Grace E. Douglass

Grace Elinor Hickok Douglass

Grace Elinor Hickok Douglass died Aug. 22, 2004, at the Cortland Health Care Center in Cortland, Ohio. She was 93.

Douglass was born on July 24, 1911, in the Tacony neighborhood of Philadelphia, Pa. She was the second of three daughters born to Howard and Sara Hickok. She spent her early years in New Jersey (Trenton and Roebling). After her father's death, the family moved to New Castle, Pa. Douglass received a bachelor's degree in 1933 from Westminster College in New Wilmington, Pa. Her first job was as a teacher in a one-room school near New Castle; in 1934, she began teaching in the New Castle schools. She married the Rev. Robert E. Douglass in 1938.

The two shared in a pastoral ministry that lasted nearly five decades and that served eight communities across the United States, including Presbyterian churches near New Castle, Pa.; in Erie, Pa.; in Hamilton, Ohio; in Aberdeen, S.D.; in Pittsburgh, Pa.; near Butler, Pa.; and in Lakeland, Fla. In addition to her church work, Douglass was a part-time teacher in many of these communities. The couple retired to Lakeland in 1977.

After her husband's death in 1987, Douglass moved to Niles, Ohio, in 1990. She was a resident of the Shepherd of the Valley retirement community. She was an active member of the First Presbyterian Church of Warren, Ohio, and of the P.E.O.

Douglass is survived by one son, Robert Bruce Douglass, of Falls Church, Va.; two daughters, Susan Douglass Marshall of Eden Prairie, Minn., and Linda Douglass Francis of Cortland, Ohio; five grandchildren and two step-grandchildren.

The funeral will be held at 10 a.m. on Friday, Aug. 27, at the First Presbyterian Church, 256 Mahoning Ave. N.W., Warren, Ohio 44483. Interment will follow at Glenview Cemetery in East Palestine. Friends may call 6:00 to 8:00 PM Thursday at McFarland and Son Funeral Home, 271 North Park Avenue, Warren, Ohio 44481, and 9:00 to 10:00 AM Friday at the church. Memorial contributions may be made to the First Presbyterian Church.

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