Pauline Underwood

Pauline Catherine Champion Underwood died January 24, 2011, in Potomac, Maryland. She was born in Millersburg, Pennsylvania, on October 30, 1918, the daughter of Clyde R. Champion and Jennie Fraley Champion.

Pauline attended schools in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, graduating from John Harris High School and later from Central Pennsylvania Business College.

She and Roy F. Underwood were married on July 2, 1944, in Pueblo, Colorado. Their daughter, Lisa Adele, was born in Harrisburg in 1947, and the family moved to Shippensburg in 1949. Dr. Underwood practiced optometry in Shippensburg for 38 years.

In the community, Pauline served as a member of the Shippensburg Human Relations Committee, a member and chaplain of the Civic Club, a member of Common Ground, the founder of the Peace Garden in Memorial Park, and a board member of the Legislative Initiative Against the Death Penalty.

While a member of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) in Shippensburg, she taught Sunday School and directed cooking and sewing classes for women receiving public assistance.

When the Presbyterian Women’s Association was organized, Pauline served as program chair and Peace and Justice advocate. During the pastorate of the Rev. Steven Fleming, she was appointed Mission Advocate for the Shippensburg Presbyterian Church. After being elected as an Elder to Session, she served on the church’s Mission Committee.

In the Carlisle Presbytery, she served on the Church in Community Committee as chair of its Peacemaking sub-committee; she was also Peace and Justice coordinator in the Synod of the Trinity for Presbyterian women.

After moving into the Episcopal Home, she was confirmed as a member of St. Andrew’s Episcopal Church on February 1, 2007. Here she initiated an outreach that had its roots in the Legislative Initiative Against the Death Penalty, that of sending birthday cards to prisoners on death row. One Sunday a month, church members who wish to do so write messages of hope on the cards.

Pauline was preceded in death by her husband. She is survived by her daughter, of Kensington, Maryland.

A memorial service will be conducted on Saturday, February 12, at 1:00 p.m., at St. Andrew’s Episcopal Church, in Shippensburg. The Fogelsanger-Bricker Funeral Home, Inc., has been entrusted with her funeral arrangements.

In lieu of flowers, contributions may be made to the Shippensburg Peace Garden, c/o Jill Hudock, 85 Diller Drive, Shippensburg, Pennsylvania, 17257; Pennsylvanians for Alternatives to the Death Penalty, P.O. Box 15, Loysville, Pennsylvania 17047 (mark contribution “Underwood Memorial Scholarship”); the Shippensburg Public Library; the Middle Spring Presbyterian Church; St. Andrew’s Episcopal Church; or Jewish Social Services Agency Hospice, 6123 Montrose Road, Rockville, Maryland 20852 (mark contribution “Hospice, in memory of Pauline Underwood”).