Virginia "Ginny" May Parker-Ferrell

Louis H. and Emily A. May welcomed their daughter, Virginia, into the world on July 29, 1943, at the Elliot Community Hospital in Keene.

Virginia, known as “Ginny,” received her education locally, graduating as a member of the Keene High School Honor Society in 1961. Throughout her high school years, Virginia enjoyed participating in the high school band and playing violin in the All-State Festival Orchestra. Virginia continued her education at Keene State College, graduating in 1965 as a Phi Beta Kappa Honor Society member. She was selected by then-President Zorn to a long-term planning commission to outline future growth objectives for the college, which are evident on campus today. She went on to teach at Hinsdale High School.

In 1966, Virginia married Douglas Ordway Parker Jr., also a graduate of Keene State College and Springfield College. The couple relocated to Camden, N.Y., where she was an active student-teacher and was instrumental in establishing the community’s first nursery school for three- and four-year-olds.

Virginia’s greatest pride and joy were reserved for her two children, James Douglas (1968) and Kathryn May (1970). With Mr. Parker’s untimely death in 1975, Virginia took on the sole responsibility of raising her two small children. She continued her higher education at SUNY Oswego, and resumed substitute teaching during the day and teaching high school equivalency at night.

In 1976, the family relocated to Keene, where Virginia became a graduate assistant/adjunct faculty member for the Keene State College student teacher department. She received her master’s degree in education in 1979 and went on the accept a part-time job at UNH’s Trio Program, designed to help nontraditional and disadvantaged students to successfully seek higher education.

Believing strongly in helping people, Virginia became a social worker for the elderly at Country Way Nursing Home and Rehabilitation (Genesis) Center, a coordinator at Home Health Care and a social worker for the Bureau of Elderly and Adult Services for the state of New Hampshire from 1985 to 2010.

Virginia continued to pursue her lifetime love of music by singing with the Keene Pops Choir for more than 25 years. She traveled with the Keene Singers throughout Europe and Scandinavia under the direction of Keene Singers director Jean Nelson.

Blessed by her 2005 marriage to Benjamin M. Ferrell, the couple enjoyed attending cultural events, antique shows and traveling in their small recreational vehicle to Utah, Florida, Ohio, New York and Maine. They regularly traveled to regional and national figure skating competitions in support of their oldest grandson, Quinn Carpenter, and his skating partner, Lorraine McNamara.

Virginia Parker-Ferrell became a devout Christian, and is survived by the love of her life, Benjamin Ferrell; her two beloved children: James D. Parker (wife Michelle) and their two children, Bryce and Hannah Parker, of Rancho Palos Verdes, Calif.; and Kathryn M. Carpenter (husband Josh) and their two children, Quinn and Phoebe Carpenter, of Brunswick, Md. She also leaves behind her beloved sister, Judith M. Fellows (husband Thayer), of Rochester, Vt., and their family; a cousin, Esther (Malcolm) Haskell, of Charlemont, Mass.; as well as Mr. Ferrell’s two daughters and their families.

In lieu of flowers, donations in Mrs. Virginia Parker-Ferrell’s memory will gladly be accepted by Breathe New Hampshire, 145 Hollis St., Unit C, Manchester NH 03101; and by the Dartmouth-Hitchcock Medical Center, 580-590 Court St., Keene NH 03431, as a tribute to the outstanding care offered by their staff, and specifically by Lisa Profetto, HRNP Team D.

A graveside service will be held at the Monadnock View Cemetery on Park Avenue in Keene at a time and date to be announced.