ABCNJ Mourns The Passing of Dr. Doris Anne Younger
Dr. Doris Anne “Dodie” Younger
(June 30, 1924 - December 25, 2017)
Is it with sadness that we pass the news of the passing of Dr. Doris Anne Younger, widow of former ABCNJ Executive Minister Rev. George D. Younger. Doris was a faithful servant of Christ and proponent for both lay and ordained Women leadership in the Church. Her obituary is shared below.
Dr. Doris Anne Younger, an ecumenical church leader and educator, died peacefully on Christmas Day in Livingston, NJ. Dr. Younger, known as Dodie, was 93.
From 1983-89, Dodie served as General Director of Church Women United (“CWU”), a national ecumenical organization. While at CWU, she was active in shaping the role of women in the church around the world. In the late 1980s, she was arrested while praying for peace in Central America at the U.S. Capitol rotunda. Of her role at CWU, she stated, “We must be advocates for women who are hurting by building bridges of community and trust across barriers of age, class, marital status, theological position, educational level, employment, race and culture.”
From 1976-83, Dodie was Executive Director of American Baptist Women. About that position she wrote that, “It was my commitment to working for justice and my sense that it was God’s call…that gave me the courage to become an advocate for the place of laywoman in the church, and the emerging role of women as pastors.”
Following her retirement, Dodie served as a Trustee of the New York Theological Seminary. During this period she also served as Interim Director for the Commission on Ministry of the American Baptist Churches and as a Trustee of the Senior Friends of the World Student Christian Federation.
While living at Winchester Gardens in Maplewood, NJ, Dodie was active with the Residents Association and was Founding Editor of the Winchester Gardens Community Chronicle.
Earlier in her career, Dodie taught at Kennedy-King College in Chicago and was a founding faculty member at the Women’s Talent Corps in Manhattan, now the Metropolitan College of New York. The focus of her teaching was on training low-income, inner-city women so they could find employment in various fields.
Dodie was a graduate of the University of Pennsylvania (B.S.), Yale Divinity School (M.Div.) and NY Theological Seminary (D.Min.). She received the distinguished graduate award from Yale Divinity School, the Valiant Woman Award from CWU, the Luke Mowbray Ecumenical Award from American Baptist Churches USA, and the Sower Award from NYTS.
Born in Allentown, PA, Dodie’s parents were the Rev. W. Chester Hill, a Lutheran pastor, and his wife Esther. She was married for 52 years to the late Rev. Dr. George D. Younger, whom she met while they were both students at Yale Divinity School. They were married at the School’s chapel in 1949.
Beginning in 1957, Dodie and George spent their summers in Sorrento, ME.
She is survived by her sister, Christine Killough of Chestnut Hill, PA; her children, Judith Laspesa of Manchester-by-the-Sea, MA, Dana Younger (Elizabeth) of Takoma Park, MD, Stephen Younger (Prudence) of New York, NY, and Samuel Younger (Liz) of Westfield, NJ; ten grandchildren, Stephen, Suzanne, Millicent, Willard, Matthew, Patrick, Coleman, Timothy, Paul, and Emery; and three great-grandchildren, Morgan, Trevor, and Frank.
A memorial service is scheduled at the Glen Ridge, NJ Congregational Church for 11:00 a.m. on Saturday January 20, 2018. The family requests that any memorial gifts be directed to: The George and Dodie Younger Scholarship Fund at New York Theological Seminary; or The Employee Scholarship at Winchester Gardens.