Virginia Maria (Thomas) Anderson, age 90, of Newcastle, WA, passed away on August 1, 2025, at Overlake Hospital in Bellevue, WA.  Affectionately known as "Gin" or "Grandma Gin," Virginia loved to be surrounded by family and friends and lived in Newcastle for 40 years, gardening, writing, painting, and supporting her family in myriad ways.  She was a matriarch in every sense of the word, with a quick smile, a warm greeting for everyone, and a wonderful sense of humor.

Born April 2, 1935, Virginia was adopted in Seattle at birth by Thyra Maria (Lindh) and Durwood Virgil Thomas.  As was the practice at the time, her birth certificate was issued with her adoptive parents' names as "birth parents," and Virginia always hoped to find her birth family, but alas she never did.  Thyra and Virgil raised Virginia, their only child, in Burlington, WA.  After her graduation in 1953 from Burlington-Edison High School (she loved to boast that she attended Edward R. Murrow's alma mater), Virginia briefly attended Skagit Valley College where she studied art and literature.

Yearning for adventure, she and some close friends, including best friend LeRoy Colvin, hitchhiked to San Francisco.  She worked as a clerk at an insurance company until her homesick roommate decided that they should move back to Burlington.  It was a good move.  At her new job as an attendant at Northern State Hospital she met Bob Anderson, also an orderly there.  They eloped in December 1955, married in Coeur d'Alene, ID, and moved from Montana to Ft. Monmouth, NJ, after Bob joined the Army.  After a stint living in Yokohama, Japan, while Bob was stationed at Camp Zama, the family returned to Seattle in 1959.  Virginia reared six children while Bob attended college at the University of Washington and worked for Boeing as an electrical engineer.

The 1960's were busy years, and Virginia managed family moves from Seattle to Grafton, ND, to Mayville, ND, to Conrad, MT, and back to Grand Forks, ND—all in the space of three years!—as Bob worked on the Minuteman Missile program.  In 1967, the family moved to Houston, TX and while Bob worked at NASA, Virginia embraced her role as an active mom, working with PTA, Girl Scouts, Cub Scouts, Little League, and as gardener, kids' entertainer, home barber, bowling league member, and chief of laughter for her family.  And she finally got a drivers license—she did not drive (legally) until her oldest child was in 6th grade. When Bob decided to go to law school, Virginia moved the family to Springfield, VA, a suburb of Washington, DC, in 1971.  She adored living in Virginia—the history, the gardens, the historic houses, but moved the family again to Wilton, CT, three years later when Bob took a job with White & Case in New York City.  In Wilton, she worked as a licensed real estate agent for a while and wrote movie reviews for the Wilton Bulletin.  In the early 1980's, when Bob got an offer to rejoin Boeing as in-house counsel, Virginia moved the family back to the Greater Seattle area where she remained, in Newcastle, for the rest of her life.

Creative and entrepreneurial, Virginia was an award winning artist, painting in oil, mixed media, and mostly acrylic in her later years.  Her subjects were often gardens and portraits. A member of EAFA (the Evergreen Association of Fine Arts), she showed her work at the Seattle Design Center, Overlake Hospital, King County Libraries, and the Renton Annual Fine Arts Show.  She showed and sold work at the Washington State Fair, where she volunteered as a guide for nearly thirty years. Virginia was also a talented seamstress and, in addition to crafting clothes for herself and her kids, started two businesses with designs she created: the Greater Seattle Slug Company, adorable stuffed slugs made with sumptuous fabrics, and DogTogs, which featured sweatshirts for dogs with licensed sports team logos.  Both businesses were ahead of their time—not succeeding when launched but would be wildly popular if around today.

Virginia collected books, especially cookbooks and gardening books, and loved to write.  She wrote a fine series of dog adventure stories for children and in her fifties completed a wonderful full length novel, which sadly never found a publisher.   She also wrote a voluminous cookbook entitled When There's Nothing Left to Cook, a tribute to her years raising a large family on a tight budget. One recipe she created, Hot'n'Pot, was essentially scalloped potatoes combined with ground hotdogs—a source of family mirth for years.  But her culinary successes far outweighed that failure; her custom decorated birthday cakes and gingerbread houses were legendary—she had worked decorating cakes in a bakery while in high school—her imagination limited only by the bounds of buttercream and royal icing.  She was a fantastic cook and we miss the pots of Texas chili and Boston baked beans, Thanksgiving turkey and corn pudding, Christmas morning eggs benedict, and New Years Day Hoppin' John with black-eyed peas for good luck.

Virginia loved animals, especially dogs, and was expert at convincing Bob that she needed to keep whatever dog or cat she brought home—with the exceptions of the St. Bernard (Bob roared "take it back!") and the Irish setter that ate rocks.  While occasionally there was no dog in the house, there were almost always cats and at one time, to the annoyance of Houston neighbors, there was also a chicken named Gloria who turned out to be a rooster.  One of her favorite pets was Dora, a border collie mix puppy that she brought home from the Wilton Humane Society in summer 1975.  Although the dog was matted and filthy, Virginia shrewdly noted that the pup looked like the dog Bob had as kid. Sure enough, once it was bathed and brushed, Bob (and the household) fell for the smart dog with an outsize personality who was Virginia's constant companion and a member of the family for nearly two decades.

Virginia held lifetime membership in Phi Mu Fraternity, International Order of the Rainbow for Girls, and Girl Scouts USA.  A beloved Girl Scout Troop Leader, Virginia also served as Council Delegate and Service Unit Manager and was awarded Outstanding Volunteer.  She was a member of St. Madeleine Sophie Catholic Parish in Bellevue, WA.  She loved traveling (especially by car) and took memorable trips including road trips around the United States and Canada, a Mississippi River cruise, and to Europe.  When age caught up with her, Virginia turned her attention to watching the Mariners, Seahawks, and TV detective dramas and comedies while playing endless solitaire and engaging with whoever was around to hang out and laugh with Grandma Gin and to make sure she had a hot cup of coffee.

Predeceased by her husband Robert H. Anderson and sons Michael and John, Virginia is survived by her children Roxann Whitaker (Warren), Adrienne Smith (Jeff), Robert Anderson Jr. (Karen), and Sunny McClure, by grandchildren Madeline Steinberg, Malcolm Steinberg, Stephanie Smith, Danny Smith, Jonny Smith (Rachel), Tommy Smith, Steffen Hefley, Sarah McCaffrey (Mickey), Robert Gelson (Breia Germany), Michelle Anderson Reaves (Brandon), Jeremy Anderson (Allison), and Zoë Zebe, and by great-grandchildren, Landon, Liam, Eden Bell, Aurora Jo, Jake Kelley, John Hunter, Aydon, Leo, and London.  All of us will greatly miss her love, laughter, optimism, and dedication to her family.

If making gifts in Virginia's memory, please consider donations to girlscouts.org or EAFA.org