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Virginia “Ginger” Dell Lamkin Grimes was born in Evergreen on Easter Sunday, April 16, 1933. She passed away on July 22, in Greenville. 

Virginia was the daughter of Fred Taft Lamkin and Edna Earl Hamilton Lamkin of McWilliams, Alabama. She was the granddaughter of John Allen Lamkin and Martha Williams Lamkin and Howell Presley Hamilton and Eula Susannah Majors Hamilton; all of McWilliams. 

At the young age of 10, she lost her mother following complications from the birth of her little brother. She learned to be a survivor with the support of her grandparents, aunts, uncles and friends. 

She lived most of her younger life in Wilcox County, and attended first – sixth grades at Oak Hill School. She attended school in Greensboro for seventh and eighth grades while living with her Uncle John Edwin Jones Jr. and Aunt Exa Lamkin Jones and her family. She returned to McWilliams and attended high school at Moore Academy in Pine Apple where she graduated in 1951. 

It was at Moore Academy that she met her husband of almost 72 years – Harold “Hal” Watts Grimes Jr. They started dating when she was a ninth grader and he was a senior.  They became engaged when she was a junior but did not marry until Hal graduated from Auburn University in 1952.  

Upon graduation, Ginger moved to Auburn to live near Hal. She had the opportunity to attend college but chose to work full-time to support herself. In later years she wished she had attended nursing school but her father had strongly discouraged her from doing so due to the struggles his sisters had had as nurses. 

After she and Hal moved to Marion Junction in 1957, she enjoyed motherhood and volunteering in the church and community. She began a lifelong service to the American Red Cross as a volunteer and blood donor.  

Due to her nature to stay busy and be productive, she took on the job of driving a bus to the Marion Junction School. Her involvement with working with children continued for many years. About 1972 she began work at Perry Christian School in Marion. At PCS she taught classes, oversaw the cafeteria, was the bookkeeper and office manager, and managed the concession stand at all home sports games. But her favorite role earned her the title of Mama Grimes. She loved all the students. She became the driver, nurse, doctor, confidante, and substitute mother for many students – especially the football and basketball teams. She liked to tell the story that Dr. Sam Moseley in the Selma Medical Center Emergency Room told her – that if she had not come to the hospital by midnight on Friday night, he felt he could go home. 

Virginia also worked at the Stockyards in Marion and at Gold Kist Grain Elevator in Browns, Alabama. From 1976 until retiring in 1989 (and again in 1991) she managed the office for Gold Kist. She was pleased to have been one of the first clerical staff for Gold Kist to be trained on a computer system for weighing and sorting the farmer’s accounts and she also trained others to use the system. The farmers as well as the railroad workers who frequented the office all grew to love her. During harvest season she would work 20-hour days and thrived on providing the best service and a hot cup of coffee for anyone who stopped by the office.  

She bought a black 2001 Ford Mustang Convertible when she was 68 and could be spotted riding around Pine Apple with the top down and Gretchen Wilson blaring Redneck Woman on the radio.  She loved many kinds of music from Hank Williams to Don Williams, Eric Clapton to Kenny Rogers, and anything patriotic. 

Other than being an amazing wife, mother, “Mema” and “Mamee,” and volunteer she was perhaps best known for her cocker spaniels. Hal and Virginia’s first cocker spaniel, Inky, was a wedding gift from a professor at Auburn. She decided to breed Inky and continued to breed cockers until a few years before her death – for over 50 years. She would consistently receive phone calls from families who were second or third-generation customers who wanted another Grimes cocker. She often said she hoped she never had to live without a dog. 

After Virginia and Hal retired and moved to Pine Apple in 1989, she became active in the church and the town of Pine Apple. She and Hal were instrumental in restoring Moore Academy. She was heavily involved in Pine Apple Promotions which sponsored many events for the community including the Fall Festival, Hunter Appreciation Day, and Front Porch Tours. It was rare that you did not see her watering flowers and plants around the city park and her yard to keep things looking beautiful. She was also the unofficial welcome committee chairman gifting new neighbors and visitors with her famous banana nut bread. 

She also served on the Wilcox County Library Board and was a member of the Butler County Historical and Genealogical Society and the Wilcox Historical Society.  

Virginia came to accept Christ at Shiloh Methodist Church in Caledonia as an eight-year-old during a revival. She was a member of Marion Junction Baptist Church and later a member of Friendship Baptist Church in Pine Apple.   

She is survived by her brother, Fred “Ted” Earl Lamkin Jones (Karon) of Greensboro, two sons: Harold Watts Grimes III (Lynn); William Allen Grimes (Karen) and daughter: Martha Grimes Lampkin (James); grandchildren: James Lee Branan (Nikki), Eric Kyle Grimes, Gregory Allen Grimes (Ashley), Virginia Morgan Grimes Allen (John), Elizabeth Grimes, Amy Kathryn Grimes McGee (Brooks), Harold Brooks Lampkin (Margo) and Virginia Frances Lampkin Morgan 

(Jake); and great-grandchildren: Emiley Rachel and Evan Powers Branan; Elizabeth Marie, Kaitlin Taylor, Kaylee Madison, Kendall Lee, and Khloe Piper Grimes; Kaitlyn and Grier Frances Allen; Kathryn Brooke and Harper Elizabeth McGee; and Lucy Clare and Julia Frances Lampkin.  

She was preceded in death by her parents, brother Fred Allen Lamkin, and husband, Hal Grimes.  

 

Funeral services will be held on Saturday, August 10, at 2 p.m. at Mt Moriah Fellowship Baptist Church. Interment will follow in the Mt. Moriah Cemetery. 

Instead of flowers memorial contributions may be made to the Bear Creek Historical and Preservation Association for the restoration and upkeep of Bear Creek Baptist Church and Shiloh Methodist Church in Caledonia, Wilcox County. Memorials can be mailed to 2075 County Road 45, Camden, AL 36726.   

For online condolences, please visit www.dunklinfh.com.