Virginia M. Blanchard

MASON CITY: Virginia May Blanchard, 75, of Mason City lost her battle with cancer Friday, October 31, 2014, at home with family. Memorial services will be held at 7:00 PM Tuesday, November 04 at Major Erickson Funeral Home, 111 N. Pennsylvania Avenue with Laureen Blanchard Byrne officiating. There will be no visitation. Internment will take place in the First United Methodist Church Cemetery in Cornelius, Oregon at a later date. Memorials may be directed to the Virginia May Blanchard Memorial Fund. Ginger was born May 20, 1939 in Spirit Lake, Iowa the daughter of Edward and Anna (Pyzick) Studer. She attended grade school in a one room country school near Nashua, Iowa, high school at Nashua Public School, and graduated from DeSmet, South Dakota High School. Ginger worked a number of years in Oregon and in Iowa in the dental field. She married Leland Blanchard on December 13, 1997. They enjoyed the same things and traveled well over a million miles across the United States and across Europe together. They stopped along the way to visit thrift stores, candy shops, and a lot of tourist traps. Ginger’s hobbies included rescuing abused and neglected dolls and refurbishing them to be enjoyed by children and adults again, visiting and having garage sales, buying too much at auctions, and caring for her four cats. She enjoyed shooting her little chrome plated pearl handled pistol and could put six into twenty inches at 15 feet. Ginger is survived by her husband, Leland Clarence Blanchard of Mason City; children, David (Rita) McAdaragh of Cornelius, Oregon, Ann Marie nee McAdaragh (Edward) Sodergren of Inverness, Florida, Laureen nee Blanchard Byrne (Patrick) of Clear Lake, Iowa, Kim Kay nee Blanchard (Christopher) Bienert of Forest City, Iowa, and Holly Rae nee Blanchard (Curtis) Jorgensen of Owatonna, Minnesota; siblings, Donald (Judy) Studer of Jefferson, Oregon, Ronald (Carol) Studer of Stillwater, Minnesota, Raymond (Linda) Studer of Charles City, Iowa, Paul (Janice) Studer of Jefferson, Oregon, Elmer Studer of Independence, Oregon, Teresa (Virgil) Dandurand of Salem, Oregon, Francis Studer of Independence, Oregon, Katherine Studer of Salem, Oregon, Suzan Downey of Junction City, Oregon, and sister-in-law Mersha Studer of Jefferson Oregon. Ginger has eleven grandchildren and four great grandchildren. Ginger was preceded in death by her parents, ex-husband William McAdaragh, her brothers, Richard “Dick” Studer and Marvin Studer.