Doris M. (Culley Senior Meyers) Snow, a resident of Schooner Cove in Damariscotta, slipped away from us peacefully on April 11 after a six-month illness. Her family was with her and she was in her own bed at the end.
She was born Aug. 4, 1923, in West Frankfourt, Ill. and grew up in Brockway and DuBois, Penn. Over the years, she resided in State College, Penn.; Normal, Ill.; Heidelberg, Germany; Boston, Mass.; and New Harbor and Damariscotta. She graduated from The College of Wooster in Wooster, Ohio with her B.A. in 1945 and received her M.A. in 1954 from Penn State University in State College, Penn. She worked on her doctorate part-time at the University of Chicago from 1961 to 1963.
A born teacher and scholar she started her career working for the Red Cross in DuBois. She began teaching at the Penn State campuses of DuBois and State College. From 1954 until 1976, she taught English, philosophy and the Humanities at Illinois Wesleyan University in Bloomington, Ill. From 1978 until 1981, she taught the Humanities at the University of Massachusetts in Boston. She won Teacher of the Year awards twice while teaching at Illinois Wesleyan.
Her lifelong passion was reading voraciously, even after her eyesight began to dim from age, often reading her favorite books, especially Jane Austen, over and over again. She also loved to travel, especially by ship, touring or living in most of Europe or traveling by train across the U.S. Her special loves were Greece, the Greek Islands, and Monhegan Island or anywhere near or on the sea. In 1988, she and her beloved Robert took an around the world cruise starting in San Francisco and ending in London. She was never happier than when she could sit in her deckchair on a deck with one of her books in her hand and the sea around her.
Another of her lifelong passions was cooking and entertaining. She collected cookbooks and recipes and loved to make the most wonderful dishes to please family and friends. During the 20 years she lived in Normal, an invitation to her New Year’s Day Open House, which lasted all day, was a treasured item. Then in her last years at Schooner Cove, she loved to have her friends up for cocktails and homemade hors d’oeuvres before dinner.
One of her last projects, which took her nearly 10 years to accomplish, was her book, entitled Hallie and Harry – A Family Memoir, about the early lives of her remarkable parents up to the end of WWII. She completed and published it in 2006 with the help and advice of her writing group.
She was an amazing mother, grandmother, sister, aunt, teacher, chef, storyteller, and friend. Her special grace, ability to impart her wisdom to others, her love for life and her family, her special love for all those who were discriminated against or made to feel less than they were, her fierce liberalism based on her love for FDR and President Obama will be cherished.
She was predeceased by her husbands, Lt. George A. Senior (Korea), Joseph H. Meyers, and Robert Snow; and first fiancé, Pvt. Frances Creedon (WWII); daughter, H. Kathleen Otto; and son, Mark Robert Meyers; mother and father, Hallie and Harry Culley; and beloved cats, Callie and Lady.
She is survived by her son, J. Christopher Senior of Enfield, Conn.; sister, Mary Ellen Lifter of Shalotte, N.C.; brothers, David Culley of Gainesville, Fla., Dr. Gregory Culley and wife Donna of Martha’s Vineyard, and J. Kent Culley and wife Merle of Bradford Woods, Penn.; beloved grandchildren, Dean Otto II of Melbourne, Fla., Erin Senior and partner Lorenza Thigpen of Baltimore, Md., Stephanie Hutchings and husband David of Enfield, Conn., Kristen Senior of Philadelphia, Penn., and Catherine Ward and husband John of Wallingford, Conn.; 13 amazing great-grandchildren whom she dearly loved, Dean III, Samantha, and Kyle Otto, Izzabella, Alexander, and Elizabeth Thigpen, and Matthew, Alanah, Delaney, Colton, Braxton, and Brinlee Hutchings; numerous nieces and nephews; lifelong best friend, Fredrica Kundig; dear members of her writing group, Ellie Carver, Nancy Holmes, Mimi Moore, Liga Jahnke, Maggie Macy-Peterson, Sarah Wolcott, Karen Woodard, and Kay Liss; and very special friends who, over the last 12 years, kept her going with advice, rides, “linners” out, decorating her porch, and companionship, Valerie Bryant and Marcia Hall.
Cremation arrangements are being handled by Direct Cremations of Belfast. Her life will be celebrated at a memorial service at Schooner Cove in Damariscotta with a wake/reception following at Schooner Cove at a date and time to be announced. A private burial service for the immediate family will take place off Monhegan Island.
In lieu of flowers, the family requests that memorial donations in her name be made to one of the following: Andrews Library Memorial Fund at The College of Wooster, Wooster, OH 44691; Buck Memorial Library Book Fund at Illinois Wesleyan University in Bloomington, IL 61701; Altar Guild at St. Andrew’s Episcopal Church in Newcastle, ME 04543; or the IRIS network at 189 Park Ave., Portland, ME 04102.
