ROCKLAND – Virginia M. Kunesh, 99, died peacefully, Sunday, April 28, 2019, at the Sussman House in Rockport.   

Born in Rockland, October 23, 1919, she was the daughter of George Washington and Kathryn F. Kirkpatrick Wood.  She lived in Thomaston until the age of three, when she moved with her family to Rockland. Educated in local schools she was a 1938 graduate of Rockland High School.

Gini was first employed at F.W. Woolworths in Rockland before beginning employment with the A & P Grocery Store on Main Street.  

On August 31, 1941, she married Alois F. Kunesh in Rockland.

While raising her children, she was active in the South School PTA and as a Girl Scout Leader.   In 1960, she was pleased to take her Girl Scout Troop on a trip to Georgia. She was a past member of the Rockland Lodge of Elk’s Emblem Club.  

In cooperation with her husband’s military career, Gini moved many times.  Ultimately the couple returned to Rockland, where over the years they lived on Lovejoy Street and Lakeview Drive before moving to Portland.  Ten years later they returned to the Rockland area, residing a brief time at their Crawford Lake cottage, before moving to their Camden Street home in Rockland where they lived until Mr. Kunesh’s passing in 1996.  Thereafter, Gini made her home in Union and for the past five years, at Windward Gardens in Camden.

A devoted mother and grandmother, Gini enjoyed joining in the lives of her family.  She was affectionately referred to by her grandchildren as ‘Nanne KooKoo’.   She was a long-time fan of the Boston Red Sox.

Other than her parents, Gini was pre-deceased by her husband Alois F. Kunesh in 1996, a granddaughter, Natalia Mazzeo in 2010, a great-grandson Dylan Kunesh, two sons-in-law, Bruce L. Rubenstein and Kenneth P. Ilvonen; her siblings, Herbert Wood, Barbara Howell, George ‘Jack’ Wood, Jr. and William R. Wood.  She is survived by her children, Alan Kunesh and his wife Deborah of Union, Kathryn Ilvonen of Camden; her grandchildren, Peter Rubenstein and his wife Jennifer of Camden, Debby Ayers and her husband Michael of Rockport, Alan Kunesh, Jr. and his wife Kyunga of Searsmont, Mark Kunesh and his wife Cameron of Warren, Kevin Kunesh and his wife Karen of Washington, Scott Kunesh and his wife Nida of Liberty, Kyle Kunesh of Stockton Springs; 20 great-grandchildren; two great-great grandchildren, as well as many nieces and nephews.

Arrangements are in the care of Burpee, Carpenter & Hutchins Funeral Home, 110 Limerock Street, Rockland.  Services will be private, with interment in Village Cemetery, Thomaston. To share a memory or story with Gini’s family, please visit their online Book of Memories at www.bchfh.com.   In lieu of flowers memorial donations may be made to Union Ambulance Service, P.O. Box 186, Union, ME 04862.