Virginia Dyer (Jean) Curtis died on October 6, 2026, in the McMurray Hills rehabilitation
center in McMurray (Cannonsburg), Pennsylvania. She was two weeks shy of her ninety-
ninth birthday.

Virginia was born on October 21, 1927, in Springfield, Ohio, where her family had just
relocated from Barbourville, Kentucky (near Harlan). They were actually headed for Detroit
but their car broke down in Springfield, so that’s where they settled. Her parents were
James King Dyer and Lena (Brumley) Dyer, both native Kentuckians. On one occasion,
speaking of Virginia and her older sister, Helen, a high school teacher remarked that “The
Dyer girls are the smartest and prettiest girls in the school.”

On July 12, 1945, Virginia married Vernon L. Curtis, who had just been discharged from the
Army Air Force after serving during World War II in a B-17 Flying Fortress. Virginia first met
Vernon when his car broke down in Springfield. They settled in Vernon’s hometown of
Mechanicsburg, Ohio, population 1,500, and promptly had four children.

In 1954, the family moved to the Shenango Valley, a heavily industrialized area centered
around the town of Sharon, Pennsylvania, buying a house in what was then Hickory
Township, Pennsylvania. (It is now known as Hermitage, Pennsylvania.) Virginia would
remain in Hermitage for more than seven decades.

After the birth of her first grandchild, Jane, Virginia became known inside and outside the
family as “Gami.” (Her mother was known as Gami-Gami.) In fact, if you inquired of people
about “Virginia Curtis” they would stare at you blankly for a moment before saying, “Oh,
you mean Gami!”

Following her divorce from Vernon in 1983, Gami opened her own business, The Children’s
Exchange. Despite its name, The Children’s Exchange sold not children but lightly used
children’s clothes. The business was a success and Gami ran it for years. She also
volunteered for five decades at Meals-on-Wheels, where she frequently delivered meals to
people much younger than she was. She was also a fifty-year volunteer at the Buhl-
Henderson Library in Sharon, and she was active in her church, the Hickory United
Methodist Church in Hermitage, where she served for years as church treasurer. Gami was
also a loyal volunteer at her local polling place, serving as inspector of elections for the
Democratic Party for many years.

Up to age ninety-seven, Gami lived alone in her home in Hermitage, caring for herself and
enjoying her local friends. Her nervous children, unable to reach her or her neighbors by
phone, would sometimes drive to Hermitage to check on her. On one occasion they were
ringing the doorbell and pounding on the door and, getting no answer, they feared the
worst. At that moment Gami came around the corner of the house pushing a wheelbarrow
and wielding pruning shears – she was then 96 years old.

In 2024, Gami sold her house – she said the upkeep was too much, given that all her
plumbers, electricians and handymen had died or retired – and moved to a sun-filled
apartment at Strabane Trails Village in Washington, Pennsylvania. There she developed a
group of women friends with whom she enjoyed eating and chatting.

In September 2026, close to her ninety-ninth birthday, Gami traveled to Big Sky, Montana to
attend her grandson Arno’s wedding. Almost all her children and grandchildren – and some
of her great-grandchildren – also attended the wedding, and they took time to celebrate her
ninety-ninth birthday a month early. Gami had looked forward to the trip to Montana for a
long time and she loved every minute of it.

Gami was preceded in death by her parents, her ex-husband, Vernon (1923 – 2010), her
sister, Helen Ladrigan (1925 – 2010), and a grandson, Michael J. Shine (1983 – 2023). She
leaves behind four children: Gregory Curtis (Simin) of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania; Jean
DiGiallorenzo (Vincent) of Annville, Pennsylvania; Robbin Shine (Harry) of Masontown,
Pennsylvania; and Dennis Curtis (Miriam) of Cape Coral, Florida. She also leaves fourteen
grandchildren: Jane DiGiallorenzo, Sarah Hooper (Trevett), Stephen Shine (Chelsea), Jill
Keogh (James), Alice Cline (Matt), Josiah Wolff (Jamie), Peter Curtis (Neda), David Curtis,
Andre Curtis, Arno Curtis (Michaelle), Timo Curtis (Emily), Henry Curtis, Virginia Roos
Curtis and Oliver Curtis. Finally, she leaves eighteen great-grandchildren.

Virginia “Gami” Curtis was an extraordinary woman not just in the length of her long life but
also in its richness. She was admired and loved by everyone who knew her, from customers
at The Children’s Exchange to her final caregivers at the rehabilitation center. She died as
she had lived, surrounded by the family members who loved her so dearly.

A memorial service will be held on November 7, 2026, at 11:00 a.m. at the Hickory United
Methodist Church in Hermitage, Pennsylvania. At her request, Gami was cremated at the
John S. Maykuth, Jr. Funeral Home in Masontown, Pennsylvania, and her remains will be
buried in the family plot in Springfield, Ohio in the spring of 2027 at a date to be
determined.