Doris Roberts Entwisle

1924 - 2013

TOWSON, Md. - Doris Roberts Entwisle was born on Sept. 28, 1924, in Wilbraham, Mass., and died Tuesday, Nov. 12, 2013, in Towson, Md.

Daughter of Charles Edwin Roberts and Helen MacMenigall Roberts, she grew up in Springfield, Mass. Doris began her studies at U Mass Amherst at the age of 16, graduated at 20, and obtained a master's degree from Brown University a year later.

In 1946, Doris married George Entwisle, and they made their home in Boston for the next 10 years, where Doris made it possible for George to finish his medical training and build the foundations for his contributions in the field of preventive medicine over a thirty-year career. Doris worked for Fred Mosteller during the heyday of the Social Relations Department at Harvard, a time she referred to as her coursework for her Ph.D in social psychology. This she earned in 1960 at Johns Hopkins University, after she and George moved to Baltimore for his work in 1956. This is where they raised their three children, Barbara, B.J., and Hank, all of whom were born before she completed her graduate work.

Doris had a long, productive, and very rewarding career as Professor of Sociology and Engineering Science at Johns Hopkins, stepping down from her tenured position in 1998 but continuing to be a productive scholar until this very year. She is author of a dozen books and numerous journal articles in sociology, social psychology, and computer science. Doris was especially proud of the Beginning School Study (BSS), a collaboration with her colleague Karl Alexander. The BSS followed a representative cohort of about 800 Baltimore youngsters who began first grade in 1982 into adulthood and produced important insights about children's growth and development at every stage. Karl and Doris just finished the most recent book based on this study, sent to the publisher just weeks before her death. The data from the BSS, a national treasure, are being preserved for future generations at Harvard, a legacy of her work that Doris found deeply satisfying. Doris developed her academic career at a time when women were not always welcome. Her children were proud of the fact that she was the first woman professor to eat in the exclusively male lunchroom at the Hopkins Club. Indeed, Doris paved the way for many and actively mentored and helped those who followed her.

Doris spent 51 years summering in New Hampshire, at the location of her parents' motel on Harvey Lake in Northwood. The first 20 years there were spent sleeping in large canvas tents in the woods on the property, and Doris cooked all meals for her family on a two burner Coleman stove while helping her parents run the business. She learned to water ski at the age of 50 and took up windsurfing at 60. In recent years, she was very involved in her summer community, playing duplicate bridge, enjoying the Northwood Congregational Church, and founding the Harvey Lake Association, dedicated to preserving the health of her beloved lake. Doris was an accomplished musician, painter and bridge player, and loved going to musical performances, operas and theater. She sang in the choir at Towson Presbyterian Church, where she was a member for 56 years.

She enjoyed many wonderful friendships. She was the widow of George Entwisle, who died in 1990, and Donald Roberts, who died in 2002.

She leaves her three children and their families, Barbara, Ken, Kerry, and Paige Bollen of Chapel Hill, N.C., BJ Entwisle, Rachel Eades, and Paxton Hill of Canterbury and Hank, Amy, Charlie, and Nathan Entwisle, of Ruxton, Md. She also leaves her sister, Jean Roberts Hunter, of Concord.

She will be dearly missed.

A service to honor the memory of Doris Roberts Entwisle will be held Monday, Nov. 18, at 1 p.m. at the Towson Presbyterian Church, followed by a gathering at the The Maryland Club at 1 East Eager St.

In lieu of flowers, donations can be made to the Doris Roberts Entwisle Graduate Teaching Fellowship at the Johns Hopkins University, krieger.jhu.edu/giving. Type "Doris Entwisle Fellowship" into the 'Other' line of the online giving form; or the New Hampshire Lakes Association, 14 Horseshoe Pond Lane, Concord, N.H. 03301.