Sylvia W. Holcomb, 99, was with loved ones as she passed away Sept. 5, 2019, at Kimball Farms Nursing Care Center. She was beloved by everyone who knew her.
Born March 3, 1920, in Poughkeepsie, New York, to the late Floyd and Edith Snyder Wooster, Sylvia was a 1936 graduate of Walden High School. She entered Mount Holyoke College at age 16 and graduated with a bachelor’s degree in English literature in 1940. Sylvia completed a post-graduate college course at Katherine Gibbs School in 1941, and began work as a stenographer and secretary. She enlisted in the Navy, where she served as an ensign in the WAVES (Women Accepted for Volunteer Emergency Service) during World War II.
Sylvia married Richard Young Holcomb Aug. 17, 1946, in Manhattan, New York. He predeceased her in 1986. Their children, Bruce Holcomb and Martha Brown, were raised in Dobbs Ferry, New York, and Sylvia was active in school and church communities there. She was a communicant of the South Presbyterian Church in Dobbs Ferry, where she supported community activities and church development programs for years. Sylvia played the cello and piano and loved music. She did more volunteer work than her family can recall, including tutoring children at Children’s Village. She was known for her self-deprecating humor, her ability to complete the New York Times crossword in pen and her skill at covering all horizontal surfaces in her home with miscellanea. She saved every piece of correspondence she ever received. She loved birds, gardening and travel. She amassed a large collection of bad, unidentifiable landscape photos from her trips around the world, which complemented the correspondence collection.
Sylvia is survived by her children: Bruce (daughter-in-law D.D.) of Mclean, Virginia, and Martha of North Egremont; and her grandchildren: Fred and Vicki Holcomb and Ryan and Kevin Brown. Sylvia’s family would like to thank Kathy Scace, Sylvia’s caregiver, dear friend and advocate, and the entire Kimball Farms family for their compassionate care over the past many years.
In keeping with Sylvia’s wishes, services will be private. She wasn’t one for much of a fuss, but should you wish to make a contribution in her memory, Sylvia supported Doctors Without Borders. To share memories and stories please visit rochefuneralhome.com.
