CHURUBUSCO - Virginia "Ginny" Brown McCauley, 82, of Poughkeepsie, NY, formerly of Churubusco, passed away on January 15th 2025.

Virginia was born on January 9th 1943 in Churubusco, NY to John Ryan Brown and Mary Barry Brown.

After graduating from Chateauguay High School where she was the recipient of the Home Economics Award and was a member of the National Honor Society, she was granted a full academic scholarship to Parsons' Institute of Fashion Design but chose to attend SUNY Plattsburgh graduating cum laude with a Bachelor of Science. While a student at SUNY Plattsburgh, she met and married Gary McCauley; they made their home in the Hudson Valley where both began their careers.  Virginia held her first teaching position at Wappingers High School where she taught Home Economics.  It was here she met friends she kept for a lifetime forming a group of friends that lasted decades. Virginia then attended SUNY New Paltz where she graduated magna cum laude with a Masters in Education. Virginia served as the department head while teaching at Highland Junior and Senior High School and began their fashion design program. She was a professor at the Culinary Institute of America where she taught "front of the house." She finished her career at Poughkeepsie High School where she taught nutrition and fashion design. Regardless of her placement, she was highly regarded and greatly loved amongst her students, their parents and her colleagues alike.

She was predeceased by her parents Ryan and Mary, her husband, Gary, and siblings Barry and Carol Ann and is survived by her daughter, Kate, nieces and nephews and her closest friends.

Virginia was an avid gardener, loved theater and visiting the city. She continued to educate herself on local history at Marist College, enhance culinary expertise and keep her home in Poughkeepsie as well as Northern New York where she returned during her final years to the farm of her childhood.

Visitation will be held on Monday, January 27th from 4:00 to 6:00 p.m. at the Rabideau Funeral Home in Ellenburg.  A Mass of Christian Burial will be celebrated on Tuesday at 11:00 a.m. in St. Edmund's Church.

Burial will be in the spring in Immaculate Heart Cemetery in Churubusco.

A reception will immediately follow the funeral mass at the St. Edmund's Church Hall.

Online condolences may be made to the family by visiting www.rabideaufuneralhome.com .

Arrangements have been entrusted into the care of the Rabideau Funeral Home, 5614 Route 11, Ellenburg.