Dorothy Kimberley Halcomb

HALCOMB, Dorothy Kimberley


Dorothy died peacefully February 15, 2007 after a valiant struggle with cancer. She was born during the Great Flu epidemic on October 8, 1918, in Manhattan, NY, the daughter of Jerome and Shelagh Leighton Bennett. She was married for 45 years to Daniel Halcomb, who died in 1981. She is survived by five children, Wayland, Danny, Kimberley, Arden and Nicola; grandchildren Sean Minot, Dmitri Williams, Tristan Wood, Trevor and Olivia Rohrbough, Hunter, Hillary and Hannah Halcomb, and Maren Wiegandt; and six great-grandchildren. She is survived also by her brother, Robert Merrick, of Wilmington, NC, sister Meline Merrick of Stony Brook, NY, sister Kimberley Bennett of San Diego, and loving stepmother Mary Bennett, also of San Diego. She was preceded in death by only a few weeks by her beloved brother, Captain John ''Jack'' Merrick, USN, Ret.

Dorothy grew up in the New England area and graduated from the former Gunston Hall finishing school in Northern Virginia. She was a competitive swimmer, enthusiastic skier and avid sailor, winning numerous competitions in her teenage years, and was associate editor of the New England Yachtsman magazine, published by her father. She also studied theater and drama at the Leland Powers School of Dramatic Expression in Boston and at Northwestern University.

Dorothy was a devoted mother and family matriarch for 67 years, moving numerous times with her hard-working, ambitious, journalist husband, and cherishing particularly her homes in Chalfont St Peter, England, and Ukiah and Grass Valley, CA, as well as Carmichael. During her husband's illness in Grass Valley, she wrote periodically as a correspondent for the Sacramento Union. She was also a member and past president of the Nevada County Republican Women's Club and served on the Nevada County Republican Central Committee. Dorothy was an enthusiastic member and past president of the Sacramento chapter of the 1918 club, organizing numerous luncheons and cherishing the many friendships she developed there. She was also a devoted member of the Our Lady of Assumption parish in Carmichael.

Dorothy Kimberley Halcomb will surely be missed greatly by her many friends and relatives, but most of all by her many offspring who will never forget the love and fierce devotion of ''Mommy'' and ''Granny.''

Funeral services will be held on Tuesday, February 20th, at 10 A.M. at Our Lady of Assumption Church, 5057 Cottage Way, Carmichael.