Virginia Clinton
June 20, 1943 - April 21, 2024
Obituary
Virginia “Ginny” (Schoonover) Clinton went to heaven on Sunday, April 21, 2024. She was born June 20, 1943 at Sheppard Army Air Corps base in Texas shortly before her father deployed to the European theater of WWII. She grew up in Enid, OK around her grandparents’ farms, in her parents’ hardware store, and with her uncles’ tall tales. Ginny played clarinet in the high school marching band and graduated from Enid High.
Ginny attended Wichita State University, where as a freshman she became president of the Panhellenic Council through her sorority Alpha Phi. She studied speech therapy and elementary education at the Institute of Logopedics, and in her sophomore year met her husband, Stephen Michael Clinton. They were both involved in First Evangelical Free Church in Wichita, which became a lifelong connection to that faith community.
Ginny married Steve in 1964, while they were both still undergraduate students at WSU. The next year they moved to Deerfield, IL, where Ginny completed a Master’s degree in Communication at Northwestern University and Steve attended Trinity College and Evangelical Divinity School. Then they moved to Hillsboro, KS, where they both served on the faculty of Tabor College and had their first child, Matthew.
In 1971 they welcomed a second child, Michael, in Newton KS and became full-time staff members with Campus Crusade for Christ International (CCC, now Cru) at Kansas University in Lawrence and later returned to Wichita State for campus ministry. In 1974 they moved to CCC’s international headquarters in San Bernardino, CA and served in ministry and education with CCC for over 40 years.
While in CA they had a third child, Shanna, continued graduate education, and lost their home in the Panorama Fire. Through the 1970s and 80s Ginny and Steve were active in California state education policy advocacy and in Community Bible Church. In 1992 their family moved to Orlando, FL along with CCC’s international headquarters and they began attending Northland Community Church. Their Northland neighborhood home group was a core part of their community for over 20 years in Orlando and Maitland, FL.
Ginny was an avid reader and gardener, and enjoyed traveling the world with Steve, including trips to Asia, Europe, and throughout the US. Ginny deeply loved her family and friends and kept in contact with friends and mentors from many eras of her life. She treasured opportunities to be a “spiritual midwife” to new Christians and spoke in Christian Women’s Club and other gatherings.
Since Steve’s passing in 2021, Ginny lived in WA state with her children and at Wesley Retirement Community in Des Moines, WA, and attended Bethel Church on Vashon Island and Southminster Presbyterian Church in Des Moines. She spent much of her last 3 years enjoying special moments with her children and grandchildren.
Ginny was preceded in death by her mother and father, Martha Wanda (Ashby) and Walter Dale Schoonover; brother James (Jim) Schoonover; and husband Stephen Michael Clinton. She is survived by her sister Joyce (Bob) Schroy; children Matthew (Kim) and Michael (Kit) Clinton; Shanna Clinton (Heather Youngs); grandchildren Cole (Kodie) and Daniel Clinton and Nico, Julip, and Tyne Youngs; and siblings-in-law Laurel and Jon Tiger, Mindi and Joe McKenna, Ken and Cathy Fouty, Diane Clinton, and Ruth Ann Schoonover.
A Celebration of Life Service will be held for Ginny on Saturday, June 22 at 2pm (Pacific time) at the Wesley Garden Chapel at 815 S. 216th St, Des Moines, WA 98198, with a live stream of the ceremony available at: https://tinyurl.com/GinnyClinton and via QR link below. If you would like to share pictures, a short video of a story about her, or a brief written memory to be included in her Celebration of Life, please email memoriesofginnyclinton@gmail.com by June 18.
In lieu of flowers, the family invites you to donate to the foundation Ginny and Steve created with Vision Orlando to teach leadership as part of a Masters program at Destiny University for pastors in Africa. Currently, the foundation’s first cohort of 18 pastors in Accra, Ghana are progressing toward that degree. They finished the first stage of training last December. You can add to their endowment at https://www.visionorlando.org/give by selecting the Clinton Africa Foundation from the list under ‘Choose one’.
Ginny Clinton
Celebration of Life
June 22 at 2pm (Pacific)
