Dorothy Holden Thompson

Dorothy Holden Thompson, of Easton, the Senior Partner in the Easton law firm of Thompson, Parker and Counts, died Wednesday, November 24, 2004 while visiting at the home of her daughter and son-in-law in Cary, NC. She was 84. Born in Baltimore, MD, April 25, 1920, she was the daughter of the late Robert Brodie, Sr. and Anna Henrietta Kamtman Holden. After graduating from Eastern High School in Baltimore, she entered Johns Hopkins University. After three years of study, she entered the University of Maryland School of Law, one of the few law schools in the country that admitted women at that time. She received her LLB Degree on May 29, 1943, graduating first in her class and being awarded the academic high honor of election into the Order of Coif. She was also the first woman law student ever to serve as the Chairman of the Editorial Board of Maryland Law Review. She was admitted to practice in the Court of Appeals of Maryland in 1943 and to the United States District Court in 1944. While in law school, she met her future husband, Ernest Morris Thompson, of Oxford, Maryland. They were married on November 24, 1943, a day after Mr. Thompson completed a “ninety day wonder” officer training school at Cornell University and two days before he shipped out as a Naval officer for a two year tour of duty during World War II. During his naval service, Mrs. Thompson clerked for the late Honorable Morris A. Soper of the Federal Court of Appeals. She then served on the bench of the Baltimore City Courts and practiced as an associate with law firms in both Baltimore and San Francisco, California where she had re-located to await the return of her husband’s naval vessel. In 1946, Mrs. Thompson and her husband returned to the Eastern Shore of MD, joining Elliott Wheeler and the late Ted Miller to practice law in the firm of Miller, Wheeler, Thompson and Thompson. She continued to practice until the time of her death and took great pride in the services she provided to her clients. Her practice and career reflected not only her excellent professional skills, but her great concern and care for her clients, many of whom, over the span of her career, also became dear friends. Active in many professional and community affairs throughout her lifetime, she served as an officer of the Talbot County Bar Association, the Second Judicial Circuit Bar Association and the Maryland Bar Association. A member of the Executive Committee of the Alumni Association of the University of Maryland Law School, she was the first woman appointed to the Maryland State Board of Bar Examiners. Her civic work included board positions and volunteer work with numerous agencies and organizations including the Auxiliary of the Memorial Hospital at Easton, Dixon House, the Talbot County Chapter of the American Red Cross and the American National Red Cross. Other memberships included the Talbot Country Club, the Art Academy and the Talbot County Historical Society. Mrs. Thompson will be remembered not only as an attorney whose career was devoted to providing caring professional services to her clients, but also as an inspiration and mentor to other women entering the legal profession. Most importantly, she will be remembered as a loving and supportive mother, grandmother, sister and aunt whose constant smile, gentle encouragement and warm praise will live on in her family’s hearts and memories. Mr. Thompson died November 27, 1989. Surviving are her daughter, Dolly Whiteside and her husband, Reid, of Cary, NC; a grandson, Stephen Brodie Whiteside of Chapel Hill, NC; two granddaughters, Miranda Rose Whiteside and Abigail Kathryn Whiteside, both of Cary; a sister, Lelia H. Williams of Annapolis, MD and a brother, Leroy Schorr Holden of Baltimore, MD. A sister, Peggy H. Frome and a brother, Robert B. Holden, Jr., are deceased. Funeral services will be held on Tuesday, November 30, 2004 at 11 A.M. at the St. Mark’s United Methodist Church in Easton where she was a member. Burial will follow at the Oxford Cemetery, Oxford, MD. Friends are invited to call at the Fellows, Helfenbein and Newnam Funeral Home, P.A., Easton, on Monday, November 29th, from 3 – 5 P.M. Memorial donations may be made to St. Mark’s United Methodist Church, 100 Peachblossom Road, Easton, MD or to the Memorial Hospital Foundation, P.O. Box 1846, Easton, MD 21601.