Ilene H. Wolcott
Died October 15, 2013
NORTHPORT
– Ilene Harriet Wolcott, 72, of Northport, passed away Tuesday, Oct. 15, 2013
at University of Michigan Hospital.
Ilene Harriet Wolcott was born on February
22, 1941 in Newark, New Jersey. She grew
up in New Jersey in a close, extended Jewish family, sharing summers at the
Jersey Shore and weekends in the Catskills.
She attended the University of Rochester, then New York University, and
graduated from Kean College with a teaching degree. Ilene married Thomas Asher in 1962 and the
next year started teaching in a “blackboard jungle” school in West Harlem, then
in a suburb of Detroit, and next in Queens, New York City. Her daughter Lauren was born in Washington,
DC in 1966. She received an MA in
Counseling from American University in 1973.
After her divorce, Ilene married Peter
Wolcott in 1972 in Leland, Michigan, gaining three stepchildren as well. She spent her first year of marriage studying
Finnish at the Foreign Service Institute in Washington in preparation for
Peter’s assignment to Finland. In
Helsinki she taught sixth grade at the British School. She loved the snow, clouds, and pine trees of
Finland. On her return to Washington she
started a new career as the first manager of The Women and Health
Roundtable. As a national advocate she
researched, wrote, gave speeches, and testified before Congress about the need for
increased attention and resources for health issues affecting women.
Ilene moved with Peter to Melbourne,
Australia in 1979, where he was the Public Affairs Officer in the American
Consulate. Determined to have her own
work and identity rather than be a traditional Foreign Service wife, she was
quickly employed as editor of the Social-Biology Resource Centre Journal. In 1980 she was hired as one of the first
researchers at the Australian Institute of Family Studies. She researched and wrote 27 publications on
family issues, which were widely cited by scholars around the world. She loved to travel throughout Australia,
fearlessly riding on planes ranging from air force transports to single engine
desert hoppers.
She was a judge for the Australian and New
Zealand Work and Family Corporate Awards, and a keynote speaker at Australian
Bicentennial Events on family and work/family issues. In addition to frequent media interviews, she
often lectured to university classes, captivating audiences by illustrating her
talks with New Yorker cartoons and popular music.
Ilene was a passionate supporter of family
planning. In Washington she was a fearless Planned Parenthood volunteer, often
the only white volunteer at DC General Hospital and hosting teenage “rap”
sessions. In Australia she became the
President of the State of Victoria’s Family Planning Association and Vice
President of the Australian Family Planning Association. She represented the
Institute of Family Studies at the annual Meetings of the Marriage Guidance
Council of Australia, where she not only gave annual lectures, but also
mediated between feminists and religious conservatives. Tireless, she also qualified and volunteered
as a marriage and a pre-marital counselor.
After retiring in 1999, Ilene spent several
years working at Swinburne University in Melbourne as a qualitative researcher,
specializing in finishing projects for academic procrastinators. That year she
and Peter also began spending the North American winter months in Leelanau
County and Australian winter months in Melbourne. Ilene had many friends on
both continents, sharing long hikes and beach holidays. In Michigan she loved
to cross-country ski, walk in the autumn leaves, and participate in Community
activities. In 2012 she and Peter built
a home on Lake Michigan north of Northport.
She was on the Board of the Leelanau
Historical Society and the Northport Area Historical Association. Ilene worked at both museums as an archivist
and wrote a number of articles on Leelanau County history for the local weekly
newspaper the Leelanau Enterprise. An
avid hiker, she walked and skied on Fridays with the Leelanau Walkie
Talkies. She painted on Tuesday mornings
with the Leland Community Cultural Center and joined their art exhibits. She was a member of writing and quilting
groups and was Treasurer of the Northport Energy Action Taskforce.
Ilene loved nature and travel. She trekked the Milford Track in New Zealand
with Australian friends, visited artist friends in Tuscany many times, and
reveled in high altitude hikes in the Rockies.
Throughout her life she sought to perfect her skills as a watercolorist,
painting landscapes and still lifes as well as illustrated letters cherished by
her eight grandchildren. She was also a quilter. She loved baking with her grandchildren and
for friends, and cooking for dinner parties using recipes from her many
cookbooks and Gourmet magazines.
Ilene’s final wish was to become a blue
spruce. She will do so in Leelanau.
Ilene is survived by her husband, Peter; four
children, Lauren Asher, Joel Wolcott, Jennifer Wolcott-Michelson, Victoria
Wolcott and eight grandchildren, Adela, Nora, Maya, Reggie, Joelyz, Rex,
Alexander and Elliot.
She was preceded in death by her parents.
A Celebration of Ilene’s life will be held at
4 p.m. on Monday, Oct. 21, 2013 at the Trinity Church Hall in Northport. Burial in East Leland Cemetery has been held.
Memorials may be directed to Leelanau
Conservancy, PO Box 1007, Leland, MI 49654; National Planned Parenthood, www.plannedparenthood.org and/or Northport Area Heritage Association, PO Box
453, Northport, MI 49670.
Arrangements are with the Martinson Funeral
Home of Suttons Bay.
