Agnes Dooney "Chris" Stillwell

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Agnes Stillwell Obituary

STILLWELL, AGNES DOONEY (Chris), 89 - of Princeton, died on November 27 in the Merwick Nursing Center in Princeton. Born in Camden, Chris was the daughter of the late Daniel and Mary S. Dooney. Predeceased by brothers, Raymond R. and Daniel Dooney, she was also predeceased by her husband of 59 years, Hamilton Stillwell in 2002. She is survived by her brother James Dooney and by her daughter, Patricia G. Stillwell of Yardley, PA and her son and daughter-in-law, Richard and Carol Stillwell of Portland, ME. Chris attended Trenton State Teachers College and graduated with a B.S. degree in Health and Physical Education in 1939. She taught at Glassboro State Teachers College, prior to her marriage to Hamilton in 1943. She and her family lived in New Jersey and in Michigan. In Michigan, she was involved in the League of Women Voters and in the AAUW. After raising her children, she also was a junior high school teacher in the Detroit Public School System. Returning to NJ in 1971, she and her husband enjoyed recreational sports and traveling in their retirement. Chris was a volunteer at the Princeton Medical Center and at the Pennington Public Library. She was a member of St. James Church in Pennington. A Mass of Christian Burial will be celebrated on Saturday, December 3 at 10:00AM at St James RC Church in Pennington. Burial will be in Old Tennent Cemetery in Tennent. There will be no calling hours. Memorial contributions may be made to St. James RC Church, 115 E. Delaware Ave., Pennington, NJ 08534 or the Pennington Public Library, 30 N. Main St, Pennington, NJ 08534. Arrangements are by the Wilson-Apple Funeral Home, 2560 Pennington Rd, Pennington. For further information or to send condolences, please visit: www.wilsonapple.com ?? ?? ?? ??

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Published by The Press of Atlantic City on Nov. 30, 2005.

Memories and Condolences
for Agnes Stillwell

1 Entry

George Bassett

December 6, 2005

Dear Pat and Richard,

I'm very sorry not to have been able to attend your mother's service on Saturday. My wife and daughter and I had to be at another funeral, as it happens—this one for a friend of ours, Damien Dixon (who, sad to say, was 60 years younger than your mother).

As the editor of your father's History of Old Tennent Church, I had the privilege of getting to know him well in the late 1980s and early 1990s. Mostly we worked at my home here in Ewing, but occasionally we met at the house on King George Road, where of course I met your mother. On at least three occasions your parents had my family over for some sort of treat—lunch, say, or cookies, tea, and raspberries. On all those visits to the Stillwell home we found your mother to be a deft and thoughtful hostess and a charming person. I see in her obituary that she was a teacher at both the college and junior-high-school levels; and I think I recall your father's mentioning that she, along with at least one of her brothers, was quite athletic as well. It's possible your father told me the last time I saw him—or perhaps in his last note to me—the distressing news that your mother was having a difficult time with her knees or her hips, to the point that she was almost unable to get around and could no longer play golf.

Whether that last memory is accurate or not, I'm very sorry Chris Stillwell has now gone. Missing your mother's service was doubly disappointing to me, because I also hadn't been able to attend your father's, and so my chance to tell you in person how highly I thought of him and your mother has slipped away.

I must not neglect to pass along to you sympathy expressed by someone else. After I saw your mother's obituary in the Times of Trenton, I called my friend Guy Spencer at his home in Yardley to let him know the bad news. As you may well recall, Guy typeset, designed, and did the layout for History of Old Tennent Church. Multiple sclerosis has severely limited his activity for a few years now, and so, much as he also wished he could pay his respects to your mother, he had to settle for my promising to send you his condolences and best wishes along with mine. He, too, spent some time at the house on King George Road and was quite fond indeed of both your parents. We've often spoken of them in the years since the history was finished.

I should also not forget to mention that one Saturday not terribly long after the book's publication Guy and his wife and daughter, along with my family, traveled in two or three cars with your parents to Tennent and had a tour of that remarkable church and its famous cemetery. Afterwards we all were fortunate to be the guests of your Aunt Lydia and Uncle Charles at their farm for another tour and some very welcome refreshments. It was a great day. The thought that I might have been able to say hello to the Wickoffs at your mother's service was another reason for my disappointment at being faced with that unavoidable conflict. Not having any idea of the state of their health, I of course hope they're both alive and well. And I can't help wondering whether their farm, which was the last in the area if I remember correctly, is still a farm or has, perhaps inevitably, become a development of large, expensive houses. In any case, please pass along best wishes to them from Guy and from me and our families if it is possible to do so.

Again, please know that both Guy and I are thinking of you and that we held your parents in high regard.

Sincerely,