Virginia Cooper Downes

Virginia Cooper “Ginny” Downes passed away October 28, 2026, at the age of 93. She lived a long and full life, finding joy in friends, reading, music, education, and, above all, her family. She approached life in her own way, guided by a deep commitment to learning, fairness, compassion, and kindness.

Born in Verbena, Alabama, Ginny grew up in Selma, Alabama, in later years in a beautiful stone house built by her father, a contractor. She shared her childhood with her younger sister, Sue, and younger brother, Claude, surrounded by a large and warm extended family of aunts, uncles, and cousins. Her parents were people of great kindness, dignity, and strength, and the warmth of that upbringing shaped her lifelong devotion to family.

Ginny was the first in her family to attend college. She earned a degree in English from Huntingdon College in Montgomery, Alabama, followed by a master’s degree in library science from Florida State University in Tallahassee. There, she met and married Robin Nelson Downes, who also earned a degree in library science. They made their home in Michigan for many years, where they raised their two children, David and Ruth.

Following their amicable divorce, Ginny returned to Alabama in 1988 to be near her parents. She resumed her career as a librarian, serving as serials librarian at Samford University’s Cumberland School of Law in Birmingham from 1988 until her retirement in 1998. She took pride and pleasure in owning her Birmingham home from 1990 to 2015. In later years, she spent five years living near her daughter in Galveston, Texas, before moving to Washington, D.C., in 2021 to be near her son.

Ginny cherished a gentle and quiet life filled with the people and activities she loved. An avid reader, she counted Marcel Proust, Harper Lee, Dorothy Sayers, Thomas Wolfe, and Jhumpa Lahiri among her favorite authors. She acted on her values of education and compassion through volunteer work, tutoring elementary school students in reading, and serving as an ombudsman’s monitor in nursing homes. She loved opera, especially Don Giovanni, and enjoyed good food, coffee, and sweets. Visits and telephone conversations with friends and family were among her favorite pleasures. She was also a passionate Alabama football fan who thoroughly enjoyed watching the games—as long as Alabama won.

She was preceded in death by her parents, Claude Miller Cooper and Ruth Estelle Messer Cooper; her sister, Sue (George) Huffman; her brother, Claude M. Cooper, Jr.; and her former husband, Robin Nelson Downes.

She is survived by her children, David Robin Downes and Ruth Brett Downes; her granddaughter, Catherine Madden Downes; her adoptive sister, Jeannie Jatko Blackwell; her nieces, Nina Ruth Huffman (Fraser Hunter, Jr.) and Alice Camille Hayes; and a number of other nieces, nephews, great-nieces, and great-nephews.

Graveside services will be Saturday, November 21, 2026 at 11:00 a.m. at New Live Oak Cemetery. Visitation will be Friday evening from 3:00 - 5:00 p.m. at Lawrence Brown-Service Funeral Home in Selma.

Although Ginny found satisfaction in her education, career, and independence, her greatest fulfillment came from raising her children and sharing her life with those she loved. Family remained at the heart of all she held dear.