Feb. 25, 1933 – April 12, 2024
Our well-loved mother, grandmother, aunt and friend passed away quietly on April 12, 2024 at the age of 91, in Seattle, WA. A Washington native and member of the Muckleshoot Tribe, she was born on Feb. 25, 1933 in Wapato, WA to James McCoy “Jim” Hill and Mildred Courville Hill. She lived in several Washington towns on both sides of the Cascades before graduating from Coulee Dam High School in 1951. She attended the University of Washington in Seattle, and was the first in her family to earn a degree when she graduated in 1955 with a journalism major. She met her life-long love, James D. “Jim” Hennes, while a freshman at UW, and they were married on June 18, 1955. For three years, Ginny and Jim were a Navy couple, with their last posting back in Seattle where two of their four children were born. After Jim left the Navy, they made their home in Boston, MA, Champaign, IL, Columbia, MO and Boulder, CO. Ginny continued to live in Boulder after Jim died in 1995 and returned to Seattle in 2013.
Ginny first learned about the Montessori method of education while living in Champaign, IL. She was an assistant at her son’s school and then became an AMS certified Montessori instructor. When Jim and Ginny moved to Columbia, MO, they helped found the Columbia Montessori School in 1967. Later they moved to Boulder, CO and helped found the Boulder Montessori School in 1974. In 1978, Jim and Ginny also collaborated with other Colorado Montessori educators to create the Montessori Education Center of the Rockies, a program to train Montessori instructors. Ginny was an instructor and consultant and was instrumental in assisting several tribes create Montessori programs in their schools.
After Ginny retired from classroom teaching in 1995, she followed a long-time dream of traveling the world. She visited all the continents except Australia and Antarctica, and visited several countries as part of her teacher training career. She moved back to Seattle in 2013 and lived in Ravenna near her family.
Ginny was preceded in death by her parents, Jim and Mildred, her husband Jim and his two brothers John and Ran. She is survived by her children Teresa Hennes (Salman) Aziz, Bryan Hennes, David (Leigh Anderson) Hennes and Mark Hennes. She is also survived by 7 grandchildren, one great-grandson and six nieces and nephews.
A funeral mass will be held at 11:00 AM, Thurs., May 9, 2024 at Our Lady of the Lake Catholic Church, 8900 35th Ave. N.E., Seattle WA with burial at 11:00 AM, Sat., May 11, 2024 at the Wapato Memorial Park, 5161 Wapato Rd., Wapato WA. The funeral mass will be streamed on YouTube at www.youtube.com/@ourladyofthelakecatholicch1876 . Donations in her memory can be made to the Montessori Education Center of the Rockies, www.coloradogives.org/organization/MontessoriEducationCenteroftheRockies