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Autobiography--Ginny DeGree
[text in brackets is Al's comments]
I was the oldest of five children born to George and Eva Smith. My dad was superintendent of small schools. After we children were all in school, my mom began teaching, starting the year I graduated from high school. When I was a child, Mom taught me to bake, can, sew, knit, crochet, tat and many other things. I was in 4-H Club for five years and later became an adult leader, when my children were involved. One of my passions was always (and still is) reading. My sister and I would each take out 10 to 15 books and have my books and hers read in the two to three weeks before we got to the library again. We lived 42 miles from the library in northern Minnesota, along the Rainy River separating Minnesota from Canada [in Birchdale].
When I was a sophomore in high school, we moved to Littlefork, Minn. I began dating but when we moved to Fergus Falls in my senior year, it was a trauma, because none of the boys would ask me out until I was seen walking around town with my former boyfriends, who were in uniform.
After high school, I went to St. Cloud State. I met my husband there [at a dance], but four months later he was inducted into the Army. There were 13 fellows and 280 girls at the college, during the war. I went two years, then taught school to pay back my folks so my sister could go to college. Much later, I did go back to school to get my B.S. degree, starting with night classes.
Ed Hibbard and I were married in 1948 and Keith was born a year later. Ed was going to the University [of MN] when it was discovered that he had cancer. I went back to teaching to support the family. When Ed got his master's degree, we moved to Bismarck, N.D., where he worked with the Game and Fish Department. We were there five years, adopted a little boy, and a year later our only daughter was born.
We moved to Michigan, where Ed worked on his doctorate and I was home tending babies. Allen was born there. Then Ed's mom got real sick, we moved back to St. Cloud and he got a job teaching biology at St. John's University. He was there seven years and at St. Cloud State University three years. He went to N.D.S.U. to finish his doctorate, but when he finished there were no teaching jobs in the area, so he accepted a job with NSP as an environmental biologist. He worked there ten years, then retired for health reasons--cancer again. He had to have his left hip and leg removed. In the summer of 1984, we took a trip to Alaska and a hunting trip to Montana. Ed died the following March.
I was really lonely until I met Ron DeGree at church. He was quite a bit older than I, but we had such good times together and really cared for each other. Ron lost his wife the same year Ed died. We had each been alone for seven years. He had been caregiver for his wife for 30 years. He worked for AT&T for 48 years. We were married in 1991 and he died, very unexpectedly, a week before Christmas 1994.
I ended up with six children--five sons and a daughter--and would you believe, 20 grandchildren (including three step-children of Ken's and Ron's one grandson). [At the time of the writing, Cole and Anna had not yet born, so not included] I have been really blessed with them.
I have a Yorkshire terrier, Sheba, that keeps me company. My youngest son gave me a computer [kudos to Bruce for thinking of this] recently, so I have something to keep me busy, learning how to use it. I work with the Red Cross Bloodmobile, volunteer at the hospital, attend Bible study and still read a lot. I am also a quilter.
(written in October 1995)
[This was one of 12 autobiographies distributed as a booklet at the Christmas 1995 P.E.O. (Philanthropic Educational Organization - see https://www.peointernational.org/about-peo/) meeting in St. Cloud. She wrote this 10 months after Ron DeGree died.]
Published 2025-08-13.
If you find any error(s) in the text, please let me know. Thanks. Contact me with errors or comments using hibbardac@gmail. [Back to the top] [ About the author, Al]
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