Ivy Mae Woolcock

Ivy Mae, the seventh child of Simeon and Constance Woolcock, was born on 10 March 1930 in Mount Airy, Westmoreland, Jamaica. She attended Mount Airy Primary School and passed her First, Second and Third Form examinations, which paved the way for her to attend the Bethlehem Training College for Teachers. At that time teaching and nursing were the two main avenues to professional standing for promising young women of her generation. Ivy opted for teaching, though her passions really did not lie there, as she readily admitted. She successfully completed three years of training at Bethlehem Teacher's College and embarked upon her career as a primary school teacher, first at Springfield, in Montego Bay, St. James, where she taught for two years, before moving on to Frome Junior Secondary School in Westmoreland.

Her three years of teaching at Frome Junior Secondary did no more to endear her to teaching than her initial stint at the Montego Bay primary school. Ivy Mae decided to migrate to the United States to "spread her wings", so to speak. Opportunity beckoned: She enrolled in the North Carolina Agricultural & Technical College - Ayantee - in Greensborough, with ambitions to become a research scientist. She earned a Bachelor of Science degree in Nutrition at Ayantee, and was awarded a fellowship to attend the Graduate School of Nutrition Research at Cornell University, in upstate New York. Her academic experience at Cornell was not the best, since in those days the subtle, and at times bald-faced, racism of her supervisors stymied her obvious talents. Ivy left Cornell somewhat disappointed and, after a year's respite as a full-time researcher at the St. Luke's Hospital in Manhattan, she enrolled in the graduate program in nutrition research at Michigan State University in East Lansing. MSU supported her studies with an Assistance-ship in nutrition research and after two years Ivy Mae graduated with a Master of Science degree in biochemistry.

Following her triumphs at Michigan State University Ivy Mae settled in Pearl River, Rockland County, New York, where she worked at Lederle Pharmaceutical Company as a Research Scientist. Lederle was sold to American Cyanamid Pharmaceutical Company, which in turn was sold to Wyeth Pharmaceutical Company. Ivy Mae maintained her position throughout and was promoted to Senior Research Scientist. As a valued researcher she was able to attend yearly scientific conferences in Seattle, Washington, Portland, San Francisco, Las Vegas, and Chicago. She enjoyed a three-week sojourn in Sicily, where she and fellow colleagues taught their Italian counterparts the methodologies they had developed. Ivy Mae relished these opportunities and was very satisfied in her work. Beyond these work-related travels, Ivy Mae found ways to journey abroad on her own. Her nephew and nieces and sisters accompanied her to Cape Town, Johannesburg, Arusha and Dakar in Africa; to Amsterdam and London in Europe; and to Mexico, which brought her great joy. Eventually, after thirty-two years of dutiful service, Ivy Mae retired but remained in West Nyack until she moved to Mamaroneck, New York, to be closer to family.

Throughout her career, Ivy Mae spent most weekends in a home she shared with her sister Doris at Cranford Avenue in the Bronx. They were both welcomed into the Webster household by older sister Mae and her husband Errol, and after some time sister Lee joined them. "Cranford" became a bustling center of family activities, especially on weekends. Mae and Errol eventually left the Bronx for Florida but the family tradition of elaborate meals and loving support continued through her nieces Beverly and Pixie, who embraced Ivy Mae as a mother and welcomed her into their homes.

Ivy Mae was a loving aunt. She relished her independence, but took even greater pleasure as the doting matriarch in the Johnson household of Johnny and Pixie, who cherished and supported her as age and infirmity crept upon her. In her later days her greatest joy came from the smiles and hugs of her most treasured grandnieces and nephew, Maya, Ava and Jonathan, whose parents, Alicia, Kelly, Stacey-Ann and Yves made sure were always around to buoy her spirits and to bask in her glow.

Ivy Mae is the last of her generation. Brothers Albert and Seymour and sisters Doris, Lee, Mae, Lil, Eunie and Lyn have all passed on, and Ivy Mae tenderly and dutifully cared for each one of them as they made their way from this world to the next. Now she joins them, after a long and rich life of 94 years.

Ivy Mae will be missed, and will be cherished, by all who knew her gentle, caring touch.

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