One of the first U.S. women to earn her physics PhD dedicated her time to causes she believed in
Ginny Walters died peacefully at her home at Wake Robin in Shelburne, Vt., on January 14, 2022, at the age of 96. High-energy and quick-witted to the end, she loved to talk about all the advances in technology, science and gender equality over the nearly 100 years since she was born. Ginny was born on May 26, 1925, to Walter and Natalie Fried in New York City, the middle of three daughters. She valued her early years at Birch Wathen School in New York, a very progressive school founded by two women who were dedicated to providing both girls and boys with a rich education in the sciences and cultural arts. Family summers on Paradox Lake in the Adirondacks were full of hiking, picnics, swimming, boating and quiet afternoons with a good book. Ginny graduated from Smith College in 1947 and went on to earn her master’s and PhD degrees in physics at Western Reserve University. She was among the first female physics PhDs in the U.S. Ginny was a physics professor for many years, but her love of teaching really blossomed when she taught at Western Reserve Academy in Hudson, Ohio, where, as she said, the students had to do their homework and go to bed on time. As one student’s parents wrote in a letter that Ginny saved for 50 years, “You have shown my son in a real and practical way what we all try to show our children: to think, to grow, to relate to other people … From the bottom of my heart, Mrs. Walters, I thank you.” After dating every weekend in high school, Ginny married Richard "Dick" Walters in 1945. They raised their family in Cleveland, Ohio, and were founding members of Holimont Ski Club in Ellicottville, N.Y., where they built a small chalet and hosted many raucous parties. In retirement, Dick and Ginny sailed extensively throughout the Great Lakes, the East Coast, Nova Scotia, Newfoundland, British Columbia, Alaska and Lake Champlain. They became seasonal ski nomads, driving their homemade custom RV out west to ski every winter at the many areas where skiing was free if you were over 75. Ginny went on to ski into her early nineties. Ginny’s daughters and grandchildren have many endearing stories of Ginny explaining wave theory, or teaching them calculus, or patiently teaching them to ski, or designing and knitting reindeer sweaters, which have now…
One of the first U.S. women to earn her physics PhD dedicated her time to causes she believed in
Ginny Walters died peacefully at her home at Wake Robin in Shelburne, Vt., on January 14, 2022, at the age of 96. High-energy and quick-witted to the end, she loved to talk about all the advances in technology, science and gender equality over the nearly 100 years since she was born. Ginny was born on May 26, 1925, to Walter and Natalie Fried in New York City, the middle of three daughters. She valued her early years at Birch Wathen School in New York, a very progressive school founded by two women who were dedicated to providing both girls and boys with a rich education in the sciences and cultural arts. Family summers on Paradox Lake in the Adirondacks were full of hiking, picnics, swimming, boating and quiet afternoons with a good book. Ginny graduated from Smith College in 1947 and went on to earn her master’s and PhD degrees in physics at Western Reserve University. She was among the first female physics PhDs in the U.S. Ginny was a physics professor for many years, but her love of teaching really blossomed when she taught at Western Reserve Academy in Hudson, Ohio, where, as she said, the students had to do their homework and go to bed on time. As one student’s parents wrote in a letter that Ginny saved for 50 years, “You have shown my son in a real and practical way what we all try to show our children: to think, to grow, to relate to other people … From the bottom of my heart, Mrs. Walters, I thank you.” After dating every weekend in high school, Ginny married Richard "Dick" Walters in 1945. They raised their family in Cleveland, Ohio, and were founding members of Holimont Ski Club in Ellicottville, N.Y., where they built a small chalet and hosted many raucous parties. In retirement, Dick and Ginny sailed extensively throughout the Great Lakes, the East Coast, Nova Scotia, Newfoundland, British Columbia, Alaska and Lake Champlain. They became seasonal ski nomads, driving their homemade custom RV out west to ski every winter at the many areas where skiing was free if you were over 75. Ginny went on to ski into her early nineties. Ginny’s daughters and grandchildren have many endearing stories of Ginny explaining wave theory, or teaching them calculus, or patiently teaching them to ski, or designing and knitting reindeer sweaters, which have now…