Germaine “Jinks” Viola Colvin

Tuesday, June 23 2009

WOLCOTT/ITHACA - Germaine (“Jinks’) Viola Colvin died June 17, 2009, losing her long battle with cancer. Germaine was the daughter of Idabell Yates Colvin and her late father, Kenneth E. Colvin, who nicknamed her “Jinks.”  She was born Aug. 30, 1940, in Butler, where she lived on the family farm and attended the Butler Center Methodist Church.  She had fond memories of visiting Jim Wing’s store, the sense of freedom romping in the fields and woods, skating on the DeRoos’ pond, and babysitting Florabell and Clarence Crane’s children, Sharon and Dave, with their Nanny, Mildred Green. She attended Leavenworth Central School graduating in 1958; in later years she organized class reunions. In ninth grade the family sold the farm, moved to the village of Wolcott and Germaine could walk to school.  She was active in sports, played the French horn in band, sang in chorus and choirs, and played Mother in the senior play, “Tommy Tightwad.”  She sang in Rochester Oratorio Society and enjoyed London Broadway musicals.   
She attended SUNY Alfred for one year, transferred to the University of Rochester where she earned a M. Ed.  While attending the U of R, she worked at Strong Memorial Hospital which was an enriching experience working in the radiation therapy, blood bank and Cardiology Departments where she worked for Dr. Jules Cohen for whom she had great admiration.  She retired from the Pittsford School District in 1995 having had a rewarding career guiding thousands of students in 10th grade Global Studies II and senior electives Sociology, Participation and Economics.  As advisor of the Model UN she got great pleasure observing her charges winning debates at Harvard, Yale, and Georgetown MUNs.  She had an insatiable curiosity and traveled the world to enrich herself and then her students; she walked China’s Great Wall, climbed inside one of Egypt’s Great Pyramids, visited Biblical sites in Israel, visited a divided Germany and returned after the Berlin Wall was down, saw the USSR under Brezhnev and then the Soviet Union under Gorbachev, read Pablo Neruda’s “Heights of  Machu Picchu” at Peru’s Machu Picchu, stayed at Guatemala’s Tikal, and made several visits to Cuernavaca, Mexico to study Spanish.  
Germaine loved theatre and volunteered at the Rochester JCC Center Stage, was a charter trustee of the Butler Historical Society seeing the Butler Center Church Museum and Roe Cobblestone Schoolhouse restored.  She volunteered at Ithaca’s Upstairs Gallery, Friends of the Book Sale, was a member of LWV, AAUW and enjoyed their Art Group and Book Club.  She volunteered with Seeds of Learning to teach children in impoverished communities in Nicaragua.  She enjoyed pastels and oil painting, traveling to New Mexico to capture the earthtones in landscapes, as well as working in the Ithaca area, taking classes in Rochester and Ithaca.  
Germaine’s friends were important to her, as was her family.  She found great joy in her grandnieces Jenna, Georgia Beth and Paige, and grandnephew Jake.  She admired the tenacity and upbeat attitude of her mother.  She will be missed by family and friends who include her mother, Idabell Yates Colvin; sisters Frieda (Manfred) von Schiller and Connie (Kenneth) Lasher; niece Erika (Norm) Deep; nephews Hans (Amy) von Schiller, Gerald (friend Diane) Lasher and Gregory (Michelle) Lasher; and dear friends including Mary Lou Bower, Lucille Orioli, Barb Orton, Mary Schuler, Joe Weaver, lifelong learning art classmates and AAUW Art Group; and many others.  Germaine was predeceased by her father, Kenneth E. Colvin; her paternal grandparents, George A. and Hattie (Drury) Colvin; and maternal grandparents, Edward and Viola Bellinger Yates.  
Family and friends called June 22 at the Wolcott Presbyterian Church, 11988 W. Main Street, Wolcott.  Her funeral service immediately followed visitation.  Interment was at Huron Evergreen Cemetery. In lieu of flowers, memorials may be offered to Butler Historical Preservation Society, P.O. Box 34, Butler, NY 13154 or to a charity of one’s choice.  Arr.: Colvin-Robertson-Norton Funeral Home, Wolcott, NY.  Online condolences may be sent to the family at: www.norton.com