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Virginia Dahm Tietjen of Guilford passed away on Jan. 5 in the peaceful setting of Connecticut Hospice, in the company of loved ones. Ginny was born on April 22, 1921, the daughter of Frank and Ann Dahm.

She and her sister Louise spent their childhood in West Haven where their father worked as a carpenter on the roller coaster at Savin Rock. It was in West Haven where Ginny’s life-long love of music began. When she was twenty, Ginny used money she had saved while working at Security Insurance to purchase an 1898 Steinway grand piano. The piano cost $700, which was more than the annual tuition for Yale University at that time. Ginny fell in love with the piano’s sound, and it became one of her favorite companions. Little did she know that her affinity for music would lead her to another true love. A few years later while Ginny was the organist for Zion Lutheran Church in New Haven, she met Bill Tietjen, the minister’s son, during one of her practice sessions. They were married in 1947.

The couple established their home in Roslyn Heights, Long Island, where Bill worked at Sperry Gyroscope and Ginny shared her love of music by teaching piano lessons. There they raised their sons Chris and Gary. The family spent many happy summers vacationing in their cottage in Indian Cove, Guilford, and Ginny got to watch her sons (and later grandsons and great-grandchildren) play on the sandbar at the front beach, where Bill had proposed to her years earlier.

After winterizing their cottage in the late sixties, Bill and Ginny retired in 1979 to Guilford, where they would spend the rest of their lives. Always eager to be useful, Ginny applied her characteristic strong work ethic to what became her retirement career: her job at the Guilford Free Library, which she greatly enjoyed. When Bill passed away in 2005, the couple had been married for 58 years. In 2016, Ginny retired from the library at age 95, after 25 years of service.

Ginny will be remembered as a loving and devoted wife, mother, grandmother, and great-grandmother. She treasured her time with her family and always seemed to be thinking of them. She was a sturdy, caring, and supportive presence whenever family members were in need; she also relished celebrating their accomplishments and milestones. Her grandsons and great-grandchildren will always remember going to “Nana Ginny’s” for Thanksgiving; the countless weekends and summer days of visiting, eating spaghetti and meatballs on Nana Ginny’s porch, and playing at the beach; and the reliable letters, birthday cards, and, later, text messages from her iPad that reminded them they were never far from her thoughts. Ginny will be greatly missed.

Ginny is survived by her sons Chris and Gary Tietjen; her daughter-in-law Marjorie; grandsons Matthew (and wife Katie) and Kevin (and wife Cara); great-grandchildren Liam, Sonja, Sean, and Marielle; and many nieces and nephews. She was predeceased by her husband Bill, sister Louise, and daughter-in-law Kathleen.

Her family would like to thank the staff at Connecticut Hospice for the comfort and peace they provided both Ginny and the family.