Virginia Irene Sullivan Bruch (“Ginny”) was born May 26, 1921 in Hickman, Ky. A teacher and published poet, genealogist, and civic leader in Alexandria, she began a career in the Civil Service in 1948, retiring in 1980 from the Pentagon Army Library, where she was a section chief.
She graduated from Murray State University in 1943, married Truman E. Bruch in 1944 while he was a flight instructor for Civilian Aviation, and moved to Tennessee, where Truman worked at Oak Ridge. Her daughter, Susan Irene Bruch, was born in 1945. Truman and Ginny were founders and long time members of First Christian Church in Alexandria, where Ginny taught Sunday school and expanded the church library.
With her sister, Josephine Sullivan, Ginny compiled a data base for the Ivy Hill Cemetery in Alexandria, Beneath the Oaks of Ivy Hill. Her comprehensive genealogical work, Proud Wanderers, traced the roots of her mother’s family, the Helms. A resident of Alexandria for 63 years, she was active in Colonial Dames, the DAR, and was research curator and trainer of docents for the Lee Boyhood Home in Alexandria at 607 Oronoco St. On May 5, 2012, she died at the home in Manassas she briefly shared with her friends, Hector and Maggie Soberanis. She was predeceased by her husband, sister, and daughter and is survived by her grandsons, William L. Rose and Robert A. Rose, great-grandson, Truman L. Rose, and son-in-law, Richard L. Rose. More information about her is posted (under Family) at the Rose website http://marginalnotesinwordsandmusic.org.
Visitation will be 2-4 p.m. at Everly Wheatley on Braddock Road followed by an informal service at 4 p.m. on Saturday, May 12, 2012.