She was born on Nov. 27, 1927, in Fryeburg, daughter of the late Anita Sturges Dole and Louis Dole, who was minister of the Swedenborgian churches in Fryeburg, Bath and Portland, and co-founder of the Fryeburg New Church Assembly. She grew up in Bath with a deep connection to the community: Her grandfather, Henry Clinton Dole, had also been minister of the Swedenborgian church there, and her brother, George Dole, is the current pastor. She graduated from Morse High School in 1945 as class valedictorian, and went on to graduate cum laude from Wellesley College in 1949, where she majored in classical archeology.
She married the Rev. Dr. William Ross Woofenden in Bath on Sept. 3, 1950, and lived in New York City; Ferndale, Mich.; Des Plains, Ill.; Webster Groves, Mo.; and Sharon, Mass., as her husband, also a Swedenborgian minister, transferred from parish to parish. They had lived in Bowdoinham since 2004.
She was an accomplished watercolorist, an avid naturalist and an organic gardener decades before it was chic. She excelled at whatever she attempted — knitting, sewing, tatting. She became so proficient at tatting that she could do it without looking, while reading her Greek bible. She taught Sunday school for many years, and had a quiet but wicked sense of humor.
She is survived by sons Ross Woofenden of Vermont; Ian Woofenden of Washington State; Trevor and Lee Woofenden, both of Massachusetts, and Todd Woofenden of Maine; daughters Jane Foster, Laura Grams and Ellen Woofenden, all of Maine; 24 grandchildren; six great-grandchildren and her brother George F. Dole of Bath. She was predeceased by her husband of 61 years, the Rev. Dr. William Ross Woofenden, in May 2012, and sister Gertrude Dole Tremblay in 1997.
A memorial service will be held at 2 p.m. Saturday, Feb. 16, at the Bath Church of the New Jerusalem, 876 Middle Street (corner of Middle and Winter streets), Bath. In lieu of flowers, donations in her name may be made to Sky Hy Adult Day Care Center, 32 Sky Hy Drive, Topsham, Maine, 04086; or Bowdoinham EMS, 13 School St., Bowdoinham, Maine, 04008.
Comments are not available on this story.
Send questions/comments to the editors.
