Mary Whitcomb

Mary Dorothy Whitcomb (92) of Oakwood Village, Madison passed away peacefully on September 15, 2018 after a long struggle with Alzheimer's Disease. Dorothy grew up in India, the child of Presbyterian missionaries. Returning to the U.S. during World War II, she attended the College of Wooster, graduating in 1947 with a double major in Biology and Chemistry.

During college, she corresponded with India classmates including William (Bill) Whitcomb. They fell in love during the three years of writing and Bill proposed to marry her when he returned from the war. They were married on March 22, 1947 in Wooster, Ohio.

In 1950 Dorothy and Bill went to work in India as missionaries for the Evangelical and Reformed Church (United Church of Christ). Dorothy worked first as a lab technician at the Evangelical Mission Hospital in Tilda, Madhya Pradesh, also running a milk and food distribution program for mothers and infants.

Every summer she traveled to Woodstock School in the Himalayan foothills to participate in her four children's activities, leading the scout troop, organizing the PTA sale and volunteering in the community library. She also served various aspects of the mission society and was briefly a staff member at Woodstock where her children were in boarding.

Dorothy and Bill retired from the mission field in 1973 and moved to Madison, WI. In 1974 Dorothy earned a MA degree in library science from Drexel University. She was the historical librarian with reference responsibilities at the Middleton Health Sciences Library at the University of Wisconsin from 1975 until her retirement in 1991. She was a member of the Medical Library Association and was active in the History of Health Sciences Section and the first editor of the Incipit, the section newsletter, from 1987-1989. She was also active in the Oral History Committee, serving as chair in 1989-1990, during which time she "breathed new life into the oral history program by transcribing and editing histories."

Dorothy and Bill were active members of Lake Edge UCC where they both served on numerous committees. She had many volunteer activities in retirement; she was a member of Church Women United and the librarian at Lake Edge UCC. For several years she volunteered at the Olbrich Botanical Gardens. At the Oakwood Retirement village, where they took up residence in 2002, she served as archivist and was on the garden committee.

She is remembered by her family for her loving, marriage of 67 years to Bill, her voracious intellect which made her endlessly curious about the world, history and politics, and her unconditional love for her children and grandchildren.

She was preceded in death by her parents, her granddaughter Rachel, her sister Ellen and her beloved husband Bill. She is survived by daughters Cate (Jack Hinz), Patricia (Peter Sotos), sons Dr. John (Holly) and Dr. Robert (Susan), and grandchildren: Alisha (Jay Johnson), Jeremiah, David, Kate (Dan Jameison) with great-grandson John, Caroline and Daniel.

A memorial service is planned at Lake Edge UCC on November 3. In lieu of flowers, donations can be made to Church World Service at https://cwsglobal.org/donate/ or Woodstock School at http://www.fwsfoundation.org/index.php/get-involved/donate.