Marcia Dorst

Born in Claremont, California in1928 to Paul Matthews Kinney and Ferne Johnson Kinney, she spent her early life in Southern California. At age 10, she spent a year at her grandparents’ ranch outside Phoenix, AZ after her father’s death. There she fell in love with searching the arroyos for arrowheads and other artifacts of the people who had lived on that land before her. That year lit up her love of natural history and science which continued as she studied biology at Pomona College, where she met her husband and love of her life, John Phillips Dorst, MD.

Their lives led them to the Midwest and then to Baltimore as his career as a physician developed and their family grew, finally settling in Columbia, Maryland in 1972. Marcia always loved travel - the delight of an unscripted road trip would bring her alive as she would take to the wheel and easily navigate a roundabout in London, or a one-lane track through hedgerows. They traveled extensively around the world as he gave lectures and she excitedly explored the area. Some of her favorite times were sailing on the Chesapeake Bay, climbing mountains and picking wild blueberries in Mount Desert, as well as vacationing with her children and grandchildren in Cape Cod.

She had a bright, scientific mind and a practical problem-solving approach to life - the person who could find a creative solution to any problem or answer your call and tell you how to cook asparagus to keep it bright green, or make a Yorkshire pudding to time it perfectly with a roast beef. A voracious reader, her shelves were brimming with books on her favorite subjects as well as many that had surprisingly caught her interest. Her quick wit would catch you off guard, and this ability to find the humor in a moment grew throughout her life to the point where her children wondered how she perfected her comic timing while living alone during the pandemic.

In the end, her life was truly a triumph of love in the face of adversity. Being an only child and having dealt with the loss of both of her parents to suicide by the time she was 30, she found a way to create a loving and close family with deep bonds. She triumphed over the isolation and pain which those deaths inflicted upon her and was a gracious and kind presence who was well loved by those she touched.

Marcia is survived by her four children and their spouses: Stan Dorst (Maggie Yoest); Heather Dorst (Michael Phillips); John Dorst (Kirsten Smith); and Miranda Saunders (Jana Saunders); her seven grandchildren and three great-grandchildren. A memorial service will be held at a later date. Donations can be made in her honor to Planned Parenthood or to The Chesapeake Bay Foundation.