Virginia Laughlin

Virginia Jones Laughlin ("Ginger"), of West Columbia, TX died on May 27, 2022, Ginger was born on September 16, 1943, in Bay City, TX to J.Q. Jones and Mildred Jones of West Columbia.  After graduating with honors from Columbia High School, Ginger attended Wharton Junior College before transferring to Texas Christian University where she continued to excel academically, graduating in 1966 with a BS in Elementary Education.

Ginger was always proud of her teaching career, which she began as a 3rd grade teacher at Sweeny Elementary. After marrying Greg Laughlin, also of West Columbia, she moved to Houston where she continued her teaching career at Bunker Hill Elementary and made lifelong friends before leaving to start a family.  In 1988 Ginger moved again with her family to the Washington, D.C. area, where she raised her children, Mary and Brad, and learned she had been diagnosed with Multiple Sclerosis.  Ever feisty, she joined an early clinical study of MS at the National Institutes of Health and would fight the disease for the rest of her life.  In 2000, Ginger moved back into her childhood home in West Columbia, where she felt most at home.  Never one to accept her limitations or let MS get the best of her, she enjoyed the simple pleasures most of us take for granted, running errands around town, going to Study Club, and popping into the Library.

Ginger was a life-long active and faithful member of the United Methodist Church.  She was a Sunday regular at Columbia United Methodist until her health worsened over the past few years.

Ginger is survived by her loving family, including: her children, Mary Newcomb and husband Robert of Falls Church, Virginia, and Brad Laughlin and wife Leslie, of Arlington, Virginia; her grandson Jack Newcomb of Falls Church, Virginia; her sister Jo Frances Chastain of West Columbia; her niece Stephanie Hilton and husband Mark, of Charlotte, North Carolina; her nephew Eugene Chastain and wife Alex of Saginaw, and great nephew Dylan Chastain also of Saginaw.

The Family will welcome friends and loved ones from 4:30 - 6:30 p.m. Friday, June 3, 2022, at C.T. Baker & Son's Funeral Home in West Columbia.

Funeral services will be at 10:00 a.m. Saturday, June 4, 2022, at  Columbia United Methodist Church in West Columbia, Texas 315 S. 16th Street, with Pastor T. Kethley officiating.  Interment will follow in Old Columbia Cemetery.

In lieu of flowers, donations can be made to the National Multiple Sclerosis Foundation (https://www.nationalmssociety.org/Donate) or Columbia United Methodist Church.