Mary Virginia Friedrichs Burke

Mary Virginia Friedrichs “Ginger” Burke passed peacefully to her eternal reward in New Orleans, Louisiana on Thursday, January 1st, 2015, after a recent diagnosis of cancer at the age of 77. She was born May 13, 1937 in New Orleans, Louisiana to George Shelby Friedrichs, Sr. and Virginia Gore Friedrichs. She is survived her children: Peter D. M. Gibbons Burke, Jr. (Darlene), Virginia White (Michael), Mary Shea Burke Strain, Eleanor Lieder (William), and twelve grandchildren. She was preceded in death by her parents, her brothers G. Shelby Friedrichs Jr. and Joseph Maybin Gore Friedrichs, her daughter Marguerite Cappel (David), and her husband, Peter David Michael Gibbons Burke, Sr.

Ginger graduated from Metairie Park Country Day School, and earned a Bachelor of Arts degree from Randolph-Macon Woman’s College. After her marriage she began an active and involved career as a homemaker and mother, and volunteer in several civic agencies including the Junior League of New Orleans, the New Orleans Museum of Art, the Community Volunteer Service Committee, and ten years on the Board of Directors of the Volunteer and Information Agency (VIA). She also served nineteen years with the United Way of Greater New Orleans, including twelve years on the Board of Directors. She served on the boards of directors of several other institutions including Metairie Park Country Day School, the Y.W.C.A., Volunteers in Government of Responsibility (VIGOR), Mental Health Association, and the J.B. Levert Land Company and the Levert Foundation.

She was awarded the Key to the City of New Orleans in 1967. In 1968 she was awarded Outstanding Young Women in America and Outstanding Young Women in Louisiana. She was awarded Volunteer of the Year by VIA as well as the Mental Health Association.

Ginger was an avid and enthusiastic sailor from her early years crewing for her father Shelby, and loved racing and cruising on Lake Pontchartrain and the Gulf Coast. She was a member of the Orleans Club, Southern Yacht Club, the National Society of Colonial Dames, and in her debut year she reigned as Queen of Osiris.

A Requiem Mass will be celebrated for Ginger on Saturday, January 3rd at 11:00 am at St. Stephen Catholic Church (Good Shepherd Parish), 1025 Napoleon Avenue, New Orleans, Louisiana. Visitation begins at 9:00 am at the church. A reception following Mass will be celebrated at the home of Mr. and Mrs. Michael B. White. Her cremated remains will be interred in Metairie Cemetery at a later date.