Dorothy Helen Pilch, born March 18, 1919 in New Jersey and a Brooklyn Heights resident for over fifty years, died on May 20 after a brief illness. Dorothy was a long time member of Grace Church and the oldest member of the congregation at the time of her death. Until shortly before her passing she was an enthusiastic member of the church’s cooking crew (photo). She graduated from an Education for Ministry class while in her 90s and was active in the Fair Committee and the Rector’s Bible Study group. She was also a member of a book study group. She is survived by her brothers Frederick and Arthur Pilch and many nieces and nephews.
Dorothy was also involved in civic matters in the community at large. She used her educational background in economics–Douglass College, Rutgers, 1939–and her experience in financial work to counsel other seniors in the New York City Department of Aging’s Health Insurance Information Counseling Assistance Program. She also served at Mary Manning Walsh Home in the New York Foundation for Senior Citizens NYC Long Term Care Ombudsman Program. Having been, as she readily acknowledged, a victim of sexual assault at an advanced age, she participated in the Survivors of Trauma Rape Crisis Hotline.
Dorothy’s life will be celebrated at Grace Church, 254 Hicks Street (between Grace Court and Joralemon Street), this Saturday, June 11, at 1:00 p.m.
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