In Loving Memory of
Virginia (Jinny) Doris Burgess
October 25, 1926 – April 3, 2020
Virtual Celebration of Life was held on April 3, 2021 at 4:00 PM EDT
Dover NH: Virginia (Jinny) Doris Burgess, 93, died on Friday, April 3, 2020, at her home at The Residence at Silver Square, with her grandson, Ryan Gagneux, by her side.
She was born on October 25, 1926, in Mount Vernon, NY, the daughter of Arthur Howard and Doris Kraeger Rogers.
The eldest of four children, Jinny earned a special place in her father’s (Doc) heart and learned the value of service to others from her parents during the Depression years. While home on break from Wells College in Aurora, NY, she met her future husband, Mal Burgess. Putting her education first, the couple waited until her graduation to tie the knot.
Mal and Jinny settled in Westport, Connecticut, and raised three children. Together, they loved to dance and entertain in their elegant home. Jinny taught at the Greens Farms Academy and instilled a love of learning into her children and grandchildren. She loved sports and played softball well into her sunset years. She was a big fan of the Boston Red Sox and the New England Patriots. Jinny loved to sing and for many years participated in the choirs of several churches, as well as rung the bells. She loved holidays with her family around her, with Christmas being her favorite time to decorate and entertain her large group of friends and growing family.
She was always very dedicated to her family and gave them her unconditional love and respect, no matter what the world tossed at them. Despite her tiny size, Jinny was the bedrock of her family and will be sorely missed.
Jinny is survived by her son Eric Burgess and his wife Laura of St. Augustine, FL, her brothers Jack Rogers and his partner Paul, Jeff Rogers and his wife Sandy, her sister Cynthia Barnhart, her grandchildren Ryan Gagneux, Elizabeth Anderson, Ashley Gall, Emily Anderson, and five great-grandchildren, as well as a large extended family.
She was pre-deceased by her parents, her husband, Earl Malcolm Burgess, and her daughters Nancy Burgess Anderson and Cynthia Ann Gagneux.
Due to the ongoing COVID-19 crisis, her family has decided on a virtual memorial service to honor her life. Donations may be made in her name to the First Parish United Church of Christ, PO Box 228, Somersworth, NH 03878.
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Jinny was my oldest friend. We met in Mrs. Bascomb’s three year old kindergarten class in Bronxville, NY and attended Sunday School at the Bronxville Reformed Church. We were in first grade in the new Tuckahoe High School and graduated twelve years later. I remember Jack playing the piano for events and strolling the campus with Jeff in the carriage. We sang together in The Pirates of Penzance and refereed girl’s basketball when we weren’t playing. We separated for College and marriage but managed visits through the years. A camping trip when Mal was in Vietnam included a stop at our house on the ocean at Wrightsville Beach.
She came for my 90th birthday and Eric brought her for lunch when she was visiting New Bern the Christmas before she died..
So many good memories to treasure. My love and deepest sympathy to all of you. She leaves much to live up to.
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Jinny was a class act and someone I admired greatly. I loved her no nonsense manner, her quick wit and her huge heart. Whenever I hear Tchaikovsky’s Nutcracker Suite I am transported back in time to a wonderful day in New York City with Jinny enthusiastically treating us to the ballet. Her family and friends are blessed to have many more loving memories of her. God bless you, Ginny, and thank you for enriching my life.
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What an amazing woman. She retired to Somersworth where I was lucky enough to be her “PA” and I never knew a more loyal or together person. Ah, retirement was when she was needed most. And I got to know all the secrets, both good and bad, usually told over a small glass of bourbon. Sometimes, on house calls, when I was done, I realized maybe I shouldn’t be driving. We laughed a lot. We pondered a lot. She seemed to have more strength, happiness and forgiveness then anyone I knew. Her father was my Dentist- how bout that. Her brother dated my sister once. Our history intertwined and her faith kept her full of energy. How could you not love a person like that!! ??
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Jinny “Kiki” Burgess, was the ideal mother-in-law. Always impeccably put together, gracious, loving, sentimental and generous. Upon meeting her in 1981, with the prospect of becoming her daughter-in-law, she was always smiling, always happy, and always had a song in her. She was instrumental in our daughter Ashley’s early days and was the one that saw or helped our girl during many of her firsts. I will miss her passion for the holidays and all the essentials that came with them, from her wonderful meals served on her best china with her best silver to the gatherings of our family in her living room.
She is greatly missed, but Heaven now has the best bell ringer it could ask for. Love you Kiki!
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My memories of my childhood are infused with the Joys of Jinny! Every Halloween (the anniversary of our meeting in 1955, when her daughter Nancy and I were 2 years old, and bonded for life) the same decorations in the dining room of the Clinton Ave. house, for our pre-trick-or-treating dinner. Every Christmas, that towering tree and the little village beneath it, with skiers on the slopes of the white tree skirt. And then, of course, there were The Camping Trips. Little Jinny and 5 kids roaming the Eastern Seaboard, from the Blue Ridge Mountains to Nova Scotia with tents and sleeping bags and Coleman stove and lantern. Singing silly songs and sea chanteys. A different destination each summer, and then the perennial visit to The Mountain in Vermont. Her home–and her refrigerator!– were always open to the friends of her children. She baked the best peanut butter cookies. She put us in plays in the amateur theater productions she was in herself–Babes In Toyland, in particular, stands out in my head. The make-up! The costumes! (Often as not made by her.) I suspect I’ve run out of space and so let me just say I cannot imagine my childhood without her ebullient and loving presence.