Rash's Surname Index
Notes for Catherine Isabelle DODD
ISABELLE. Mrs. Roger P. Hollingsworth, second oldest of five daughters born to Eleanor Henry and Harry Coggeshall Dodd, died peacefully Saturday morning, April 23, 2011, of natural causes at the age of 90 at Waverly Heights in Gladwyne, Pennsylvania. Mrs. Hollingsworth was born in Philadelphia on September 28, 1920 and raised in Nashville, Tennessee and Mount Airy, Pennsylvania. She considered herself extremely fortunate to have enjoyed the devotion and stimulating companionship of exceptional gentlemen in each of two extended marriages. Her first husband, William Dixon Shay, a partner in a Philadelphia family architectural firm and University of Pennsylvania graduate with whom she had four children, died in the crash of a chartered aircraft during a business trip on November 22, 1962. Her second husband, Roger Pleasants Hollingsworth, a Philadelphia mechanical engineer and business owner who also was a graduate of Penn, predeceased her at the age of 95 at Waverly Heights on June 6, 2006.
A devoted lifetime gardener, Mrs. Hollingsworth regularly competed during the 1950's with fellow members of the Rose Tree Garden Club in the Philadelphia Flower Show. She thoroughly enjoyed designing and tending her own flower beds and formal gardens as well at the several homes she shared at that time with her first husband in Rose Valley, Pennsylvania. She and her second husband enjoyed a remarkably vital and interesting life together. They each shared an uncommon vigor for life that endured until their final moments. After marrying Roger in October 1973, she then 53, he then 63, they entertained themselves, among other projects and interests, with the design and construction of an ocean-view vacation home at Brick Point on the Island of Guanaja in the Bay Islands off the northern coast of Honduras, the acquisition and renovation of three homes on Nantucket and the renovation of a Maine vacation home on the eastern shore of Blue Hill Bay… in addition to numerous never-quite-finished renovations of later in life primary residences in Rosemont, Kennett Square and Gladwyne. Together they twice drove their International Scout from Philadelphia through Mexico, Guatemala and Belize to La Ceiba, Honduras and then back again.
An early autumn 1957 weekend visit followed by a 1961 stopover during an eight day August family sailing vacation triggered a lifelong fascination on her part for everything associated with the Island of Nantucket. After the Hollingsworths became year-round residents there during the mid-to-late 1980's, their homes became a memorable haven for visiting friends and family. Among many other exceptional qualities and attributes, Mrs. Hollingsworth will be forever remembered by her friends and family for matchless culinary accomplishments in the family kitchen, her impeccably appointed and maintained household, her unrivaled enthusiasm for spear-heading multi-generational family vacations everywhere, for contributions cherished by family members to family holiday traditions, for the love and support she provided to her children, grandchildren and great grandchildren and for demonstrating the importance of taking full advantage of every single living day.
Mrs. Hollingsworth is survived by her sister Dorothy Dodd Holweger; daughter, Susan Shay Sigel; sons Lowell Lewis Shay, Dodd Coggeshall Shay and William Dixon Shay, Jr.; nine grandchildren; five great grandchildren; and Grady, Isabelle and Roger's much beloved longtime canine companion. She is greatly missed by all of her survivors.
Family and friends are invited to participate in a Memorial Celebration to be held on the first floor of the west wing of the Manor House, Waverly Heights, 1400 Waverly Road, Gladwyne, Pennsylvania at 11:00 A.M., Monday, May 2nd.
| HOME | EMAIL | SURNAMES |
Return to The Pennocks of Primitive Hall website.
The information in this database may contain errors. If you find any questionable data, or if you have something to add my findings, please feel free to e-mail me by clicking on the "E-MAIL" link above. Thank you!
Page built by Gedpage Version 2.21 ©2009 on 07 July 2020