Hope Whitcomb Cavendish

Hope Cavendish passed away peacefully on September 5th, 2019 surrounded by family and love. She was 101 years old. Hope was born on March 8, 1918 in Winthrop, MA, the daughter of the late Gustav and Alfhild Hedman. She graduated from high school in 1935 and from the Chandler Secretarial School in 1937. Hope worked as a secretary at the E.F. Mahades Hospital Supply Firm where she met the love of her life, her first husband, Squire L. Whitcomb, whom she married on December 31, 1938. From that point on, her devotion turned to building a close, caring family, and she would become its treasured matriarch for generations to come.

She is survived by her son, Steven Whitcomb and his wife, Pam of Dennis, MA and her daughter, Viki Storm and her husband, John of Conway, MA. She was the loving grandmother of 9 grandchildren, Laura Linke, Kim Stevens, Scott Whitcomb, Carrie Chavez, Kristen James, Jon Storm, Erik Storm, Lisa Rapalje, and Amy Whitcomb, as well as 18 great-grandchildren and an unborn great-great grandchild to be. She was predeceased by her two wonderful husbands, Squire Whitcomb and Larry Cavendish and her beloved son, Kent Whitcomb.

To know Hope was to love Hope. She had a personality and upbeat attitude that attracted people. She lived life to its fullest with youthfulness and energy that knew no bounds or strictures of age, always trying new things and remaining active in various organizations. She was an actress in the Senior Players group until she was 95 and an active sister in the Philanthropic Educational Organization (P.E.O.) for 42 years. She volunteered in multiple capacities for her church, the First Congregational Church in Harwich. Hope was a creative person and a talented artist. She lived her life by the simple lesson her cherished father taught her - “to be kind,” a lesson that everyone who was blessed enough to know her will carry with them in her memory.

A Celebration of Life Service will be held at 11am on Friday, September 13th, 2019 at the First Congregational Church, 697 Main Street, Harwich, MA. In lieu of flowers, donations may be made to the Harwich Junior Theater, 105 Division Street, West Harwich, MA 02671 or P.E.O.’s Cottey College, 1000 West Austin, Nevada, MO 64772. Condolence messages may be sent to the family by visiting https://www.dignitymemorial.com.