Virginia "Ginny" Lund

Virginia (“Ginny”) Lund of Wyckoff, NJ, died on February 18, 2026, at the age of 103.  She was born Virginia Ruth Wallgren on June 20, 1922, to Paul T. Wallgren and Ruth Kron in Chicago, IL.  After high school, she attended North Park College, then a junior college, in Chicago.  At some point during school, there was a turnaround dance, and she decided to invite “that Paul Lund,” who was 2 years younger, saying she could never get serious about him.  On August 12, 1944, she married Paul M. Lund, who was a 2nd Lieutenant in the US Navy.  After World War II, they went on to raise five children, until Paul’s untimely death from cancer at age 50 in 1975.  Raising 5 children and running a household wasn’t easy, but she managed well.  Sometimes her children would talk back to her, and she would tell them, “Don’t be smart.”  That was apparently not something she thought about when she decided to marry Paul and combine their gene pools.  

In 1976, Ginny married a widower, James Callaway.  He and his wife had been family friends, and with him, she gained a new family, too.  He died in 1983.  Ginny was a volunteer at the Valley Hospital gift shop in New Jersey for 30 years.  She was a member of Upper Ridgewood Community Church until it ceased operations.  She remained a much-loved and vibrant family member to all her children, stepchildren, and grandchildren, and had many friends.  She enjoyed playing golf and bridge with her friends at Ridgewood Country Club, where she was a member for many years.

Ginny was a loving person who helped others.  She came and helped her daughter, Christine, through the death of her granddaughter, Kaja Mauldin, from cancer at age 23 in 2001.  Her daughter was married to political cartoonist Bill Mauldin, father of her 2 children, for many years.  Bill won a Pulitzer Prize for his cartoons of 2 soldiers, Willie and Joe, during World War II, and another Pulitzer in 1959 for his political cartoons.

Ginny is survived by her younger sister, Gwen Lewis; her children Christine (Neil Trager), Steven (Jennifer), Jeffrey, Randall and David; stepchildren Nancy Fyffe, Tracy Russo and Jim Callaway; grandsons Samuel Mauldin (Mara Birkerts) and Paul Lund (Sara), and great granddaughters Sara Virginia Lund and Stephanie Lund, along with numerous nieces, nephews, and grandnieces and grandnephews.

On her 103rd birthday, after the family sang to her, someone called out, “and many more.”  “No!” she responded.  Her warm hugs, wry wit, and sense of humor will be missed by all.

The Light of Faith

She’s gone.
Mother died overnight,
with a morphine drip—
It helped her let go, Randy said.
All her life, she had good luck with her health,
my brother Steve noted—
That continued right to the end.
She wanted to die in her sleep,
Jeff told me several times
and, she must have.
She didn’t suffer, you said—
no long hospice stint.
The sun has now risen, to uplift us—she believed in resurrection; being reunited
with lost loved ones. She wanted to be buried with my father, and will be, when
the Earth there thaws enough—her ashes will join him in that plot of ground.
She saw herself being reunited with God
A joyous conclusion to a very long journey.
May that knowledge
temper our sorrow.
David will make funeral home arrangements.
Steve is executor—he will call her lawyer,
in order to do what’s proper.
May the light of faith, in the life she gave us
infuse our hearts—and, carry us forward.
She’s gone.

Christine R. Lund

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