Dorcas Ellen Leibold

Dorcas Ellen Leibold of Hilton Head Island, South Carolina, passed away January 21, 2018, at the age of 95. Dorcas was born in Pittsburgh, Pa., April 17, 1922, the youngest child of physician George and Frieda Marie Waltner Leibold. She grew up on Pittsburgh’s North Side and graduated from The Baldwin School in Bryn Mawr, Pa., and Chatham College in Pittsburgh. She later attended the University of Denver where she received a master’s degree in social work. For more than 25 years, Dorcas worked with the Travelers Aid Society of Pittsburgh, rising through the ranks to Executive Director. She took special pride helping thousands of travelers, including many overseas soldiers coming home, return safely to their loved ones. Dorcas also traveled the world. She delighted in cruising to the Caribbean and Bermuda and taking extended trips to Europe and Asia. She would often regale her relatives with tales of her travels. Dorcas was an accomplished amateur photographer, toting her cameras and equipment with her around the globe to capture wonderful highlights of her trips. Dorcas and her traveling companion, Eunice Jackson, collected souvenirs on their travels and even started a small business, Dorice, selling theme parties with items they acquired in Mexico, Italy, Japan and other parts of the world. Dorcas moved to Hilton Head Island in the mid-1970s, an area she quickly came to call “home.” Her commitment as a social worker remained strong, and she would often travel the back roads on the island to help those in need. She took an active role in the homeowners association, including editing the community newsletter, at the Shipyard Plantation where she lived for several decades. She earned her South Carolina real estate license and worked as a Realtor in the Hilton Head/Bluffton area. When Dorcas moved to The Seabrook of Hilton Head around 2007, she immersed herself – as she did with most everything in her life – in the retirement community lifestyle. She loved the camaraderie of her neighbors and relished attending and participating in the social functions. Dorcas had a wonderful singing voice and loved to harmonize with friends at the piano. She also was an accomplished harmonica player and occasionally, to the delight of her family, would play a rousing rendition of one of her favorite tunes. Dorcas was preceded in death by her parents; and brothers, Robert W. Leibold, M.D., and John P. “Jack” Leibold, D.D.S.; and nephew Michael J. “Mike” Leibold, Pharm.D.

She is survived by her loving niece and nephews and numerous grandnieces and grandnephews.

The family asks that in lieu of flowers, memorial contributions be made to a charity of your choice.

A memorial service at Seabrook will be held at 3:30 p.m., Saturday, March 3. Interment at Union Dale Cemetery in Pittsburgh is pending.

Low Country Cremation and Burial is serving the Leibold family. www.bradleybanderson.com