Ginger was born to Dutch Utermoehlen and Peggy Britt Utermoehlen on August 2, 1952 in Takoma Park, MD. She found her way to Blacksburg, Va where she met and married John Hill and started their family. Ginger and John settled in MD and Ginger started working at the UNUM Life Insurance company where she would learn "everything" there is to know about medical and life benefits over her many years there. After leaving UNUM, she worked as a Benefits Specialist in a number of Washington DC area businesses where she advocated for employee benefit improvements, leaving each location better than she found it.
In her retirement Ginger and John moved to their project home in Delaware. It was truly a dream come true for her to "finish" that house. It was finished just months before her passing. Ginger and John also maintained their own space inside their daughter’s home in North Carolina to be closer to family and her doctors.
In addition to her work, her passions included family traditions, windsurfing, NASCAR, and dog training. Her favorite breed was the English Bull Terrier. She believed that there are "no bad dogs" and worked diligently to fight to save all the dog lives she touched. Ray is the dog in her picture, truly a case of "who saved who," he was her constant companion over the past 5 years and throughout her illness.
Never one to back down from a challenge, Ginger loved to win. Games (especially cribbage), fantasy teams, crossword puzzles and conversations all became opportunities for her to win. There is no question that she won at life, beating odds, defeating foes and making us all smarter by "discussing" all the issues on our minds.
Memories of Ginger will be cherished by her husband of just shy of 47 years, John Adrian Hill; daughter, Melissa Cavanaugh and husband, Tim; granddaughters, Shana and Meara Cavanaugh; and her siblings, Butch Utermoehlen, Jim Utermoehlen, and Chase Newton. Her life will also be remembered by extended family, friends, organizations where she worked, and everyone she met.
Ginger was a strategist, she thought carefully about how best to use her time and arranged it to maximize the priorities in her life. While doing this, she also took into account the people around her. She knew that John always wanted to go into space, so of course she found a way.
You might say she lost this battle, but she won the final victory of making it into space before John. “I finally beat him at something!”
