Virginia May Lillico

Virginia "Ginny" May Stevenson Lillico, née Schafer, Jamestown, North Dakota, passed peacefully at home under hospice care two days short of her ninety-fifth birthday on June 23, 2011.

Ginny was born on June 25, 1916, in the family log cabin in Beaulieu Township near Walhalla, North Dakota, as the first child of Albert and Lulu Schafer, née Reid. She had three younger sisters: Nel, Phyllis, and Gloria. She attended school in Beaulieu Township, Mascotte, Florida, and Walhalla. She married Jon Albert "Red" Stevenson in 1935 and moved to a home on the Charles Metelmann farm, where Red worked until his death in 1963. They had five children: Jon, Robert, Linda, Jim, and Kate.

In 1974, Ginny married Conrad Lillico of Concrete, North Dakota, and lived on the Lillico family farm eleven miles south of Walhalla, for over thirty years. She moved to Jamestown in 2005 to live with her daughter Kate.

Ginny was born a survivor as a 2½ pound premature baby in 1916 and grew to be a strong athletic woman who was accustomed to the difficult life of a North Dakota farm wife. She spent her summers tending the vegetable garden, bringing meals to the fields and canning for the winter. She was a master crocheter who supplied afghans and wedding gifts for countless friends and relatives and a kind friend to all animals. All remember her for her quick wit, her cinnamon rolls, her love of card playing and her generous spirit.

She is survived by her son, Robert Stevenson and his wife Karen of Denver, Colorado; her daughters, Linda Banister (Quentin Kuyper, partner) of Augusta, Georgia; and Kate Stevenson (Dan Steckler, special friend) of Jamestown, North Dakota; her sister Gloria Chapin of Santa Rosa, California; her daughters-in-law Elizabeth Stevenson-Collins of Lynwood, Washington; Pam Bestler of Savannah, Georgia; and Bonita Stevenson of Maple Grove, Minnesota; her stepdaughters Janice (Rodney) Nygard of Edinburg, North Dakota; Marjorie (Garry) Kihne of Cavalier, North Dakota; and Carol (Terry) Niemcryk of Fargo, North Dakota; nine grandchildren; eight step-grandchildren; eight great-grandchildren; eight step-great-grandchildren; three great-great-grandsons; and numerous nieces, nephews and cousins.

She was preceded in death by her parents, her sisters Nel Ermer and Phyllis Beaudry, her husbands Red Stevenson and Conrad Lillico, her sons Jon Stevenson and Jim Stevenson, her stepson Conrad (Silver) Lillico, Jr., her grandson Michael Stevenson, and her great-grandson David Stevenson.

Memorial Service: 6:00 PM, Sunday, June 26, at the Jamestown College Voorhees Chapel with Reverend Bradley Paul Edin officiating.

Visitation: None scheduled, but the family will host a reception following the memorial service.

Interment: Hallson Cemetery, rural Mountain, North Dakota, at a later date.

Memorials in Ginny's name can be made to the James River Humane Society, Jamestown Hospital Hospice, or the American Cancer Society.