Courtney McCollum

SARASOTA, Fla. – My beloved cousin, Courtney McCollum, died on Oct. 5 2022. Just weeks before her 57th birthday.

Maybe you knew her. If you did, you would know it before reading the second sentence. Anyone who ever met her never ever forgot her. She had that kind of magic. To know her was to love her. Immediately. and ever more.

We were born the same year (1965) and grew up together. She, in Washington D.C. and me, in New York City, N.Y. But every summer we spent together in Bangor at our grandparents’ house on Kenduskeag Avenue. Our mothers, Hilda Hutchins and Hope Hutchins Benton grew up in Bangor with their brother, Chris Hutchins, and were the three children of Ruth and Curtis Hutchins. Otherwise known as “Mimi and Da”. We each had a brother- Brad and Alec- who were also the same age as each other and the four of us and our moms lived with Mimi and Da all summer long while our dads-Otis McCollum and Courtney’s Uncle Bob DiNapoli- stayed home and worked, and came to visit us on weekends. We loved going to the airport on Friday evenings to watch their planes come in. Uncle Chris and aunt Sandra’s boys Chip and Brit were also our age and lived around the corner from Mimi and Da. We six cousins all played every game a child in the ’70s played together all summer long. It was a wonderful childhood.

Our grandparents were the most elegant and generous owners of Dead River Company-a company founded by our great-grandfather, Charles Hutchins, in 1909. Mimi and Da modeled the spirit of giving with their endless support of organizations in Maine and their willingness to always help others financially and otherwise.

Courtney lived most of her life in Washington D.C. right across the road from her forever best friend of all time, Lucie Greer. She went to National Cathedral school and St. Timothy’s and St. Andrew’s.

When she and I were old enough, we went to Camp WOHELO on Sebago Lake together for eight weeks of every summer. That was where our mothers went to camp when they were girls.

After high school, Courtney went to Ohio Wesleyan University which she chose because it fit her “like an LL Bean boot” she told me. I was at another college and went to visit her one weekend and met all of her friends, like Lara and Kevin and Andy and Rachel. I transferred immediately and we spent the next two years at OWU together. Both of us Education majors. She left before I did to do her student teaching at a Chicago inner city school. She was a gifted teacher. She adored children and they adored her.

After graduation Courtney wanted to join the Peace Corps but at the age of 21 she was diagnosed with type one diabetes and was not eligible to make that dream come true. So she went to Haiti where she lived and worked with underprivileged families for two years.

After returning to the U.S., Courtney met my friend, Susy Chaplin Isaacs, and together they embarked on what would be the greatest adventure of Courtney’s life…They hiked the entire Appalachian trail from Georgia to Maine beginning in February 1994. They became known as “The Wildflowers”. When they reached the Smoky Mountains, a blizzard snowed them in for days, where they survived in a lean-to with five others before being air-lifted out by helicopters. Closer to the end of their trip, Susy broke her leg and Courtney had to bushwhack her way back to civilization for help, and another rescue. Courtney was not a natural athlete, but found her strength in nature, especially in the woods. The Wildflowers eventually resumed their trek and made it to the end of the trail, taking good care of each other along the way.

Courtney then settled back in Washington D.C. where she continued to work with children at The Center for Multicultural Human Services and The Center for Mental Health Inc., while simultaneously studying for her Doctorate in Psychology. During this time, Courtney married Jim Doherty and became the stepmother to her dearly beloved stepson, Patrick Doherty, who is the same age as Courtney’s godson (my son) Noah Bracken. Patrick and Noah were the ring bearers at her wedding in Washington D.C.

Just before Courtney and Jim divorced in 2003, they had been fostering a newborn baby girl. Courtney fought to adopt this baby by herself and she became the mother of Grace Louise McCollum who is now 20 years old, studying education at Rollins College and engaged to be married to Christopher Noel. Courtney and Grace moved to Portland and lived alone together until Courtney met and married Jim Woodman. Together they lived in Portland and adopted another child, who is Grace’s 13-year-old brother, Marshall James McCollum.

While living in Maine, Courtney and I were co-directors, along with Karen Schacht, of The Mimi Foundation, which we four cousins created in order to continue the tradition of philanthropy instilled in us by Mimi and Da. Our mission statement for our foundation is simply, “What would Mimi do?”. Courtney and Karen and I loved traveling around the state together visiting the organizations in Maine that we supported.

Courtney and her family lived happily together in Portland until a few years ago, when they all moved to Siesta Key, Fla. where life would hopefully be less physically challenging for Courtney. You see, for the last 25 years Courtney has suffered many diabetic related illnesses that had her in and out of hospitals. There were some years when she spent more days in the hospital than out. She developed osteomyelitis in 2000 and a serious leg infection in 2002. Unfortunately, from the time she was about 32, her health never got better. Just worse and eventually she would need amputations of toes and a limb, open heart surgery, two hip replacements, dialysis, and then a very risky kidney transplant. For years she waited for a donor and when none appeared, Courtney’s life saving friend, Marcella Makinen, gave Courtney one of her kidneys and the successful transplant was completed just days before the world shut down for Covid. Her new kidney meant she did not have to go to dialysis during those scary beginning covid days-which was a gift-of a little more time in this life. But not as much as she wished for or deserved.

Courtney had a heart of pure gold. She spent her life giving to others, helping absolutely every person she knew and loved. She was a dreamer and a brilliant story teller. She could make up a lie on the spot; “yes, Mimi, we LOVE the Picadillo!” She loved to laugh and loved to cry. She loved to be silly and had a wicked sense of humor. She was creative, compassionate, kind and the most courageous person I’ve known. And optimistic. Through all of her pain and suffering she remained positive and hopeful. Always looking forward to making her next dream come true. So many of which she did!

Her greatest dreams come true are her beautiful children Grace and Marshall whom she loved more than anyone else. And she was always the very best mother she could be. She lived as long as she could to be there for them. She never ever gave up. Until she did… Just days after being caught in the maelstrom of hurricane Ian, she finally surrendered her broken body to a higher power, leaving her unbroken spirit alive in us all forever more…Rest well Courtney.

i carry your heart (i carry it in my heart)

A memorial service will be held at our grandparents’ house, Kinnear, sometime this summer.

Donations to honor Courtney can be made to A Company of Girls in Portland Maine.