Virginia Harlan

A much loved mother, grandmother, great-grandmother, leader of her family, and lifelong advocate for children, Virginia (Ginny) Balch Harlan, 94, of Cambridge, MA, died peacefully on June 22nd at The Cambridge Homes as a result of a heart condition. She was under the care of Good Shepherd hospice.

Virginia was born Feb. 7, 1932, the first child of Dr. Franklin Green Balch Jr. and Dr. India Hunt Balch. She attended the Windsor School and later Vassar College, where she graduated in 1954.   

Straight up As an undergraduate, she created a first-of-its kind pediatric play activities program at Vassar Brothers Hospital in Poughkeepsie, NY, which won a Parents Magazine award for outstanding thesis in child study. Upon graduation from Vassar, she married Donald Michael Harlan of Franklin, LA, a recent graduate of the U.S. Naval Academy. Living in various locations in the U.S. and Japan as the wife of a naval officer, she went on to establish similarly innovative programs for children in Long Beach, CA, and Norfolk, VA, while becoming the mother of four sons.

After her divorce in 1968, she married Donald Richardson in New Orleans, LA and integrated his four children into her family. When that marriage ended in 1976, she embarked on a new chapter: a career as a social worker. She earned a Master’s in Social Work from Smith College in 1981. Her professional practice over the next three decades included work with the Yale Child Study Center, the Child and Family Guidance Center of Waterbury, the Cambridge Center for Families, and the Mass General Hospital Charlestown Community Health Center, where she served as chief social worker. She also had a private practice at her residence in Watertown until she was 80. Throughout her career, she was actively involved in research, writing, teaching, and therapy practice focused on the needs of children, especially those of divorced families.

Ginny’s communities included First Church in Cambridge, with many beloved friends, as well as lifelong friends and family in Chocorua, NH. She was an avid world traveler, bridge player, knitter, reader, and lifelong learner who made the world’s best hot fudge sauce (according to her family). She practiced tai chi, loved attending the Boston Symphony Orchestra and Tanglewood Music Festival, and helped lead spiritual reflection and prayer groups over many years.

She is survived by her four children — D. Michael Harlan Jr., Deborah Osborn, Jeffrey Harlan, and Peter Harlan — as well as her step-son Dirk Richardson, her 11 grandchildren, and three great-grandchildren. She was preceded in death by her son John Harlan and her brother, Franklin Balch.

A memorial service will be held at First Church of Cambridge with interment at the Bowditch Columbarium in Mount Auburn Cemetery at a date to be announced by the family.

Memorials may be made to Good Shepherd Community Care and Chocorua Lake Conservancy.