Virginia (Ginny) Hermann Thelin (何貞倪)

(23 January 1936 – 1 March 2026)

UNITED CHURCH OF CHRIST USA (UCC-USA)美國聯合基督教會

Years of Service in Taiwan:1966 - 1999

Tunghai University Taichung; Urban Planning; Teacher

Fulbright Foundation; Counselor

Virginia (Ginny) Hermann Thelin(何貞倪) passed away peacefully at her home in South Lake Tahoe, California on March 1, 2026. She was 90 years old. Born in Melrose, MA, she was lovingly raised by her aunt, Elvy Hermann, after her mother’s untimely death when Ginny was just 3 years old. Virginia Hermann was destined for secretarial school until her high school science teacher insisted that she apply to MIT - she was accepted on a full scholarship and graduated in 1957 with a degree in Chemistry, one of very few women graduating in that department at that time.

Following graduation Virginia embarked on an unusual path for a young, educated American woman of that era; she went to Poland through an American Friends Service Committee (AFSC) program offering the opportunity to join a road-building crew to learn what life was really like behind the Iron Curtain. After this eye-opening experience, again with AFSC she then went to Finland to help build insulated barns part of a government effort to increase the number of farm animal survival rates through the brutal winters. Returning to the US she taught chemistry at Sweet Briar College in Virginia for few years. Later she saw a posting by the United Church of Christ (UCC) for a chemistry and math teacher and was appointed to the position at the American Collegiate Institute, a girl’s high school in Izmir, Turkey.

Eventually Ginny returned to the US in the mid-1960s, and there she met Dr. Mark C. Thelin, a sociology professor who was on sabbatical from Tunghai University Taichung, where he had been serving since 1962; his position was also facilitated by the UCC Board of World Mission. Subsequently Mark and Ginny were married in 1966 to begin another adventure. Their two sons Carl and Eric were born in Taiwan.

In the late 1960s, Ginny decided to pursue graduate study in Urban Planning, and earned an MPA from George Washington University, and in 1976 began teaching in Tunghai’s then brand-new Urban Planning program. She was also commissioned by the government to supervise a land use survey for the Taichung Harbor area a project that would turn the small, coastal fishing community of Wuqi, into a sizable urban city serving a large port, designed to ship many of the products being made in Taiwan at that time.

In 1980, she became a casualty of the KMT government’s political crackdown in the wake of the Kaohsiung Incident, she “lost” her teaching job, because she had assigned some readings by Karl Marx in one of her classes. This ended her teaching career, and she then took a job as an English Language Assistant to the director of Taiwan’s National Museum of Science, then still being built. She played a small role in shaping the design of the museum and the choice of some of its exhibits, while liaising with museum consultants and designers from the US and Europe. Ginny eventually moved on to what would be her last position working for the Fulbright Foundation counseling Taiwanese students wanting to pursue graduate degrees in the United States.

Over the years in Taiwan Mark and Ginny Thelin quietly assisted political dissidents and human rights activists during some of the darkest days of the White Terror. These actions eventually lead to several awards and acknowledgements many years later, after Taiwan democratized. Ginny also began adopting stray dogs, cats, and sometimes injured birds, and for the duration of her time in Tunghai and Tainan the Thelin’s house was home to as many as 8 dogs, 2 cats, and a bird or two.

Upon their retirement in 1999, they enrolled on the Celtic Archeology program at the University of Durham in the UK, where they both received MA degrees and began volunteering on Celtic archeological digs throughout the UK and in continental Europe. Ginny continued on to complete an M.Phil. Degree.

When Mark’s health began to decline (2008) they moved to the Mayflower Retirement Community in Grinnell, IA. After his death in 2014, Ginny moved to South Lake Tahoe, CA, to be near her second son.

A memorial service has not yet been scheduled, but will be held sometime in June at the Hope Lutheran Church of the Sierra, in South Lake Tahoe. We extend our condolences to Carl and Wendy; and Eric in the passing of their mother.

