This bench was placed in memory of UGA student Virginia (Ginny) Rucker Walter, who was born in 1966 and died in 1986. Ginny was a 20-year-old English major when she tragically passed away during spring break of her sophomore year. While sitting in a parked car on a front lawn, waiting for her father, a drunken 17-year-old teenager lost control of his car, smashed into Ginny’s car, and killed her. Writing for the college newspaper, The Red & Black, Ginny’s friend Jessica Saunders noted that Ginny lived and died in Savannah, but was born in Athens and always preferred it to Savannah. She was buried in Oconee Hill Cemetery in Athens. Shortly after her death, a memorial scholarship in her name was created to recognize the work of one English major per year, and there is also a poetry prize in Ginny’s name. The English department does not include specific information about the nature of the scholarship and prize on their website, but Department Head Coburn Freer’s 1987 letter to the second scholarship winner notes that the scholarship “honor[s] the memory of another unusually gifted student [Ginny].” The bench in Ginny’s name is located behind Park Hall, home of the English Department, in a shady peaceful walkway.
Sources:
Ashworth, Jerry. “Students Die in Wrecks; History Professor Stable.” The Red & Black. April 1, 1986, Vol. 93, No. 81.
“Awards: Eligibility and Nominations.” English at UGA. Accessed September 26, 2016. https://www.english.uga.edu/undergrad/pages/31.
“Briefly.” The Red & Black. April 3, 1986, Vol. 93, No. 83.
Freer, Coburn, November 18, 1987. Louise McBee papers, Folder 23. University of Georgia Archives.
Saunders, Jessica. “Reliving Past & Easing Sorrow.” The Red & Black. April 18, 1986, Vol. 93, No. 92.