Ginger Goldhammer's extraordinary volunteerism was a valentine to her adopted homeland, an expression of gratitude that only deepened through the decades.

Before she turned 100, the Red Cross volunteer devoted more than 36 years to the Atlanta VA Medical Center in Decatur. She helped in the lab, escorted patients, juggled office duties and handled whatever was asked of her.

RICH ADDICKS/AJC (ENLARGE)

Always thankful for her time in the U.S., Ginger Goldhammer bragged that she planted kisses on three presidents, including Bill Clinton.

Nick Arroyo/AJC (ENLARGE)

At 98 Ginger Goldhammer was working as a volunteer at Veterans Hospital. The 'heart' (a book full of pictures of the staff) in her hands was a birthday gift from the staff.

It was a tradition she kept up several days a week as long as her health allowed. For her 101st birthday, the VA threw her a party to thank her for more than 38,000 volunteer hours.

By then, the tiny Hungarian native who flirted and called everyone "darling" had become a hospital icon.

"I'm probably the oldest volunteer in the whole wide world — no kidding — but I can still do something for America. I feel very good about that," Mrs. Goldhammer said in a 2004 Atlanta Journal-Constitution article when she was 98.

Gyongyi "Ginger" Josephine Goldhammer, 101, of Atlanta died June 9 at Briarcliff Haven. The funeral was Friday in Emerson, N.J. A memorial service in Atlanta will be held later. Dressler's Jewish Funeral Care is in charge of arrangements.

As the Nazis rose to power, Mrs. Goldhammer and two older siblings bolted from their home in the middle of the night with a handful of possessions. Her parents and nine younger siblings did not survive World War II.

She fled to Vienna and married Dr. Egon Goldhammer in 1934. When he was sent to a German concentration camp in Buchenwald, Mrs. Goldhammer persuaded a Nazi Party member to help with her husband's release. They spent the remainder of the war years in Shanghai, China, with 20,000 other Jewish refugees.

After the couple immigrated to the United States, Mrs. Goldhammer lived with her physician husband in Rome until his death.

"When my husband died in 1966, I had one wish: to die," she said in the same article. "I came to Atlanta and stayed with an ex-sister-in-law, but I didn't go to the movies or anywhere. But I decided if I was going to do something, it would be something for America because this country was so good to us.

"I went to the hospital to volunteer and they trained me and put me to work. I still feel very good about being needed and being able to help America, the most beautiful, wonderful place in the whole world that has been so kind."

The Holocaust survivor's patriotism — and in turn, her political outlook — was informed by the dark times she'd lived through, said her nephew Richard Roth of Greenfield, Mass.

"She had seen when life was so fragile back in Europe, where she lost her family," he said. "And in her mind, she could never understand why people fight and kill each other."

"She was very, very independent," said her friend Leonard Epstein of Atlanta, "and I suspect because of all the political turmoil that she had lived through, she had very strong political opinions. Until about three weeks before her death, you couldn't go into her room without getting into a political argument."

Mrs. Goldhammer loved to brag that she'd planted kisses on three U.S. presidents — Jimmy Carter, Gerald Ford and her favorite, Bill Clinton.

At a Hillary Clinton book-signing a few years ago, Mrs. Goldhammer made sure she muscled her way to the front of the line.

"She was a one-in-a-million kind of person," her nephew said. "There are an awful lot of good people who do nice things, but she was always over the top. Whatever was needed, if someone else did one thing, she would do five to make it better."

There are no immediate survivors.