Obituary for Virginia Weinhold

Virginia Louise Beamer Weinhold of Worthington, living a full life to the age of 86, passed away peacefully on 5/16/19 in the care of her daughter, Amy, who was by her side in loving embrace. Her son Tom visited often through the years, and was able to be with her twice in the month prior to her passing. The family would like to thank The Inn at Bear Trail for the devoted care they gave to Virginia.

She was born on June 21, 1932 in Elizabeth, New Jersey to Clayton Mitchell and Rosemary (Behrend) Beamer and the oldest of 5 children. Her father loved the state of Virginia for which she was named. She had a wonderful childhood with many experiences including living on a farm in Virginia with the family moving around to Wisconsin, Louisiana, and back to New Jersey (in Maplewood) with her father’s work.

When Virginia was 18 years old she was a counselor and swimming coach at Cradle Beach Camp (Angola, NY) teaching handicapped children how to swim in Lake Erie. She said this was the best job she ever had because she had to think of a creative way to teach each child to swim in a lake depending on their handicap, and the smiles from each child as they accomplished this were her greatest rewards.

At Cornell University in Ithaca, NY she graduated in 1955 with a B.S. in Chemistry and Zoology. After college she had intended to be a doctor, but ended up getting married and had three children: Thomas Craig, Robert Scott, and Amy Linette. She had her own sewing business for a while and then went back to school to get her Bachelor of Fine Arts, summa cum laude, at Ohio State University in 1969 and her Master of Arts in Design Management at Ohio State University in 1982.

She was a freelance interior designer from 1969-1972, including designing her own home in Worthington Hills for her family. She pursued a career in interior design becoming director of interior design at Karlsberger & Associates Inc., Columbus, Ohio from 1972-1982. Her professor recruited her back to Ohio State as an associate professor of design at the Industrial Design Department at Ohio State University from 1982-2002, where she was the graduate studies chairperson from 1986-1989 and 1995-1996, and lecturer of industrial design during 1972 and 1979-1980.

She earned many honors and awards in interior design including Human Achievement Award for extraordinary commitment to the advancement of contract interior design, CID Awards, 1989. At that time, she was only the third person to receive this award after Bob Karlsberger (1985) and Katherine LeVeque (1987). She is included in Who’s Who in Interior Design, Who’s Who in the Midwest, Who’s Who in America, and Who’s Who in the World. She had numerous published works including “Introducing Professional Ethics to Interior Design Undergraduate Students” and she wrote and published a book titled “Interior Finish Materials for Health Care Facilities” in 1988.

She worked on many hospitals around the country and several projects in Columbus, Ohio including Trinity Episcopal Church, The Christopher Inn, John W. Galbreath Headquarters, the Ohio School for the Deaf, and The Ohio State University Department Industrial Design Lighting Laboratory. She was president, vice president, chairperson, treasurer, national trustee, and held other positions at various times for multiple organizations including the Foundation for Interior Design Education Research (FIDER), the Interior Design Educators Council (IDEC), of which she was a founding member, the Institute of Business Designers (IBD), the American Institute of Interior Designers (AID), and the National Society of Interior Designers (NSID).

Along the way, she travelled extensively taking her family on many outings including a 10-day canoe trip to Algonquin Provincial Park in Canada for a boy scout trip (she was a boy scout leader) and many 2-3 week vacations criss-crossing the country in her small cars that she loved. She owned a Simca, an MGB convertible, a Mazda, and a Fiat X19 convertible, all stick shifts because she loved the feel of the road. She loved driving through the winding back roads, along rivers, and stopping for lunches and dinners on the river banks. She had her own kayak and canoe and took many trips with the Youth Hostels.

She loved her home in the Worthinglen condominium community. She was the very first resident and lived there for 46 years surrounded by beautiful mature trees that burst with autumn color through her uncovered windows. She ate every meal she could on her deck that overlooked her cherished ravine and woke up to the magical euphony of singing birds in the mornings. She swam every day in the summer, and even got to swim several times last summer. She especially loved fireworks and flowers and enjoyed bicycle riding, water and snow skiing, walks in the neighborhoods and parks, and playing tennis.

My mom was a lot of fun. She was my best friend. She empowered me to make my own decisions and supported me in my crazy adventures including taking a trip around the country for a year in my car when I was 22 years old. She provided all three of her children with great childhoods and allowed all of us to be ourselves. I am forever grateful for having her as my mother. She was unique and ahead of her time in her parenting techniques and ideas of how to raise a family. She focused on the positive aspects of life; hence she lived a very happy life. She was a great lady in her own right.

Virginia is survived by her two sisters, Barbara Sparks of Colorado and Kathy Beamer of Florida, her son Tom (Vera) Weinhold of Arizona, and her daughter Amy (Ric) Weinhold of Westerville, Ohio. She was preceded in death by both parents, her two brothers, John and Jim Beamer, and her son Bob Weinhold.

In lieu of flowers, donations may be made to Cradle Beach Camp, 8038 Old Lakeshore Rd, Angola, NY 14006, 716-549-6307, www.cradlebeach.org. They have an online donation option for which you can designate that it is a memorial donation in memory of Virginia, and you can state to notify Amy Weinhold so that I can personally thank you. Thank you all for befriending my mother. Your friendship enriched her life as I hope her friendship enriched yours.