Virginia Valentine Rose Racine was born, fittingly, on Valentine’s Day, Feb 14, 1922. She left this world January 20, 2009, seven years and four days after losing the love of her life, her husband Joe.
Virginia was born on a farm near Sigma, MI. Her father, Elziar Racine was a lumberjack, among other trades, and her mother, May Cloutier, was a housewife. Virginia was the seventh of nine children, and was the last surviving of all her siblings.
As a child of the Great Depression, Virginia might not have had worldly goods, but she made up for that with spunk and determination. She was a cheerleader at Manistee High School for four years, editor of the yearbook her senior year, and famed for her oratory, winning a declamatory contest (and a silver loving cup) in 1936.
After graduating from high school, Virginia and her older sister May boarded a bus for San Francisco. One night at the popular Avalon Ballroom, May met a soldier. In exchange for a second date with May, he had to find a date for her sister. That date turned out to be Private Joe Starns. After several months of dating, they became engaged. After the bombing of Pearl Harbor, Joe realized that he could be shipped out at any time, so on March 21, 1942, they were married in what Virginia described as one of those “quickie little marriages that never last”.
Joe was eventually shipped overseas, serving in the Pacific, and Virginia, (or just Gina, as Joe called her) worked at a Western Union office in San Francisco, saving every penny she could, and faithfully buying War Bonds.
After World War II, Joe and Gina lived a typical Army life, moving continually. Their first son Joe, Jr., was born in San Francisco while Joe was stationed at the Presidio. They briefly moved to Washington state but were back in California in time for the birth of their second child, daughter Sharon, in 1949. The Korean War interrupted their lives temporarily. While Joe served in Korea, Gina moved herself and both children back to her mother’s house in Michigan for the duration. After the Korean War, Joe continued to serve in Japan, and Gina decided to join him. She set off across the United States with two small children and a sedan that caught fire halfway there. She promptly purchased a new car and arrived in Washington in plenty of time to catch the transport ship taking her family to Japan.
Two and a half years later, the family settled in New York, where they welcomed daughter number two, Susan, in 1954 and second son Douglas in 1956.
In 1957 the family returned to California. Joe was stationed at Fort Ord, and he and Gina started planning for his retirement. After Joe retired as a Lieutenant Colonel, they purchased a lot in Morgan Hill with those war bonds Gina had bought years ago, and built their dream house. They moved in just before Thanksgiving 1958.
Living on an Army salary was never easy, but the prudence learned as a child in the Great Depression meant Gina could budget with the best of them. Family vacations, a living room full of presents every Christmas, musical instruments, first (and sometimes second) cars. Joe and Gina provided for their family no matter what the sacrifice to themselves.
After Joe’s retirement from his second career with CSEA, the couple bought the first of several travel trailers and began to travel. They visited all fifty states, many of them in the trailer. They also took trips to England, Ireland, Germany and visited Paris for their 50th wedding anniversary. They especially loved their spur-of-the-moment trips to Reno or Las Vegas for a few days of playing the nickel machines, a pastime Mom could indulge in until her hands were as black as a coalminers.
When Gina lost Joe in 2002, she almost lost her will to live. But somehow, she bounced back, and like the good little Army wife she was, she kept soldiering on, keeping up the house and yard, never letting her family down, and missing Joe every single day. It wasn’t until this past summer that her health began to fail, and she had to give up the gardening she loved. After a week of illness, she slipped peacefully away in the presence of her daughter Sharon in the early hours of Tuesday Jan 20th, 2009.
She is survived by her four children (and their spouses): Joe Starns, Jr., (Candy) of Palatine IL, Sharon Starns of the family home, Susan Laffitte (Tim) of Aurora CO and Douglas Starns (Roberta) of Martinez CA. She also has five grandchildren: John Williams Jr. (Angela) of Hollister,CA, Sarah Kingsley (Scott) of San Jose,CA, Joe Williams (Katie) of Hollister,CA, and Michael and Matthew Robins, of Murrieta, CA. In addition, she was the great grandmother of six: Nash, Jack and Alice Williams, Charles Kingsley and Madaline and Owen Williams.
No services will be held.
