Eleanor Stokes Karpa

Eleanor ”Dolly” Stokes Karpa died on October 5, 2010, at the Presbyterian Medical Center in Washington, where she had been living for several years. She was 97 years old. She was born in Trenton, New Jersey on September 26, 1913, to Mary Eleanor Stokes and John Sutton Dunham. She attended the Bennett School for Girls and continued her studies at Columbia University and the Art Students’ League in New York. Later she moved to Pittsburgh, where she met Edward Peter Karpa, whom she married in 1948. The Karpas owned and operated a dairy farm in Avella, PA for almost 40 years. They bred and raised registered Holsteins, showing them locally and at county and state fairs in Pennsylvania, Ohio, Kentucky, and Wisconsin. Although they had no children of their own, they actively supported the county 4-H programs and mentored many boys and girls in agriculture and farming. A member of the National, Pennsylvania, and Washington County Holstein Associations, Dolly served on the Pennsylvania and the County Boards of Directors and on several committees over the years. Dolly was also extremely involved in her community. She served on the Boards of the Washington County Arts Council, the Bradford House, and the League of Women Voters. In Hopewell Township, she served as Democratic Committeewoman, as Auditor, and as a Judge of Elections. She chaired the Township Planning commission for many years, and represented Hopewell on the Regional Planning Commission and the Community Development Corporation. Later, after moving, she became a member of the Canton Township Planning Commission. In all these activities, she was passionate about fighting injustice and inequality and in making a better life for those around her. She and Ed also loved to entertain, and many friends and colleagues in and around Washington enjoyed excellent food and stimulating conversations around her table. Edward Karpa died in September, 1980. Dolly continued to run the farm alone, with help from many kind friends and neighbors, until 1990. She kept up her visits to the library, her LWV meetings, and her aerobics classes for years after that. In addition to her parents and her husband, Dolly’s sister, Darice Elmer McDiarmid, and two of her brothers, Robert Emmett Patterson Elmer and David Potter Elmer, preceded her in death. She is survived by her other brother, Joseph Stokes Elmer, 14 nieces and nephews, and numerous grand nieces and nephews and great grand nieces and nephews. A Memorial Service will be held on Saturday, November 13, at 1:30 pm, at the Hillsview Chapel at Presbyterian Medical Center, 835 South Main Street, in Washington. In lieu of flowers, donations may be made to the Presbyterian Seniorcare Foundation at 835 South Main St, Washington PA 15301.