Virginia L. Dussell, 88, Campbell, CA, formerly of Fertile, MN, died July 6, 2018 in California.

Graveside Service: 10:30AM Friday, September 21, 2018, at Varness Lutheran Cemetery, rural Fertile, MN.

Virginia "Gin" Dussell (née Gamme), born in rural Polk County, Minnesota, at the end of summer in 1929, daughter of Orley Gamme and Jessie Gamme (née Thorson), a graduate of Moorhead State Teachers College (1949), a devoted wife of 54 years to Lloyd W. Dussell, a beloved mother to Holly A. Feeney (née Dussell) and William "Bill" O. Dussell, and a grandmother to Shannon M. Feeney, Hillary A. Feeney and Virginia M. Dussell, passed away peacefully with family at her side on Friday, July 6, 2018 at Merrill Gardens in Campbell CA. She was preceded in death by her brother Roger Gamme and husband Lloyd Dussell.

Virginia grew up in a farming family in rural Minnesota near Fertile, MN. She was born a month before the Stock Market Crash of 1929, which signaled the beginning of the Great Depression.  The family closed ranks with Jessie and Orley moving to Melvin, MN to be closer to Jessie's parents Ludvig and Louise Thorson.  Virginia would describe how during the Great Depression, the Gamme's and Thorson's provided food and shelter to many less fortunate individuals, particularly mothers and babies. Us kids forced her to retell countless times the story about how a noon time tornado blew out the house windows and left nails in the sticks of butter that had been set out for lunch.  Those experiences in her first 10 years would shape her outlook for the rest of her life.

Virginia attended the Willowby School, District 209, through middle school before graduating from high school in Fertile in 1947. After high school, she attended Moorhead State Teachers College and graduated with an Associate in Arts in 1949.  She taught elementary school until she and Lloyd Dussell married in 1950 and relocated to Beaumont, Texas where Lloyd worked in the oil business.

Holly and Bill were both born in Beaumont, Texas in 1954 and 1957, respectively. In 1963, the family relocated to Bloomington, Indiana, where Lloyd enrolled in the MBA program at Indiana University.  After graduation, Virginia, Holly and Bill moved to Melvin, MN to live with Jessie and attend school in Fertile.  Bill was in the third grade and Holly in the sixth.  Lloyd had accepted a position with near Dubuque, Iowa, where the family joined him before the start of new school year.

In 1965, Lloyd accepted a position with the refinery and chemical division of Bechtel Corporation in San Francisco, so Virginia packed up Holly and Bill and moved to Redwood City, California in December 1965 where Bill finished up fourth grade and Holly seventh. The family then relocated to Lafayette, CA where Holly and Bill both graduated from Acalanes High School.

Through all these moves and career changes, there were two constants: Virginia's unwavering devotion, guidance and loving care for her husband and children alike, and the family's very strong ties back to friends and family in Minnesota.  All the way through Holly and Bill's high school years, we spent virtually every summer in Melvin, Minnesota at Orley and Jessie's house surrounded by throngs of cousins, aunts and uncles and distant relatives whose exact kinship remained unknown to all but a few.  While Virginia's father, Orley, was still alive, Bill would help in the fields driving tractors with tow behind combines or riding shot gun in the trucks taking the harvest to the grain elevator in Fertile.  Once the crops were out of the fields, there was plenty of time for all the outdoor activities that upstate Minnesota offers during summertime.  What more could a kid ask for?

Lloyd's job with Bechtel literally took him around the world. This, of course, created many issues as Bill and Holly went through adolescence and the difficult high school years, but once Bill and Holly were off to college, Virginia started going with him.  In some cases, they relocated on a semi-permanent basis while other locations were extended stays.  Houston, West-by-God Virginia (as Lloyd would describe it), Edmonton Canada, London, Bali, and Indonesia, to name a few, were all included.  On top of all the work-related travel and extended stays, Virginia and Lloyd traveled extensively with long-time friends Hank and Betty Brandt and Rick and Irene Erwin.  From driving a newly-minted Mercedes on the Autobahn to exploring Australia, Virginia and Lloyd did it all with their best of friends.  As if all that wasn't enough, Virginia joined a group and toured China before doing so became more common place.

After Lloyd's retirement, Virginia and Lloyd relocated to Pine Grove near Jackson, California. As had happen innumerable times before, they soon established long-lasting friendships with young and old alike.  So much so, that Virginia decided to stay in Jackson after Lloyd passed away in 2004 after 54 years of marriage.

While she enjoyed living alone, her independence and friends in the greater Jackson area, she decided it would be better to move to Merrill Gardens Campbell in late-2013. Not only was Merrill Gardens closer to Bill, it offered the level of assistance appropriate for her stage in life.  She greatly enjoyed the companionship of all the new friends, residents and staff alike, she made at Merrill Gardens.