Vada Winifred "Winnie" Waite Chase Cairns

"I am a wife, mother, teacher and student. An introvert, an indifferent housekeeper, a dreamer."

Winnie Cairns of Loveland, OH, passed away peacefully after a long struggle with Alzheimer's disease, on November 22, 2023. Our Mom wrote the above passage in 1968, excerpted from a Miami University class assignment.

Winnie was born on September 23, 1931, in La Grange, KY to Jack Waite and Vada Lewis; Jack born in Lurgan, Ireland, and Vada born in Caney, Kentucky. Their family of 4 daughters lived in several cities in the Midwest with Winnie attending 12 schools before graduating Valedictorian from Economy High School in Indiana. Fiercely independent from a young age and faced with her family moving away for her senior year, Winnie told her father that they could move but she was finishing her senior year at EHS! Her father relented and the family stayed put.

Following high school graduation, she received a state awarded scholarship, and attended Purdue University and Earlham College. In the registration office of Earlham she met Marston Chase, after which she promptly wrote a "Dear John" letter to her fiancé. They joyously married in 1953 and they had two sons and a daughter. With three children under 12, Winnie worked and commuted to Miami University to earn her teaching degree.

Winnie taught English at Loveland High School for 22 years. However, one could say her teaching career began in 8th grade, when she earned the respect of her principal who asked Winnie to substitute teach first and second graders at Sycamore Elementary! Following her retirement from teaching, Winnie continued to tutor students in French and Spanish at University of Cincinnati. Winnie married the love of her life, Bill Cairns, in 1974 and together they traveled extensively across the United States and Europe until his untimely death in 1990. Winnie was a devoted mother and grandmother, often travelling around the country with her kids and grandkids, or to visit them.

Winnie was a master gardener and passed her love for nature and the outdoors to her children. She was also devoted to the arts, and loved patronizing museums, the symphony and other cultural events. In 1992 at age 61, Winnie was awarded a Fulbright Scholarship and she traveled to Morocco for 6 weeks.

In addition to her life's work in education, Winnie regularly supported and volunteered with myriad organizations. She was a regular and devoted member of Sycamore Presbyterian Church since 1963 whereupon her final retirement in 2011, she joined the Knitting Ministry which served ailing church members by knitting afghans, hats, mittens, and scarves, and served as a guide for new members. She was also a docent for local historical sites, volunteered at the Freestore Food Bank , Cincinnati Art Museum, Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra , March of Dimes , and Habitat for Humanity .

We will miss our conversations with her, and most of all, her laugh, her wit, and her selflessness in caring for others.

Grieving her loss are her sons, Michael (Carrie) and David (Chelsea) Chase, daughter Suzanne Lindgren; stepson Malcolm (Becky) Cairns and stepdaughter Sally Cairns; her grandchildren Nathan, Jared, and Trevor (Victoria) Chase, Ben (Hana), Tori, and Jack Chase, Joey Lindgren, Adam (Ana) Cairns, Abby (Spencer) Kruse, and Anne (Ryan) Fillmann; sister-in-law Patricia Chase; and numerous nieces, nephews, great-grandchildren and many friends.

Preceding her in death are her beloved husband Bill Cairns, Marston Chase, devoted parents Jack and Vada Lewis Waite, sisters Jacqueline Gorman, Marilyn Waite, Ruth Ann McAllister, and grandson Shawn Chase.

Winnie was brilliant, adventurous, endlessly curious, fiercely independent, kind, and lived her life with grace. We hope you will raise a glass of red wine (or black coffee) for Winnie in remembrance of a life very well lived.

A memorial service will be held at a future date.

In lieu of flowers, please donate in Winnie's memory to any of the causes mentioned above or the Alzheimer's Association.