Ginny and her husband, Fred (an architectural photographer), relocated to Hilton Head from Weston, Connecticut. She earned her BA with a major in religion and a minor in psychology from Syracuse University (NY) in 1968.  In her early career, she worked in Syracuse providing county social services, then worked in the New York City area at a mental health rehab facility. Ginny also lived overseas for 12 years in Mexico City, Mexico; Sao Paulo and Rio de Janeiro, Brazil; and Bogota, Colombia. In addition to English, she speaks Portuguese and Spanish.

Ginny has always been involved in her community, especially in the public schools, as a newsletter editor and as an activist. She is a founding member of the Education Foundation in Weston, a group that raises funds and garners talent for enrichment courses for the community at large, provides grants to teachers for special programs, and seeks ways to provide equipment over and above what the school district finances.

Ginny says even as a child, she was the one friends and family came to with problems or questions, and she knew her natural inclination lay somewhere in a helping profession. She believes her own life experiences have increased her understanding of relationships, parenting, and the adjustments life asks of us all.

"It wasn't easy to live in another culture away from your family when giving birth to your first child or celebrating holidays," she recalled. "I learned a lot about myself while learning about the cultures that surrounded me. Every day I had to do something out of my comfort zone, and just when I became comfortable, we would move. Your capacity for empathy grows from your own sense of being fragile and knowing what it takes to recover from your own set of difficult circum-stances."  She also has experience with close family members who have dealt with serious mental health disorders.