Virginia Nadine “Gini” Browne passed away Tuesday, Feb. 25, 2025, at St. Joseph Regional Medical Center in Lewiston with her family by her side. She was diagnosed with stage four lung cancer last year, and she fought this final battle with strength, dignity and a positive outlook.
She was born Aug. 5, 1942, in Lewiston, to John Alley “Bud” Hubbard and Esther Thelma Ailor Hubbard. The daughter of well-known Idaho ranchers and farmers, Virginia grew up on Tom Beall Road in Lapwai. She graduated from Lapwai High School in 1960.
In March 1960, Virginia married Jim McCormack, a U.S. Navy petty officer, in Lewiston. They moved every couple of years when they were stationed at a new submarine base. They made their home near Navy bases in New London, Conn., Pearl Harbor in Hawaii, Seattle, and San Diego. They had four sons, each born at or while traveling to a different Navy base. That marriage later ended in divorce while living in San Diego.
Virginia raised her four young sons as a single mother in San Diego. In order to supplement her child support payments, she started working at McDonald’s. She was a hard worker, and soon was promoted to assistant manager. Her exceptional work ethic rubbed off on everyone she worked with.
Even though she raised her four sons on a limited income, Virginia was able to take them on summer vacations, camping along lakes and rivers and visiting some of our country’s great national parks. She loved doing anything outdoors, and the beaches of San Diego were her favorite place to spend summer weekends.
Virginia had a great network of friends in San Diego. Her friends in San Diego served as a surrogate family for her and her sons, as most of their relatives were back home in the Pacific Northwest. She was very good at bringing her friends and their families together for home-cooked dinners and barbecues at the beach.
Family was also very important to Virginia. She would travel back to Idaho and Washington every two years with her sons to visit all their relatives. It wouldn’t be unusual for her to travel hundreds of miles off the main trail to visit a distant relative that she hadn’t seen in years.
In 1978, Virginia moved her family to the Lewiston-Clarkston Valley to be closer to family. She started working at Potlatch in Lewiston, and retired from the tissue mill after 20 years. She was also a part-time waitress at the Wasem’s lunch counter and the Moose Lodge in Clarkston.
On July 4, 1985, Virginia married the love of her life, Chuck Browne in Coeur d’Alene. They made their home in Lewiston, and in September 1990, they opened Golden Arts on Snake River Avenue. Their reader board which starts with “My Wife Said” has become very popular with locals. She enjoyed meeting new customers that ventured into their store, and she and Chuck made their gem and jewelry store a great success.
Virginia was also a very competitive pinochle player. She taught her four sons to play pinochle as soon as their tiny hands could hold a fistful of cards. Her family and friends would sigh whenever she’d yell out, “I’m gonna shoot the moon!”
Virginia is lovingly remembered by those who knew her as kind-hearted, quick to offer unfiltered and sometimes unsolicited advice, fun-loving and generous beyond measure with both her time and her checkbook.
Survivors include her husband Chuck; four sons, Brian McCormack, of Lewiston, Russell McCormack, of Lapwai, Jerry McCormack, of Seattle, and Casey McCormack, of Lapwai; sister Viola Fleischhacker, of Camano Island, Wash., eight grandchildren, dozens of great-grandchildren; and numerous nieces and nephews.
She was preceded in death by her parents; her grandson Matthew Gowdy; her great-granddaughter Amber Rose Henry; her sisters Barbara Sue Hubbard, Connie Sandoval and Sharroll Kingman; her brothers John Hubbard, Jr. and Henry Hubbard, her paternal grandparents, Henry “Loke” Hubbard and Docia McInturff Hubbard; her maternal grandparents Asa Ailor and Thelma Jensen Ailor; and her stepmother, Rose Bishop Hubbard.
The family would like to thank all the doctors, nurses and staff that took great care of our mother over the past year at Palouse Oncology in Moscow and St. Joseph Regional Medical Center In Lewiston.
In lieu of a funeral service, a celebration of life is planned for July 4, in Lewiston, which would have been Virginia and Chuck’s 40th anniversary.
