Ginger Lee Burchett was born on February 7, 1946, in Tahlequah OK at the old Hastings Hospital, the daughter of Alfred M. and Alma Lee (Christie) Burchett, Jr. She attended high school at the old Muskogee Central High School and was active in the marching band and high school honor roll among other activities until her graduation in 1964. She enrolled at Central State University (now the University of Central Oklahoma) in Edmond OK and obtained her degree in Social Work. She was very close to her family and remained close to them in her adult life. She moved to Fayetteville AR to be near her sister and worked as a Social Worker for Fayetteville. She was later to return to Muskogee and worked for 20 years as a Physical Wear Tester at Brockway Glass, retiring in 1996. Ginger was a very unique person in her abilities. Blessed with many talents, she excelled at Native Art and painted skulls and other objects, many for family and friends. She helped her mother and sister with the Christmas Store and More in Tahlequah. She loved traveling to markets, purchasing items for the store she thought would appeal to the public. She loved western music and dancing, spending weekends with friends dancing, then out for dinner in a restaurant. She was strong willed and determined, yet she possessed the most easygoing personality. She was thoughtful, loving, and kind. The family lived on the original allotment left to them by their grandmother. It was here Ginger would spend hours watching the variety of wildlife such as deer and turkey that made this area their home. She loved any time spent with her sister and brother-in-law, Carolyn and Randy Rucker. A Baptist by faith, she originally had membership in the Freewater Baptist Church in the Titanic Community around Stilwell OK. She later had her membership at the First Baptist Church of Muskogee OK. The Lord called Ginger to her Heavenly Home on August 13, 2011, at the home of her sister in Tahlequah OK. Ginger was 65 years old. She will be missed by her family and the many friends, as well as the many lives she touched over the years.

Ginger was preceded in death by her parents, her mother passing in 1995 and her father passing in 1996; sister Wanda; and uncle Herbert Christie.

Those left to cherish her memory include her sister Carolyn K. Burchett-Rucker and husband Randy of Tahlequah OK; aunt Ruby Christie of Stilwell OK; cousins Jean Ellis Baird of Stilwell, Billy Ray Ellis of Marlow OK, Shirley Christie-Andregg and husband Andy of California, Herbert Christie, Jr., of California, and Jeff Perry of Cookson OK; great nieces and nephews include Matthew Rucker II and Shauna Rucker; and double first cousin Penny Eades-Brannon of Bentonville AR.

(Many thanks to LaDana Mashburn Stacy for the information she provided for this bio.)