Virginia “Ginny” Louise Lippard Baird
COLUMBIA — Virginia “Ginny” Louise Lippard Baird, formerly of Columbia, died Tuesday, July 15, 2008, at Freeman West Hospital in Joplin. She was 89.
Mrs. Baird was born Aug. 31, 1918, to Raymond C. Lippard and Catherine Campbell Lippard Stevenson in Higginsville. She spent her childhood in Sedalia and Richmond.
Her father held a Presbyterian pastorate in Sedalia, and when he left the ministry the family moved to Columbia where Mrs. Baird graduated from Hickman High School.
Mrs. Baird was the fourth generation of her family to graduate from MU in 1939. While at MU she was a member of Psi Chi, a psychology honorary society, and was a member of the Pi Beta Phi sorority.
Mrs. Baird married Ralph E. Baird in 1937. In 1939, they moved to Joplin where he established his law practice.
In Joplin, Mrs. Baird belonged to many organizations including the Show Me Divers, the American Association of University Women, the Joplin Women’s Club, the League of Women Voters, the Ridpath Club, the Joplin Little Theater, and the Twin Hills Golf Club.
Mrs. Baird retired from her job as a day care licensing supervisor for the Division of Family Services in 1981.
Survivors include her four children and their families: Sally Springer-Kotelnikov of Lexington, Mass., Bruce Baird of Alameda, Calif., Kathleen Hunt-Baird of Canberra, Australia, and Alison Spoor-Baird of the Netherlands; and eight grandchildren.
Her husband and a daughter, Elizabeth Rose Mueller, died earlier.
Services were held on Monday at the Thornhill-Dillon Mortuary in Joplin.
Graveside services were held on Tuesday at the Columbia City Cemetery at the Baird family plot where she joins her husband and four generations of Bairds.
Memorial contributions may be made to the MU Alumni Association or to the charity of one’s choice, in care of Thornhill-Dillon Mortuary.
