July 4, 1918-Jan. 11, 2014
Dolly was born in Mathews County, Va., on July 4, 1918 to Harry E. Foster and Mary Ellen Shackelford Foster. Dolly started first grade at age 5, walking to a one-room school house with her friends in the Tick Neck area.
Following graduation from Cobbs Creek High School, she completed studies at Maryland General School of Nursing in Baltimore, Md. While working as a registered nurse she met and married Dr. Millard Tolson Traband Jr. In Baltimore, she was a member of the Baltimore Opera Guild, the Howard County Historical Society, and the Howard County Garden Club.
An accomplished horticulturalist, Dolly won many awards for her arrangements and heirloom daffodils. For 20 years, she was a tireless supporter of Samuel Ready School for Girls, her daughters’ alma mater.
Since moving back permanently to her home town, Dolly has been a member of the Mathews County Historical Society, the Captain Sally Tompkins Chapter 262 of the United Daughters of the Confederacy, the Mathews Garden Club, and the Ladybug Red Hats.
Dolly was a consummate hostess and loved cooking and giving parties. She will probably be best remembered for her wonderful family stories and anecdotes.
She was preceded in death by her husband of 52 years, Dr. M.T. Traband Jr. She is survived by her daughters, Martha Ellen Traband Brockner of Mathews (husband William L. Brockner, Esq.) and Sarah Traband Caramia of Savannah, Ga. (husband Dr. John A. Caramia). Dolly loved her two grandchildren, Emily Estelle Leslie of Mathews (Jason Leslie) and Tolson DeSa of Catonsville, Md. (Patty DeSa). She was very blessed to enjoy frequent visits from her great-grandchildren, Lilly and Joseph DeSa and Eloise Leslie.
The family wishes to acknowledge the caring professional help of Shannon Burris and her associates, Michelle and Tina. The Sentara Hospice Services gave all of us peace and love when it was most needed.
Our eternal thanks and fondness to Melinda, Nancy, Cynthia, Jane Marie, Rev. Cookie and Dr. Vicki.
In lieu of flowers, the family is requesting donations in Dolly’s memory toward a brick at the Mathews Memorial Library. P.O. Box 980, Mathews, Va. 23109 or to the Gloucester-Mathews Humane Society, P.O. Box 385, Gloucester, Va. 23061.
Foster-Faulkner Funeral Home, Mathews, is in charge of the burial at Trinity Cemetery at Foster, Va. The family will have a private celebration of Dolly’s life at a later date.