Virginia Elizabeth Jax, age 82, of Winter Park, Florida passed away on Monday, April 15, 2024.
She is preceded in death by her parents, Edward R. Watkins and Pearl V. Watkins. She is survived by her husband, John R. Jax, son, Steve J. (Sarah) Jax, daughter, Jennifer P. (David) Reed, grandchildren, Alexandria N. (Cameron) Zook, Victoria A. (Gino) Colberg, Colin D. Reed, Miranda E. Reed, John E. Jax, and Maggie E. Jax, great-grandchild, Riley N. Zook, Luca R. Colberg, and Rowyn B. Colberg.
John and Ginger met in Jacksonville, FL while John was stationed at Mayport Naval Station. They later married in Jacksonville in 1967, then moved to Wisconsin followed by South Carolina. In 1974, they moved into their forever home in Winter Park. Ginger was an RN at Florida Hospital-Orlando and mainly worked in the ICU and eventually in QA. While her kids were younger she preferred to work the overnight night shift so she could always be home to help with school activities and such. After retiring from Florida Hospital, Ginger worked a few years as a school nurse.
Family was always the most important thing to Ginger. She loved the holidays, and it was important for the family to always be together. She enjoyed hosting a huge meal on Thanksgiving, Christmas and Easter for everyone to enjoy. Ginger’s grandkids and great-grandkids were her world. She loved hugging and spoiling them as often as she could.
The past 20 years John and Ginger had a summer place in Wisconsin to escape the Florida heat, spend time being near extended family and the lake. Ginger loved sports! There was always a game playing on TV, it ranged from Orlando Magic, Green Bay Packers , Milwaukee Brewers, to college football and she could not get enough of college softball. She was a huge NASCAR fan visiting tracks around the country including Homestead, Texas motor speedway, Charlotte and others, plus attending the Daytona 500 every year including this past February.
One of the special things that she loved about Winter Park was that she could watch the rockets from the Cape Canaveral blast off right out her front window. She maintained a list of her family members and would text them that a rocket was going off and even held her own count-down.
Visitation is Thursday, April 18, 2024 from 6:00 p.m. to 8:00 p.m. with funeral service on Friday, April 19, 2024 at 9:00 a.m. at Newcomer Cremations, Funerals & Receptions (Winter Park Chapel), 3806 Howell Branch Rd, Winter Park, Florida 32792.