February 14 2019: JOHNSON, Virginia Woodruff

Virginia Woodruff Johnson (nee Virginia Southard Ott)

Virginia Woodruff Johnson, 85, born June 17, 1933, of Washington, D.C. died February 9, 2019. She was the daughter of the late Col. Chester W. Ott and Virginia Raymond Ott, and counted William the Conqueror, Lady Jane Grey, and several of the Mayflower voyagers among her ancestors. Ginny lived in many states and Panama as an Army child descended from a long line of West Pointers.  Most recently she lived in Washington, D.C., at the Knollwood Military Retirement Community.

A graduate of Vassar College, she taught English at the Masters School in Dobbs Ferry, NY and French at Martin, SD High School. She worked as an editorial assistant at the Episcopal Church headquarters in New York City. In later years she was public relations director for hospitals in North and South Dakota and Massachusetts. Her most significant work was the raising of her six children who survive her: Katharine R. (Mike) Boyce of Little Rock, AR; Christopher V. (Myaing) Plowe, M.D. of Durham, NC; Sarah P. (Paul) Erickson of Rapid City, SD; Elizabeth P. (Michael) Ross of Nashville, TN; Jonathan G. (Dana) Plowe of West Nyack, NY; and Mary W. P. (Adrian) Williams of Burlington, VT. She is survived by eleven grandchildren and three great-grandchildren, her brother, Col. John S. Ott of Portland, OR, sister Elizabeth O. Mayo of Wilbraham, MA, and by her dear friend Maj. Donald Kaufmann of Washington, DC.

Virginia was the loving wife of the late Kenneth E. Johnson, a science teacher and school superintendent. She was previously married to and raised her six children with the late Rev. Gordon R. Plowe, a farmer and Episcopal priest.

A memorial service will be held on February 15 at the Knollwood Military Retirement Community.  Memorial gifts may be made to Cornell University, to the Army Distaff Foundation or to an Episcopal church of your choice.

 

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