Mrs. Virgilia Mary Ryan

Mrs. Virgilia (“Jill”) Ryan, age 88 of Orlando, Florida, passed away on Wednesday, February 19, 2014 in Orlando, Florida. Jill was born on January 31, 1926 in Lowell, Massachusetts. Her mother, Pearl Marsden Brady, and father, Bernard Francis Brady, moved the family from Lowell to Saco, Maine, where Bernard took over the management of the Pepperill textile mill, and raised their nine children. She never lost her Boston accent, nor her love for the Red Sox. Jill is survived by her brother, Bobby (Limerick, Maine), and sisters Dot (San Francisco, California), and Jackie (Haverhill, Massachusetts). In 1948, Jill married Stephen I. Ryan of Biddeford, Maine. Prior to the wedding, Steve had found a job in Germany where he and Jill lived for a short while after the wedding. They returned from Germany to Biddeford where Steve set up an accounting practice, and they had two of their five children, Stevie and Mikey. In 1952, Steve took a job as an auditor for the department of defense and moved the family to Baldwinsville, New York, where they had their third boy, Bernie and a daughter, who they also named Jill, and the baby of the family, Billy. Picnics on the Seneca River, square dancing at the Christopher’s barn, summers at the thousand islands, and long snowy winters…it was a wonderful life and a great place to raise five kids. An offer for a promotion and a thirst for adventure precipitated a family move to Satellite Beach, Florida, in 1964. Jill missed her Baldwinsville friends and the change of seasons, but it did not take long for her to make good friends, to get involved with the Church, to volunteer at the local hospital, and to find the local bingo parlor. Steve and Jill lived in the same house on Atlantis Drive in Satellite Beach until 2007 when they moved to the Orlando Lutheran Towers to be closer to their two Orlando based children, Mike and Jill. Jill made wonderful friends at the Towers, who were a tremendous support to her when her husband, Steve, passed away in 2009. The way that Jill managed her grief at the loss of her husband, at the loss of her loving son in law, Doug Strickland, in 2012, and more recently at the loss of her son, Bernie, in 2013, is an inspiration and a lesson for us all. Jill led an active and healthy life up until the day she died. She always had a smile and a kind word for everyone, even if she did not always remember their name. God smiled on her and brought her to him with a minimum of fuss…just the way she would have wanted it. Jill is much beloved and will be remembered by her grandchildren, Shawn and Shannon (California); Dawn (Orlando); Todd (Pennsylvania), Kelly (Baltimore), and Matt (Washington); Steve and Shelly (Orlando); Keely Kay and Mackenzie (Oregon); as well as by her many great grandchildren. In lieu of flowers, the family requests that a charitable donation be made to Orlando Lutheran Towers, 300 East Church Street, Orlando, Florida 32801. (407) 425-1033. Those unable to attend the funeral mass on Wednesday, February 26th at 10 AM may instead view a live stream of the service online by visiting the following links: Live Viewing beginning at 10:00 AM: http://www.stmargaretmary.org/livestream/event/VirgiliaRyanMassofChristianBurial.html Delayed Viewing until 11 PM Wednesday: http://www.stmargaretmary.org/livestream/event/VirgiliaRyanMassofChristianBurialarch.html Arrangements are entrusted to DeGusipe Funeral Home & Crematory, 905 Laurel Avenue, Sanford, Florida 32771. (407) 322-5131.

Mrs. Virgilia Mary Ryan

January 31, 1926 - February 19, 2014