Virginia “Gin” Lauritsen JD ’75

02/21/2019

Virginia “Gin” Lauritsen JD ’75, February 14, 2019, age 78. 

Gin moved in 1943 from Arkansas, after the mill where her father worked burned and his employer offered him a job in Oregon. The family lived in Finn Rock and the Vida area before moving to Springfield in 1948. Gin earned a bachelor’s degree in math and chemistry from Oregon State University and a master’s degree in mathematics from Arizona State University.

Gin worked as in-house counsel for a number of companies in California, including Universal Television and BP, before retiring and moving back to Springfield in 1995. In 1998, a friend suggested she serve on the Lane Transit District’s budget committee. A short time later, the governor appointed Gin to the LTD board, on which she would serve for eight years. A year into that appointment, she ran for the Springfield Utility Board seat she would hold for two decades. Gin was recognized for her public service by the Lane Council of Governments and Springfield Chamber of Commerce.

Over the years, Gin also volunteered as a nature guide at Dorris Ranch. “Springfield is home,” she said in an 2010 interview. “I measure where I am on this planet by how far I am from Springfield.”

Gin is survived by one of her three sisters, Anne Ballew, as well as three nephews.