In Memoriam – Justine Caldwell
SOUTH HADLEY – Justine M. Caldwell, 97, of South Hadley, died peacefully at home on Friday, Nov. 21, 2014 following a short illness. Justine was born in Waterbury, Connecticut, on Aug. 25, 1917, the only daughter of Kenneth and Justine (Middlebrook) Mintie. She was raised in Waterbury and went on to Colby Junior College and the Mary Hitchcock Memorial Hospital School of Medical Technology. While at the Mary Hitchcock, she met her future husband, Renwick K. Caldwell, MD. They were married in 1946 and moved to Northampton in 1949, to be close to his work at the Veterans Hospital in Leeds.
She spent her early married years in Florence and Northampton raising the couple’s three children. In her spare time, she took classes at Smith Vocational School and Hill Institute to enhance her artistic and craft sensibilities. She used her talents to refinish furniture, decorate cakes, quilt wall-hangings, embroider samplers and hook rugs.
When her children grew older, Justine worked part-time at the Smith College Science Library, and in 1969 she was tapped to set up and develop the Richard Dolloff Medical Library at the Cooley Dickinson Hospital. She retired from there in 1982, and she and her husband traveled extensively in the United States, Canada and Europe. When not traveling, one could find Justine and Renwick walking around Look Park, every morning before breakfast.
She was a longtime member of the Monday Afternoon Club and Edwards Church in Northampton where she served in a number of volunteer capacities.
Not long after her husband’s death in 2003, Justine moved to Loomis Village in South Hadley. She loved the friends she made there, and when she was 90, she and 4 others took an Elderhostel train trip across Canada.
One of her retirement hobbies was creating cards using rubber stamps. For nearly 20 years, she made hundreds of birthday and holiday cards for all of her friends, a hobby she continued until the month she died.
Justine was pre-deceased by her parents, her brother Stuart, and her husband. She is survived by her daughter, Marjorie (Caldwell) Dewey and her husband Robert of Kennett Square, Pennsylvania; her daughter, Pamela of Portland, Oregon; and her son Douglas and his wife Sandra, of Alexandria, Virginia. She also is survived by two grandchildren, John Caldwell of Los Angeles, California and Margaret Caldwell of Charlottesville, Virginia.
The family thanks Loomis Communities, Home Health Solutions and VNA & Hospice of Cooley Dickinson Hospital for their loving care and support.
A memorial service will be held at Edwards Church on Saturday, Dec. 6 at 11:30 a.m. Czelusniak Funeral Home is in charge of arrangements.
In lieu of flowers, friends who wish may make donations in Justine’s memory to Northampton Survival Center, 265 Prospect Street, Northampton 01060; Look Memorial Park, 300 N Main Street, Florence 01062; or Edwards Church, 297 Main Street, Northampton 01060.
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Published by the Daily Hampshire Gazette: November 24, 2014