Virginia "Ginger" Sauer

Princeton - Virginia (Ginger) Beth Sauer, 76, of Princeton, MA, and Center Harbor, NH, died peacefully and surrounded by her family on March 14. Her death came more than a decade after her diagnosis with inclusion body myositis, a degenerative muscular disease.

Ginger is survived by her husband of 55 years, Robert B. (Bob) Sauer, and by her daughter, Rachel Sun, son-in-law, Nick, and grandson, Will, all of Chicago. She is also survived by her brother, Richard S. Beth, sister-in-law Claire, niece Erika, and two grandnephews, all of Maryland, as well as by her sister-in-law Chana Bogsted, niece Jen DeSatnick, and three grandnephews, all of Massachusetts: another niece, Hettie J. Beth, predeceased Ginger.

Born in Cleveland, Ohio, in 1948 to Richard A. Beth and Hettie Sprague Beth, Ginger grew up in Cleveland Heights and later in Bellport, New York. When she was a child, she and her family spent a year each in Innsbruck, Austria, and Bonn, Germany, during which time they traveled extensively in Europe and Northern Africa.

Ginger attended Mount Holyoke College in South Hadley, Massachusetts, majoring in Sociology and attaining fluency in both German and French. While at Mount Holyoke, she met her husband of 55 years, Bob, whom she married in 1969. She went on to earn a Master’s Degree in Early Childhood Education from Wheelock College in Boston.

Ginger dedicated her career to working with young children. She spent several summers working with children with social and emotional challenges at Camp Ramapo in Rhinebeck, New York. She served first on the board and then as head of the foster care program at Anker House in Worcester. For most of her career, she taught preschool at Wee Wuns at the Greendale YMCA in Worcester, as well as kindergarten at Thomas Prince School in Princeton and the Applewild School in Fitchburg, from which she retired in 2013. Additionally, she taught Developmental Child Psychology at Becker College in Worcester and offered professional workshops in Early Childhood Education. She also led a Girl Scout Troop in Princeton for years and served as a counselor at Girl Scout Camp Laurelwood, going by the name “Lemon,” in reference to her last name. During these years, she also traveled with her daughter and two of her friends on a church mission trip to the Dominican Republic.

Ginger taught from the heart, sharing her love of nature, stories, music, and color. She was a keen observer of people and a caring listener, and these qualities, coupled with her thorough knowledge of human development, made her an extraordinary teacher and valued colleague.

Beyond her work as an educator, Ginger found great joy in acting. She appeared in multiple plays in college and even earlier, and returned to the stage in the 2000s and early 2010s with Cornerstone in Fitchburg. The Worcester Telegram described two of her performances as embodying “a deliciously wicked character” and “a humorous portrayal of matriarchal melodrama.”

The warmth and richness Ginger brought to her professional work reflected the character she exhibited in her family and social life. She took special enjoyment in family vacations at their lakeside New Hampshire cabin, “Spirit’s Home.” These vacations often included members of her extended family as well as close friends.

Ginger possessed a creative intellect, as evidenced by her fondness for “Jeopardy” and the Sunday puzzle on NPR, her avid reading of both fiction and nonfiction, her capacity for “50-cent words,” and her lively sense of humor. She was a wonderful craftsperson, thriving on creating for others. She was a prolific quilter and made handmade valentines, knit sweaters, sewed clothes, and made jewelry.

A memorial service and celebration of Ginger’s life will be held at the First Congregational Church, 14 Mountain Road, Princeton, MA, on June 21 at 11:00 am. The family encourages people to wear bright colors, as Ginger often did. In lieu of flowers, and at Ginger’s guidance, the family requests donations be made to WBUR, National Public Radio, 890 Commonwealth Ave., Boston, MA 02215 or Mount Holyoke College, Office of Development Mount Holyoke College, P.O. Box 889, South Hadley, MA 1705-0889. To share a memory or offer an online condolence visit the guestbook at the bottom of this page.