VIRGINIA "GINGER" (CRONIN) PARSONS, age 62, of East Weymouth, formerly of Jamaica Plain and Hingham, a retired lecturer at Northeastern University, died on Friday, Feb. 13th at her home after a long illness. Born in New York City, she was raised and educated in Hingham. Ginger was a stay at home mom who went to college at the age of 31, completing a Bachelors and a Masters in English Literature at Northeastern University. She taught English literature and business writing in the day program and in University College at Northeastern for 19 years, retiring in 1999 when the early onset of Alzheimers made it too difficult to continue. Ginger was a gourmet cook. She was an early disciple of Julia Child and studied the art of fine cuisine with Madelaine Kamen who taught Ginger all about the chemistry of food preparation. She worked in the kitchen of a five star restaurant and gave cooking classes to an international clientele under the name: Ginger, the Spice in Your Life. Ginger loved to entertain and a dinner invitation to Ginger's was considered a treasured event. The menu always consisted of dishes she had never cooked before. She constantly sought out new challenges. If you particularly liked one of the dishes, you had better savor it because you would never see it again. Ginger was also a talented seamstress. Draperies, she created through her enterprise, Elegant Alternatives, hang in elegant Victorian homes throughout the greater Boston area. Ginger was affllicted with juvenile diabetes at the age of 23 and was insulin dependent for the rest of her life. Diabetes is a debilitating disease with many side effects that can limit one's capacity to enjoy life. Ginger encountered most of these over the years but always maintained a positive outlook and a fierce determination to enjoy life to the fullest. She tried to make her disease transparent to others. She traveled extensively visiting all 50 states and over 30 countries even when kidney failure required her to undergo dialysis treatments 3 times a week. Ginger leaves her husband Robert A. Parsons, and was the mother of Jennifer M. Fortin and her husband Mark of Marlborough, CT, Jeffrey E. Parsons and his wife Suzanne of Sutton, MA and Elizabeth A. Topel and her husband Charles of Georgetown, MA. She was the sister of Marguerite A. Iaria of Hingham and the late Richard J. Cronin, Jr. Also survived by 7 grandchildren and 7 nieces and nephews. A funeral mass will be celebrated on Thursday, Feb. 19th at 10 AM at St. Ann's Church, corner of Samoset Ave. and Lewis St., Hull. Friends may visit at the Downing Cottage Funeral Chapel, 21 Pond St., Hingham on Wednesday evening from 5-8 PM. In lieu of flowers donations may be made in her memory to the American Diabetes Association, 300 Congress St., 2nd Floor, Boston, MA 02110 or to the Alzheimer's Association, 36 Cameron Ave., Cambridge, MA 02140. The interment is to be private.