She created funds to continue her support of the arts and her hometown of New York City.
Virginia Hamilton Solley de Sieyes Risley DeCourcy (1919-2008)
Virginia “Gina” Hamilton Solley spent much of her early years in Connecticut and Europe, but her heart was in New York, where she supported the opera, theater, ballet, and museums.
Gina was born in Manhattan on April 4, 1919, the only child of Dr. John Beach and Katherine Solley. After graduating from Smith College and the Katharine Gibbs School, she married Jean Malcolm de Sieyes in 1942. Malcolm was from Chambery, France. His father, Jacques de Plan de Sieyes de Veynes, represented Gen. Charles de Gaulle and the Free French movement in the United States—the push to continue warfare against Germany after France’s defeat in World War II.
Malcolm and Gina lived in Connecticut and raised two sons, Charles Joseph “Chuck” and David Conroy de Sieyes. They divorced in 1968.
Later that year, Gina married William Risley, an executive for Pan American Airways. After retiring from the airline, William founded Sailfish Sportscraft of Canada and Italy, and Travel Consultants of Litchfield, Conn. He and Gina divorced in 1996.
In 1998, Gina married Robert L. deCourcy, a former teacher and lumber company executive who also was active in many civic and community groups, including the Lions Club, PTA, and the Steep Rock Association, a land trust in Washington, Conn.
Gina and Bob had been married for nearly 10 years when she died on March 13, 2008, at age 88.
This fund was created to improve the quality of life for performers and former performers over 50 and has supported the Actors Fund of America and Dance/NYC for such efforts.