Obituary of Virginia Young Cureton (Meyer)

Caring for family and others was Ginny’s life-time goal. This pursuit was met wonderfully by her personality and education. Master degree in Nursing (UCSF), Master in Public Health (UC Berkeley), and Doctor in Public Health (UC Berkeley) were achieved through desire and determination. The original drive for this was when she was a child and her sister broke through a plate glass window at their home. Her mother, a nurse, knew what to do and instantly took appropriate actions. Virginia was born in Oakland in 1940 and lived in Lafayette and Sacramento, California. She graduated from El Camino High School, attended college in Berkeley and San Francisco. Her work career included Public Health in Marin County, Instructor of Nursing at UCSF, Educator at Sonoma State University in Rohnert Park, and Professor at San Jose State University, where she established the School Nurse Credential Program, continuing as School Nurse Coordinator for 14 years. Ginny was active in many professional organizations including Board Member of the National Consortium of School Nurse Educators and Vice-President and Board of Directors of California School Nurses Organization. She was a mentor and supporter to her students, even facilitating many to obtain their under-graduate and graduate degrees. In 1962 she married Carleton Eugene Meyer (from Sacramento), living in San Francisco and then in San Rafael. Two children were born, Joan Karolyn (Meyer) Tom in 1969 and Jon Douglas Meyer in 1972. She was divorced in 1980 and in 1985 married Glen Lee Cureton, a long-time resident of Los Altos and native of Santa Cruz. In 1997 they moved to Soquel to plan and construct their “dream home” for retirement, which was completed in 2000. Among her favorite activities was hiking and back-packing in the high Sierra and Snorkeling in Hawaii. She was dedicated to her family cabin in Aspen Valley, surrounded by Yosemite National Park—The private land was purchased in 1917 and the cabin completed in 1923.She loved the Beauty of it all, and seemingly appropriate, passed away from sepsis and bi-lateral pneumonia while at her Cabin looking over the meadow. Glen will miss Ginny for the rest of his life and may she have peace as well as beauty, In lieu of personal gifts please make donations to Yosemite Conservancy, 101 Montgomery St., Suite 1700, San Francisco, CA 94104 or Santa Cruz SPCA, 2601 Chanticleer Ave., Santa Cruz, CA 95065.