Virginia 'Ginni' E. Roche

Virginia E (Wilkerson) Roche

Virginia E (Wilkerson) Roche passed away August 20, 2026, at the Brookdale Assisted Living facility in Beavercreek. She was 87 years old. She is survived by her husband of 32 years, Peter Roche, her sons Douglas Houston (Beavercreek) and Dan Houston (Tacoma, WA), sisters Ellen Williams (Troy) and Sarah Brown (Honokaa HI.), and five grandchildren: Val, Amelia, Lydia, Lauren and June.

A sixth-generation Ohio farmgirl raised in Greene County (Greenon H.S. ’57), “Ginni” will be remembered for her vibrance, tenacity and generosity. Growing up, Ginni idolized her grandfather, Dr. William Roehm, a well-loved Dayton physician, who no doubt encouraged in her a deep love of life sciences.

She earned bachelor’s and master’s degrees in microbiology from Miami U., Oxford, where she met her first husband, a U.S. Marine. During the Vietnam era she finished her master’s in education at Miami and with those degrees Ginni was variously employed at high schools and hospitals throughout her working life. She was an inspiring teacher, imparting to her students and children a deep love of nature. Her sons have fond childhood memories of helping her collect insects, turtles, tadpoles, frogs and crawfish for her classroom terrariums and aquariums.

They remember also the Christmas cards and letters from former students that she received for years, thanking her for her passion and encouragement. Twenty-four years and a dozen or so moves later Ginni found herself on the West Coast, newly single, kids grown, and longing for Greene County. So the farm girl came back home, found a job at Kettering Medical Center and settled in.

She met a nice man at church and married him. She welcomed five grandbabies and buried her mother. She retired from work and picked up new projects: travelling with Peter, taking art classes with her sister and, always, digging and planting. Ginni was a near-compulsive landscaper and gardener, who will be remembered for the large boulders she singlehandedly, in her sixties, removed from the farm to her backyard aided only by her beloved Toyota pickup, ramps, and the might of her short sturdy frame.

She will also be remembered for burdens she stopped carrying over those years as she grew closer to Jesus. The fruit of her daily prayer “forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us” bore tangible witness to the power of grace at work in her.

In her final move Ginni chose to relocate to a place that was not home, but a place for her to be with her beloved Peter, while near as possible to her son and grandchildren. It became home because she stubbornly chose to make it so. She brought her art supplies. She adopted a space in the courtyard garden and grew more than enough tomatoes to supply the kitchen’s needs that summer. More significantly, she cultivated new friendships, among residents and caregivers alike. And so it was that she was never without family and friends, old and new, to the end of her days. Ginni lived fully-and died well.

A celebration of Ginni’s life will take place 10:30 Saturday, October 17th at First Presbyterian Church of Yellow Springs, followed a brief committal service and reception nearby. Arrangements entrusted to the Jackson Lytle & Lewis Funeral Home, Yellow Springs. Online condolences may be expressed to the family by visiting www.jacksonlytle.com.