Sara Barnard Edwards - September 22, 2022
EDWARDS--Sara "Sally" Sara Barnard Edwards, 1940-2022 died at home surrounded by family in North Haven, CT on September 24, 2022 after two years of treatment for metastatic lung cancer.
Sally was born in New York City in 1940 to Edward Townsend Barnard and Charlotte Williams Barnard. Her grandparents were Everett Larkin Barnard and Therina Townsend Barnard, and James Willard Williams and Charlotte Welles Williams.
Sally grew up in Westchester County and Guilford, CT and graduated from the Walnut Hill School. She earned a BA from Wellesley College and a Master's degree from Yale. She and her husband, Don, settled in Cranbury, NJ, and Sally taught ballet at the Princeton Ballet School while raising a family. She then earned a second Master's degree cum laude from General Theological Seminary in New York and began a new career as a Pastoral Associate and Hospice Chaplain and served on the faculty of the Yale Summer Institute in Bioethics.
Sally had many passions in life, including creating a welcoming home for loved ones and strangers alike, supporting dozens of non-profits from medicine to social justice to education and the arts, and doing needlework of all kinds. After insisting that she and Don find a church home in the late 1970s, she became an enthusiastic contributor to the life of Episcopal parishes in New Jersey and Connecticut as lay leader, acolyte, choir "mum," and flower arranger. Sally's life-long love of gardening created beauty for everyone around her. Her deep attachment to special places found its fullest expression at her family's five- generation summer cottage, "Underoaks," on Casco Bay in Yarmouth, Maine. Her life exemplified the Wellesley motto: non ministrari sed ministrare, not to be ministered to, but to minister.
She is survived by her husband of 57 years; daughter Jeanette (Ricardo) Chavira of Hamden, CT; son David (Helen) of Bend, OR; and six devoted grandchildren. She is also survived by a brother, David, and sister, Jeanette, both of Yarmouth, ME. A Memorial Choral Eucharist will be held at 11am on Saturday, October 29, at St. Thomas's Episcopal Church, 830 Whitney Avenue, New Haven, CT. In lieu of flowers, donations may be made in her memory to the Wellesley Students' Aid Society, 106 Central Street, Wellesley, MA 02481, or online to Doctors Without Borders at www.donate.doctorswithout borders.org.
Published by New York Times on Oct. 2, 2022.
https://www.legacy.com/us/obituaries/nytimes/name/sara-edwards-obituary?id=36679708
Martha M. Campbell - February 3, 2022
Dr. Martha Madison Campbell of Berkeley, California died February 3 with family by her side. Martha was born in Ridgewood, New Jersey, as the fourth daughter of Margaret Macon Campbell and Kenneth Campbell, an aeronautical engineer. She graduated from Wellesley College in 1963 with a degree in art history. She earned her Master's degree and PhD in public policy from the University of Colorado in 1994.
Throughout her academic studies and her career, Martha's focus was on women's autonomy, family planning and safe abortion. In the 1990s, she directed the population program, including reproductive rights, for the David and Lucile Packard Foundation. In 2000, she founded Venture Strategies for Health and Development, a not-for-profit focused on securing women's freedom to choose their family size. In 2006 she coauthored the first comprehensive review of the broad range of barriers in many countries that limit women's reproductive options. In 2012 she coauthored "The Impact of Freedom on Fertility Decline", a paradigm explaining the slowing of population growth in a human rights framework. She served on the boards of World Health Partners in New Delhi, the Margaret Pyke Trust in London, and the African Institute for Development Policy. She demonstrated a unique ability to identify and support professionals in poor countries. One outstanding success was raising $10,000,000 to make the medicine misoprostol widely available in many African and Asian countries. Misoprostol prevents and treats postpartum hemorrhage at home births.
Students were inspired by Martha's energy and her unwavering focus on scaling up family planning, safe motherhood and girl's education. She traveled all over the world, accumulating two million flight miles. The not-for-profit she founded, now called OASIS, has had stunning success keeping thousands of Nigerian girls in secondary school.
Martha married Mort Iler in 1964. They had three children and three grandchildren. In 1997, Martha married Dr. Malcolm Potts and joined him on the UC Berkeley faculty. She treasured adding his children and grandchildren to her family. She was proud of her grandfather, William Wallace Campbell, a famous astronomer who was President of the University of California before he was appointed President of the National Academy of Sciences. The family treasures a personal telegram from Albert Einstein, thanking Campbell for proving his theory of relativity correct.
Martha is survived by two sisters, her husband, and their combined six children and six grandchildren.
Published by San Francisco Chronicle from Feb. 5 to Feb. 8, 2022.
https://www.legacy.com/us/obituaries/sfgate/name/martha-campbell-obituary?id=32759255
Virginia "Beth" Elizabeth (Hage) Ronka June 8, 1941 - April 19, 2022
Virginia Elizabeth (Beth) Hage Ronka, the first of four daughters, was born to Robert and Virginia Hage in Seattle, Washington on June 8, 1941. She died peacefully at home on April 19, 2022 after a long journey with cancer. During her years in the Pacific Northwest, she developed a love of the outdoors which included camping, skiing, and water sports. Throughout her life she enjoyed sewing, cooking, gardening, hiking, games and was a life-long reader and learner and a student of world events.
Beth graduated in 1963 from Wellesley College in Massachusetts, receiving a BA in Art History. While there, she developed deep and lasting friendships with four wonderful suite-mates, visiting them almost annually in New England and Colorado. On June 4, 1963 (the day after her graduation), Beth married Paul Ronka, who she met on a blind date her freshman year (her date was with his roommate, not with Paul). She was a Navy wife for the first three years of their marriage, living in Norfolk, San Diego and Seattle.
