Virginia "Ginger" B. Campbell

Virginia Backus Campbell, 80, of Lake Leelanau, MI active member of her community and beloved mother and Grammie to 5, died peacefully on Tuesday June 11, of a sudden illness, with family and friends at her bedside. Ginger was born Virginia Elise Backus on March 11, 1939 in Detroit Michigan to Virginia Field and Ralph H. Backus. Ginger with her brother Ralph, spent her entire childhood in Birmingham attending Adams, Barnum, and Birmingham High Schools. Ginger had a spitfire personality, boundless energy, and an atypical athleticism for a young girl, recalling her many abilities such as playing catch by throwing a ball over their two-story house, and pride in the fact that she could bat and pitch right and left-handed. After graduating high school, she attended the University of Colorado, where she was a member of the university’s ski team. After transferring to the University of Iowa, Ginger graduated with a Bachelors in Dental Hygiene, a career she enjoyed, though she referred to it as “being down in the mouth”, for some 35 years. Ginger married Naval officer John Vail Campbell in 1963, and they bought a home in Bloomfield Township where they lived until retirement, raising Kristie and Doug. Motherhood suited Ginger, and she raised her kids with a sense of wonder, activity and independence. The house on Cherokee Lane was a place where digging in the backyard with a spoon was acceptable, but store-bought Halloween costumes were not. A Girl Scout leader, a Conant Elementary Publishing Center volunteer, and an orange slice-toting soccer mom, Ginger taught kids to make campfire foil dinners and s’mores on sticks, a treat they make to this day on the shores of Lake Leelanau. After retirement, John and Ginger relocated to Lake Leelanau, where Ginger’s sense of wonder and independence took final root. Around town, she might be seen behind the lens of Gingersnaps Photos, on her blue kayak, or breakfasting with lady friends at the Early Bird. As a member of Leland Community UMC and Sutton’s Bay Congregational Churches, she actively displayed her faith in handbell and church choirs, as well as performing in services on her trumpet and recorder. Ginger’s love of the performing arts lead her and John to the Northport Community Arts Center where they were singers, actors and musicians in Village Voices, the Northport Theater Group, and the Northport Community Band. Most recently, she picked up her ukulele from her days as a campfire singer and joined a ukulele orchestra in Sutton’s Bay, augmenting her strumming skills with the new challenge of picking. Her membership in the PEO Sorority started as a younger woman in Birmingham and continued with the Sutton’s Bay chapter, part of a national sisterhood striving to create opportunities in the advancement of women’s education. Ginger is survived by her son Douglas Campbell and his wife Wendy; daughter Kristen Eshleman and her husband Sid, and five grandchildren: Campbell, Clayton, and Nathaniel Eshleman, and Alexander and Kate Campbell. The family is at peace in the knowledge that she has transitioned to a perfect place, where they will someday reunite, being welcomed with their very own trumpeting angel. Services will be held at the Sutton’s Bay Congregational Church at 1:00 p.m. on Saturday, June 15, 2019. Gifts in memory of Virginia Campbell may be sent to: Northport Community Arts Center 104 South Wing St, Northport MI 49670 or PEO Foundation Chapter EM Educational Loan Fund 3700 Grand Ave, Des Moines IA 50312 Ginger and her family are in the care of the Reynolds-Jonkhoff Funeral Home and Cremation Services.

Virginia "Ginger" B. Campbell

March 11, 1939 - June 11, 2019