Virginia Marie Phelan

She was born on June 22, 1936, youngest daughter of Lee and Olga (Olson) Oien, and grew up in Kent, Washington on her family’s “Oien’s Dairy” farm. She loved animals (but not birds!) and raised some prize-winning calves and goats (but not chickens!) in high school 4-H projects.

The farm was established by her Norwegian immigrant paternal grandfather in 1903, after he first began a dairy farm in the 1890s on Bainbridge Island.

Ginger’s mother Olga (Olson) came from a large Norwegian/Swedish immigrant family. Nearly every Sunday as Ginger grew up, her aunts and uncles and cousins gathered in her widowed grandmother Mathilda Olson’s large home in Maple Valley for dinner and fun….Ginger was third youngest of 12 first cousins, and her only sister Florita was the oldest. All the cousins remained connected and important to her throughout her long life.

Ginger attended the University of Washington in the late 1950s as a member of Sigma Kappa sorority, and remained an avid and true Husky supporter throughout her life, an active alum and member of the Henry Suzallo Society. Ginger and Joe often travelled to UW games up and down the west coast and met up with their tailgater friends.

In 1961 - at the dawn of the Jet Age and in the run-up to the Seattle Worlds Fair. Ginger began working for United Airlines in the reservations department and very soon was traveling the world. It was a different era; United employees could take advantage of nearly free international air travel and accommodation, promotional weekends in Europe, traveling often with other young United employees. She was able to indulge a lifelong love of travel …Ginger flew very frequently to Polynesia to visit two close Sigma Kappa friends who had become a doctor and a teacher in American Samoa. She took along her parents Lee and Olga to visit relatives living in Norway and Sweden, as well as accompanying them in their retirement to Hawaii, England, Spain, Greece, and “The Holy Land”.

On the first of May in 1976, Ginger married Joe Phelan, the love of her life. Joe worked as an air-traffic controller and had been stationed in Japan during his time in the US Air Force. Ginger shared her love of travel with Joe, they took their honeymoon in Hawaii, and returned there for many anniversaries in May for the next 34 years. Together they travelled many other places, Sun Valley, Ireland, Africa, China, Japan, Scandinavia, and a cruise through the Panama Canal in 2007. Ginger remained devoted to many longtime friends from her high school and college days and the tight-knit early days at United Airlines.

Ginger and Joe spent many summers at a family beach cabin on Bainbridge Island with birthdays, and parties, and 4th of July celebrations, a great place to watch the grandkids play on the beach and grow up…

Joe passed away in 2010 and Ginger moved from their Lake Forest Park home overlooking Lake Washington. In 2021 she moved to The Lakeshore Retirement Community at the southern end of the lake, where her sister Florita and husband Ervin were living.

She will be missed by many friends, step-children, grandchildren, nephew and Oien and Olson family descendants. We will hold a graveside service at Hillside Burial Park in Kent on Thursday, March 26 at 10am. All are welcome. Elizabeth Riley from Ginger’s church, St. Dunstan’s will conduct the ceremony. Some of Ginger’s friends will gather for a memorial lunch following the service at Meridian Valley Country Club - Lunch RSVP by Wednesday 3/25/26 - Contact Stan Skov at (737) 465-3317 for information.