Ginger Anderson

Ginger Knaus Anderson was called home by our savior, Jesus, on Sept. 16, 2026.

She was born on a USMC base in North Carolina on Nov. 18, 1958, to Marine Sgt. Walter Knaus and Donna Rutz Knaus, completing the family with her older sister, Diana.

She graduated high school in Virginia Beach, but found earning a paycheck much more interesting, stocking shelves and tracking inventory in the Navy Exchange at Naval Air Station Oceana.

Over the next years, she worked her way up the organization until she was appointed Manager of the largest Navy Exchange and Commissary operation in the world. In this position, she won the coveted Bingham Award twice as the top manager around the globe.

In 1997, she was transferred to the other side of the world to the NavEx on the Pacific island of Guam, along with her two daughters, Courtney and Claire. When super-typhoon Paka raged directly over the small island, it knocked out all power and phones, with the base leadership like Ginger coordinating emergency responses via walkie-talkies.

By late night in the storm, all police, ambulance , firefighting, and other emergency vehicles on Guam were running out of gas, and the base commander ordered Seabees to jump-start the base gas station with portable generators and ordered Ginger to call in her workforce to pump for the whole island.

Ginger said no, she wouldn't risk her people, and she would pump the gas herself. She single-handedly fueled emergency vehicles throughout the night in the midst of a hurricane which inflicted billions in damages. But due to her refueling heroism, not a single life was lost on the island. For that, she was awarded the Meritorious Civilian Medal, the highest award the Navy can give to a civilian employee.

It was on Guam that Ginger encountered another base commander, Will Anderson, and their romance was closely monitored on the small island. On the day they were married by the Territorial Judge, word spread like wildfire. The main gate had a big sign that said, "Congratulations Cdr and Mrs Anderson (finally!)" and the entire base turned out that evening to celebrate with them in the base club.

The Andersons received orders for both to report to the basic HUMINT (human intelligence gathering, spying). Ginger excelled in the course, particularly in small arms and combat driving skills. Their assignment in Ecuador for three years was challenging, with the girls attending the school run by the British embassy.

Will escaped a murder attempt, Ginger was kidnapped and escaped, the Ecuadorian government was overthrown by a violent military coup, and the volcano on which they lived erupting continuously for the first time in almost 400 years. But as a Marine's daughter, Ginger just carried on.

Their next assignment on Madagascar (which was roiled in civil war) was canceled due to bad timing so they moved to Washington where Will was on the Navy Intel staff and Ginger was on the team that traveled the country inspecting nuclear laboratories and warhead storage sites.

In 2006, they were assigned to Miami to build a covert office, and they were going to proceed to Tunisia on a similar mission when Will's parents asked them to return to Farwell, which they did in 2009.

One of Ginger's great prides was completing her Emergency Medical Training (EMT) training, carrying a walkie talkie everywhere and answering fire and ambulance emergency calls day and night with the Texico volunteer fire department.

Ginger was preceded in death by her parents, her sister, and her grandson Henry.

She is survived by her husband; her 2 daughters, son-in-law Michael, and 3 grandsons Cameron, Ryker, and Wilder.

Her funeral will be at Immanuel Lutheran Church in Clovis on Sept. 26, 2026, at 9 a.m. New Mexico time.

A devout Christian wife, mother, and grandmother, her life confirms she was also an American heroine wherever she went.