Edna Elizabeth “Libby” Dockstader (86), nee Collins. July 21, 2007

The School Bell has rung. Class is dismissed. Books are closed. Desks
and chairs are in tidy rows. Blackboard is wiped clean. Libby Dockstader
has been invited by the Heavenly Father to change classrooms.
Born and raised in Gloucester “by the Sea”, Edna Elizabeth Collins’
academic promise won her family support in attending Jackson College
(Tufts University), where she graduated Summa Cum Laude in 1941. She
married John Hollis (“Jack”) Dockstader, her college sweetheart (she said
“He had the prettiest eyes of all the boys in his class.”). They worked
together during World War II at MIT’s Radar Laboratories until she took 18
years off to raise three sons and a daughter. With her children as her
focus, she ran a Kindergarten, was a Cub Scout, Brownie and Girl Scout
leader, a Band mom and PTA supporter.
Returning to work in the 1960’s to support 4 college-bound children, Libby
found her passion in teaching Second Grade at Hemmingway Elementary School
in Framingham. She loved each and every one of her many students over 25+
years. While teaching, she earned a Master’s Degree from Framingham
State. She also rose to statewide leadership in the Massachusetts
Teachers Association.
Libby and Jack were a fixture in the Hopkinton Community for over 50
years, most recently known as “the walkers” – for their daily trips,
hand-in-hand, to the community’s stores and caf?s.
Libby was preceded in death 2 summers ago by her husband of 64 years, by
her sister Marie Harmon of Gloucester, her great grand-daughter Claire A.
Dockstader, niece Sharon (Harmon) Buffington, and nephew Phillip Harmon.
She is survived by four children: Bill (Linda) of Seattle WA, Dave (Gigi)
of Hopkinton, Bruce (Sue) of Kent, OH, and Debbie Gray (Stewart) of
Woodstock, CT; 4 grandchildren: Tad (Lee) of Pittsburgh, PA, Ara
(Michelle) of Parma, OH, John of Denver, CO, and Liane Gray of Lebanon,
NH; two great grandchildren: Duncan (Tad & Lee) and Connor (Ara &
Michelle), former daughter-in-law Ann Dockstader of Providence RI; and
four of her sister Marie’s children Bill, Kathy, Phyllis, and Mike – whom
she loved as her own.
Visitation hours will be held at Chesmore Funeral Home, 57
Hayden Rowe, www.ChesmoreFuneralHome.com, Hopkinton, Thursday July 26, 5:00 to 9:00 PM; funeral services will be in the Trinity Congregational Church, 70 Middle St., in Gloucester on Friday, July 27 at 11:00 AM, with interment at the family plot in Beechwood Cemetery in West Gloucester.