Nancy Linda Dodge

Nancy Linda Dodge died January 20, 2018 at Dartmouth-Hitchcock Medical Center, after a period of declining health and battling cancer. She was born in Laconia, New Hampshire, on August 28, 1943, the only child of Owen L. and Hilda E. (Spencer) French. She grew up in Pittsfield and Contoocook and graduated from Hopkinton High School. She attended Middlebury College, earned a BA and MA from UNH, and an MLS from Simmons College School of Library Science. She was an academic librarian at St. Michael's College and NH Vocational Technical College at Portsmouth/Stratham. Nancy married David Dodge of Portsmouth in 1966. They divorced in 1981 and had no children.

She became fascinated with genealogy, and in researching her ancestors discovered she was the first in up to nine generations, both sides, not raised in Coos and Essex Counties. She moved to Stewartstown in 1988, continued researching local families and history, and compiled 3 volumes of gravestone inscriptions in 15 North Country towns. Over the years, she presented workshops and lectures on many genealogical and historical topics in Maine, Vermont, New Hampshire and Massachusetts. She was a member of multiple regional, state, and local historical and genealogical societies and family associations and was a life member of the N.H. Society of Genealogists.

She was a lifelong lover of the natural world, and was devoted to animals and their welfare. She was a member and supporter of numerous environmental and humane organizations.

Her mother died in 1992, and her father was killed in 2007. She is survived by many friends and many cousins of all degrees both near and far. She was a registered organ donor, and the Cremation Society of NH is in charge of arrangements. Her ashes will join her paternal grandparents and great grandparents in the Colebrook Cemetery. At her request, there will be no services, and she has asked that donations in her memory be made to the humane society of one's choice.