayne. In 1977, tragedy struck when Dr. Frederick was killed in a private plane crash. From that moment Virginia raised their children on her own, seeing them both through university and graduate school.
In 1984, through mutual friends, Virginia met native Californian Ian Campbell MacLean, M.D. who was a professor at Northwestern University School of Medicine in Chicago. They were married later that year and lived in Chicago until Dr. MacLean’s retirement in 1996. They then returned to California and settled in Ojai.
Virginia quickly became known for her vivacious personality, her dedication to the community and her great beauty. She served on the boards of both the Hospital Guild and the Ojai Music Festival and regularly read to children through a Rotary reading program. While on the Board of the Hospital Guild she became Historian and during her tenure with the Ojai Music Festival she served as President. In addition to her community service, she will always be remembered as a loving wife, devoted mother and grandmother and faithful friend to many.
In 2004 she was diagnosed with what was considered to be a terminal cancer, but with her imposing courage and determination and the help of her oncologist, she beat it and had twelve years without evidence of recurrence. In March of this year a second, unrelated cancer was diagnosed and deemed to be beyond treatment.
In addition to her husband, Virginia is survived by her older sister Odita Davis, her younger sister Patricia Vixie, her younger brother Norman Karl McElmurry, her children Brian David Frederick and Gina Elayne (Frederick) Sullivan, and her two grandchildren, Jordan David George Frederick and Ellen Olivia Sullivan.
Memorials may be contributed in Virginia’s name to cancerresearch.org.
Arrangements are under the direction of the JOSEPH P. REARDON FUNERAL HOME & CREMATION SERVICE, 757 E. Main Street Ventura, CA.