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Virginia Ruth (Beal) Levesque
(1946 – 2017)
OAKLAND — Virgina Ruth Levesque, 71, after a long courageous battle for life, died Nov. 19, 2017, in the comfort of her home with her husband of 49 years, Peter, by her side.
Ginny, as she was known to everyone, was born to Elijah and Lilla Beale of Danforth, Maine, on Sept. 28, 1946. With the closest hospital being across the river in another country, Ginny was born in St. Stephen New Brunswick. She was the baby of eight siblings, and, having lost their father at a young age, their mother moved her family and settled in Clinton.
Lilla, with the help of family, raised her children while she worked full time. Ginny attended Waterville and Clinton schools, and she was proud of and kept up with her classmates through the years.
She was a born worker, and had many jobs in the area, her first being the diner in Clinton where she met the love of her life. Eventually, she put herself through beauty school, which led to a long and rewarding career where she met her lifelong friends and mentors. With their help and support, she opened her first salon, The Zodiac, on Silver Street in Waterville, and few years later, The Zodiac II, at the JFK Mall, all the while raising two sons and suffering a major heart attack at a very young age.
She and Peter continued to build their other business, T.D.S, from a small rubbish route. It was later acquired by a Fortune 500 company. Afte a fire burned one of the salons, they chose a new adventure and bought the nearly closed Saddleback Motor Inn and moved to Rangeley.
Slowly refurbishing in only a way Ginny could, they re-opened the restaurant and bar as the Hungry Trout Bar and Grille. Ginny was in her element as hostess to locals and folks from around the world who came to visit Rangeley. She forged countless friendships that would endure for years to come.
Because of health problems, they sold and retired by buying a small mobile home park in Oakland, and settled there. Ginny continued working at the Senator Inn in Augusta as a hostess, and lastly at Pier One Imports in Augusta.
Ginny worked hard to give her family what she thought she didn’t have growing up. Her proudest moment was the day she attended her grandson Dustin’s college graduation from the University of Maine. She and Peter traveled the world on leisure and business, going to hair shows and conventions. She worked hard so she could play hard. If you were with her and didn’t have a good time, you didn’t know how to have one. (But she’d show you how!) Her holiday parties and pig roasts were renowned within her circles as the place to be.
Having seven siblings and marrying into a family of nine siblings, Ginny was blessed with family that contained nieces and nephews too numerous to list. She loved and adored every one of them like her own, as all the pictures in her house will attest. She grew to love all of her in-laws as her own brothers and sisters and became lifelong friends.
When life handed her lemons in the form of fires, flood or heart attacks, Ginny took those lemons, squeezed herself a margarita, and plotted her comeback to live a life worth living!
The family would like to give a deeply sincere thank you to the hundreds of health care workers who cared, healed and gave life back to Ginny for so many years. Without you, we wouldn’t have the fond memories we share now.
Surviving family include her husband, Peter, their son Brent and his wife, Annette, Levesque of Waterville, with their sons Dustin and Jared Levesque; son Brian and his wife, Shyanne, Levesque of Burnham; her brother Richard Beale and his partner, Anna Gerald; her sister Mary Randall of Augusta; her brother-in-law Charles Proctor of Burnham; her sister-in-law Dreana Beale, of Fort Walton Beach, Fla. countless in-laws, nieces, and nephews.
She was predeceased by her father, Elijah Beale, her stepfather and mother, Tate and Lilla Lewis, of Waterville; as wll as, Paul and Margaret Bailey of Clinton, Verna Proctor of Clinton, Arlene Bouraguard of Clinton, Robert Beale of Forth Walton Beach, Fla., and brother-in-law Ronald Randall of Augusta.
In lieu of flowers, send a small donation to one of these causes dear to Ginny’s heart: Shriners Hospital for Children 2900 N. Rocky Point Drive, Tampa FL 33607, shrinerhospitals.org; or Fisher House Foundation, 111 Rockville Pike, Suite 420, Rockville, MD 20850, fisherhousefoundation.org.
A celebration of life will be held 1 p.m. Saturday, Dec. 2, at the Winslow VFW, 175 Veteran Drive, Winslow.
Arrangements under the care and direction of Dan & Scott’s Cremation & Funeral Service, 445 Waterville Road, Skowhegan.