In 1968, Beth committed her life to following Jesus Christ, having been impacted by a personal encounter with Francis Schaeffer. Her strong testimony was the major influence in her husband's later conversion.
Beth's life was dedicated to partnering with her husband in ministry. In 1972, the couple joined The Navigators (a faith-based international Christian ministry), while living in Southern California. There they ministered to college students at the University of California, Irvine. Beth's life and example as a Christian wife and mother greatly impacted young women within the ministry.
In 1979, the family moved to Colorado Springs. In 1985 they spent four years in Bonn, Germany working with the European Navigators. While there, she ministered to women within the American Community as well as to several German friends. Her Bonn experience made a lasting impact on her life and resulted in several life-long friendships. Later in their ministry, Beth joined Paul in travels to Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, and several countries in East Africa. Her life continued to impact those whom she encountered abroad and at home.
On their life-journey together, God graced Beth and Paul with four wonderful children. Beth proved herself many times over to be a marvelous mother and grandmother, as well as a wonderful wife to Paul. She loved traveling to visit family across the US and abroad whenever she could.
Beth was an active member of Grace & St. Stephens Episcopal Church in Colorado Springs where she served as a Vestry member, a Stephen Minister and later as a Chalice Bearer. She was deeply committed to the Interfaith Hospitality Network (IHN), ministering to homeless families in Colorado Springs. She faithfully served as a coordinator for their activities within her church. She was also a lay pastoral care-giver in her church with Community of Hope International.
In 2003, Beth received a Certificate of Completion in Christian Formation and Soul Care from Denver Seminary. This program greatly enriched her life and enhanced her ongoing ministry. Throughout her life, people have been blessed by Beth's gentle presence, wisdom, humor, generosity, and her ability to come alongside others in a sensitive and encouraging way.
Beth is survived by her husband of almost 59 years, Paul; her four children, Katie Atkinson (Carl), Jim Ronka (Melinda), Alix Ronka, David Ronka (Sonia); her three grandchildren, Gavin Atkinson, Maggie Atkinson, Connor Ronka; her sisters Pam Ritzman (Walt), Dana Steers (Tom), Chris Jackson (Dennis); and 12 nieces and nephews. Her final resting place will be in the Ronka family plot at Seaside Cemetery in Gloucester, Massachusetts.
Her memorial service will be held on May 20 at 11AM at Grace & St. Stephens Episcopal Church, 601 N. Tejon St., Colorado Springs, CO 80903, followed by a reception at the church. Memorial gifts may be given to Family Promise c/o IHN, 1647 S. Nevada Ave., Colorado Springs, CO 80905 or familypromisecos.org/donate.
Published by The Gazette on May 1, 2022.
https://obits.gazette.com/us/obituaries/gazette/name/virginia-ronka-obituary?id=34489031
Margaret A. (Erickson) Dorsey, 80 December 13, 1941 - April 27, 2022
Peabody - Margaret Ann (Erickson) Dorsey "Peg" age 80, of Peabody, passed away following a brief illness on April 27, 2022.
Peg was born on December 13, 1941, in Attleboro, MA; she was the daughter of the late Victor E. and Margaret A. (Granlund) Erickson. Peg lived in Dorchester for a short time before moving to central Mass., where she graduated from high school. Peg furthered her education at Wellesley College in Wellesley, MA; she earned her bachelor's degree in art history.
Following graduation, Peg took a position at a publishing company in Boston; she took great pride in her work as an editor. While working, Peg met her future husband Charles W. Dorsey. They dated for a few years before getting married in 1966. Peg and Charles' publishing jobs took them all over the U.S.; they lived in New York, Chicago, and New Orleans. They loved to travel and explore new places.
Peg and Charles eventually settled in Peabody, MA where they raised their only child, Lytta. Peg was a devoted mother who loved spending time with her daughter and her two granddaughters, Tilly and Vivi. She loved getting to relive her childhood vacation memories with her daughter and granddaughters on the Cape in Chatham in recent years. Her granddaughters adored her.
Peg's love of art and history was a life-long passion. She worked at the Peabody Essex Museum in Salem for over twenty years. Peg worked as an assistant, writer and editor for the museum and loved every minute of it. In her spare time, Peg was a voracious reader. She had a thirst for knowledge and was always eager to learn something new and enjoyed celebrating her Swedish heritage. She was a woman ahead of her time: witty, independent, and not bound to convention. She was stoic but underneath had a warm and caring presence, and a special quality that is hard to describe unless you knew her closely.
Peg was also tough, in 1991 she was diagnosed with acute myeloid leukemia and received a bone marrow transplant and survived.
Peg was a devoted mother and "Grammy"; she cared deeply about the people around her. She will be greatly missed by her family and friends.
Peg was the beloved wife of the late Charles W. Dorsey, devoted mother of Lytta Teta and her husband Michael, loving "Grammy" of Tilly and Vivi, dear sister of the late Roy Erickson and his wife Anne Erickson, loving aunt of David, Daniel, and Lauren.
Memorial donations in Margaret's name may be made to the Peabody Essex Museum, 161 Essex Street, Salem, MA 01970.www.nicholsfuneralhome.com
Published by Daily Item on May 5, 2022.
https://www.legacy.com/us/obituaries/itemlive/name/margaret-dorsey-obituary?id=34637379