Sunshine Committee: Meda E. Thetford, June 3 1913-April 26 2010

We are sorry to report that Norm Thetford's mother, Meda E. Thetford, passed away on April 26, her children by her side. Thanks to Nancy Brackett, we have the obituary from the Asbury Park Press:

Meda E. (Young) Thetford, 96, of Eatontown, passed peacefully from this life on Monday, April 26, 2010, at her home. Meda was born June 3, 1913 in Palmyra, N.Y., the second daughter of Sanford and Genevieve Young. She graduated valedictorian from Palmyra Classical High School in 1931. She won a New York State Regents' Scholarship to attend Cornell University, where she majored in psychology and earned a Phi Beta Kappa in 1935. She completed her Masters in Social Work at the New York School of Social Work, now part of Columbia University, while living at International House in upper Manhattan. She met her husband, Norman D. Thetford, M.D. while they were students at Cornell. On July 17, 1939, they were married at the Plymouth Church of the Pilgrims, Brooklyn, N.Y. They lived for seven years on Saint Croix, U.S. Virgin Islands, where Norman served in the U.S. Public Health Service, and then moved to Eatontown in 1947. They had been married for 69 years at the time of Norman's death in 2008. With a great desire to beautify her community, Meda was the founder and charter member of the Eatontown Shade Tree Commission and a leader in creating the Pride in Eatontown Committee. In these and many other civic affairs, she was active for over 40 years. In 1983, she received a Special Recognition Award from the Borough of Eatontown for her public service.

She is the mother of four children, Virginia and her husband, Professor Ivan Valiela of Falmouth, Mass., Dr. Norman A. Thetford and his wife, Dr. Mary Lou (Williams) Thetford of Hamden, Conn., Lois Thetford, PA-C and her partner, the Honorable Jean Rietschel of Seattle, Wash., and Dr. Constance and her husband, Dr. Clair Hixson of Kingsport, Tenn. Her descendants include nine grandchildren; and eight great-grandchildren.

Meda will always be remembered by her family and her many beloved associates as a woman of great kindness, intellect, courage, and determination to fight for the right. She had a warm smile and a generous spirit that brought joy to those who spent time with her. She was a wise counselor to her husband and her children, and to many other family members and friends.
A gathering of family and friends to memorialize Meda Thetford's life will be announced when arrangements are complete. In lieu of flowers or donations, the family asks that the donor plant a tree or flowering bush in Meda's memory in a location of his or her choice.