Virginia "Ginger" Borah Meislahn
Virginia “Ginger” Borah Meislahn died on August 14, 2023, at age 82 in Charlottesville, Virginia. Born and raised in New Orleans, she was the daughter of the late Judge Wayne G. Borah and Elizabeth Pipes Borah Wingfield and sister of the late William Edgar Borah.
After graduating from Louise S. McGehee School in New Orleans, Ginger earned a Bachelor of Arts degree from Sweet Briar College in Virginia. Several years later, she earned a Masters in Planning degree from the University of Virginia. She began her career in the 1970s as a Neighborhood Planner with the City of Atlanta and continued working for 30 years for various nonprofit organizations, including Research Atlanta, the Atlanta Presbytery, the Episcopal Diocese of Atlanta, the Christian Council of Metropolitan Atlanta, United Way of Metropolitan Atlanta, and the Family Connection Partnership. In 1986, as planning consultant to Trinity Episcopal Church in New Orleans, she steered the work of 15 parishioners to develop a Strategy Plan for Community Ministry.
In 2002, Ginger retired and moved to Highlands, North Carolina. While there, she led the formation of a task force to establish the free Community Care Clinic of Highlands-Cashiers.
In 2014, Ginger married Harry “Skip” Meislahn of Albany, New York, and moved to Westminster-Canterbury of the Blue Ridge in Charlottesville. While there, her volunteer efforts included the environment work of WCBR’s Building and Grounds Committee and an ecumenical task force aimed at enhancing early childhood education in the Charlottesville-Albemarle community.
Throughout her life, Ginger held a deep-rooted conviction that her planning and research work was really about her community ministry. She combined an insatiable curiosity and a diligent eye for detail with an unshakeable moral compass and commitment to bettering the lives of others. Ginger was a keen student of history who embraced other cultures and traditions as windows into our common humanity. She loved a day at the museum, a walk in the woods, a fine meal with friends, a good book, a classic movie and a loyal cat.
Ginger is survived by her loving husband of nine years, Skip Meislahn, and her dear son David Alexander Slaughter, and his wife Jodie Slaughter, of Arlington, Virginia.
A memorial service will be held at Westminster-Canterbury of the Blue Ridge, 250 Pantops Mountain Road in Charlottesville, at 2 p.m. Saturday, September 9, 2023.
In lieu of flowers, donations may be made in Ginger’s memory to the Endowment Fund of St. Paul’s Memorial Church, 1700 University Avenue, Charlottesville VA 22903 or to The Nature Conservancy, 4245 N. Fairfax Drive, Suite 100, Arlington VA, 22203.