Virginia (Ginny) Hermann Thelin（何貞倪）

（1936年1月23日－2026年3月1日）

UNITED CHURCH OF CHRIST USA (UCC-USA)美國聯合基督教會

在台服事年期：1966–1999年

東海大學，都市計畫系教師

富布賴特基金會（Fulbright Foundation），顧問

美國聯合基督教會（United Church of Christ USA, UCC-USA）前駐台宣教師Virginia Thelin（何貞倪）已於2026年3月1日蒙主恩召，安息主懷。

Virginia（Ginny）Hermann Thelin（何貞倪）女士於2026 年3月1日在美國加州南太浩湖（South Lake Tahoe）的家中安詳辭世，享年90歲。她出生於美國麻州梅爾羅斯（Melrose, MA）。在Ginny僅3歲時，母親不幸早逝，她是由姑母 Elvy Hermann慈愛撫養長大。原本Virginia Hermann的人生道路似乎會是進入秘書專業學校就讀，但她的高中科學老師堅持要她申請麻省理工學院（MIT）。她獲得全額獎學金錄取，並於1957年以化學學位畢業，在當時該系畢業生中女性極為少見。

畢業後，Virginia走上了一條在當時對一位受過良好教育的美國年輕女性而言相當不尋常的道路。她透過美國盟友服務委員會（American Friends Service Committee, AFSC） 的計畫前往波蘭，加入修築道路的工作隊，以親身了解鐵幕後的真實生活。這段經歷大開眼界。之後，她再次透過 AFSC 前往芬蘭，協助建造保溫畜舍，這是政府為了提高農場動物在嚴酷冬季存活率所推動的一項計畫。

回到美國後，她在維吉尼亞州的Sweet Briar College任教化學數年。之後她看到美國聯合基督教會（UCC）招募化學與數學教師的公告，並被任命到土耳其伊茲密爾（Izmir）的 American Collegiate Institute 女子高中任教。

1960年代中期，Ginny回到美國，並在那裡認識了Mark C. Thelin博士，一位社會學教授。當時他正從台中東海大學的教職休假返回美國；他自1962年起在東海大學任教，其職務同樣是由 UCC普世宣教委員會協助促成。兩人於 1966年結婚，在台灣展開人生新的冒險。他們的兩個兒子Carl與Eric都出生於台灣。

1960年代末期，Ginny決定攻讀都市規劃研究所，並於喬治華盛頓大學（George Washington University）取得公共行政碩士（MPA）。1976年，她開始在東海大學當時新成立的都市計畫學程任教。她也受政府委託主持台中港地區土地利用調查計畫。這項計畫最終使原本的小型沿海漁村——梧棲——逐漸發展成為服務大型港口的重要城市，並負責運送當時在台灣生產的大量出口產品。

1980年，在美麗島事件後，在國民黨政府的政治整肅中，她也成為受影響者之一。由於她在課堂上指定學生閱讀卡爾・馬克思（Karl Marx）的部分著作，她「失去」了教職，教學生涯就此結束。之後，她轉而擔任國立自然科學博物館館長的英語助理（當時博物館仍在興建中）。在這段期間，她在博物館的設計與部分展覽選擇上提供了建議，並負責與來自美國與歐洲的博物館顧問與設計師聯繫協調。

之後，Ginny的最後一份工作是在 傅爾布萊特基金會（Fulbright Foundation） 任職，為希望赴美攻讀研究所的台灣學生提供升學諮詢。

在台灣多年期間，Mark與Ginny Thelin 在白色恐怖最黑暗的歲月裡，默默協助政治異議人士與人權運動者。台灣民主化之後，多年來他們因此獲得數項表彰與肯定。Ginny也開始收養流浪動物，包括狗、貓，有時還有受傷的小鳥。在他們居住於東海與台南的歲月裡，家中曾同時有多達8隻狗、2隻貓，以及幾隻鳥。

1999 年退休後，兩人到英國杜倫大學（University of Durham） 修讀凱爾特考古學課程，並雙雙取得碩士學位（MA），之後開始在英國及歐洲大陸各地參與凱爾特考古發掘的志工工作。Ginny之後更進一步完成M.Phil.學位。

2008 年，隨著Mark健康狀況逐漸惡化，他們搬到愛荷華州格林內爾（Grinnell, IA）的Mayflower Retirement Community退休社區居住。2014年Mark辭世後，Ginny搬到加州南太浩湖（South Lake Tahoe），以便靠近她的次子。

追思禮拜的時間預計將於六月在南太浩湖的 Hope Lutheran Church of the Sierra 舉行。

我們在此向 Carl（Wendy） 與 Eric 失去母親致上誠摯的慰問。