Doreen Elizabeth Hotchkiss

Doreen Elizabeth (nee Maxwell) Hotchkiss, 90, died peacefully surrounded by family on Sunday, April 8, in Ogden, Utah. A service celebrating her life will be held at 2 p.m. on Saturday, May 12, at Perkins Funeral Home, 55 W. Main St., Dryden, NY, followed by interment in Virgil Rural Cemetery, Virgil, NY. Online condolences may be left for the family at www.perkinsfuneralhome.com.
In lieu of flowers, donations in Doreen’s memory may be sent to Monarch Watch, c/o Gift Processing Department, KU Endowment, PO Box 928, Lawrence, KS 66044. Contributions may also be sent to the Marty Memorial Scholarship Fund at Queen’s University, Kington, ON in memory of Dr. Doreen Maxwell Hotchkiss. Alumni of Queen’s can give directly at www.givetoqueens.ca/doreenhotchkiss. Non-Queen’s alumni may send checks to the US Foundation for Queen's University at Kingston, 5614 Connecticut Ave NW, Box 130, Washington DC 20015, referencing the Marty Memorial Scholarship fund in memory of Dr. Doreen Maxwell Hotchkiss.
Doreen was born May 12, 1927, in Van Kleek Hill, ON, the only child of Claude and Della (Wilson) Maxwell. Her father was a civil engineer, whose career took the family to exotic places. Thus, Doreen had a peripatetic childhood hopscotching around the globe, from Peru to Puerto Rico, Newfoundland to Temiscaming, Quebec. She changed schools and languages routinely. Whether swearing in Spanish, Quechua or singing bawdy French-Canadian songs, she embraced a sense of wonder about the world coupled with a love of learning that she shared with everyone she encountered.
Following in her parents’ footsteps, both of whom were alumni of Queen’s University, Doreen attended Queen’s on a biology scholarship, earning her Bachelor of Arts and Sciences degree in 1949. She completed a Master’s degree in entomology, doing research on her beloved Sawflies, in 1951. Doreen was awarded the prestigious Marty Memorial Scholarship in 1952, which enabled her to continue her education at University of St. Andrews in Fife, Scotland. There she began cytogenetic studies which later culminated in a PhD from McGill University in Montreal, QC. But it was her postdoctoral studies at the University of Sydney in Sydney, Australia, that proved truly life-changing. There, she met Arland Hotchkiss, an American botanist on the faculty of the University of Sydney. “Hotch” proved to be her future husband, father of her children, and the love of her life.
Doreen taught at the University of New Brunswick in Fredericton, NB before moving to Louisville, KY as a new bride, resident alien and committed Canadian. There, she put her career on hold temporarily while raising four children born within five years. After the children reached school-age, she returned to academia teaching science-related courses at the secondary level (St. Francis School), and later at Indiana University South-East and Jefferson Community College Southwest. Named a Teacher of the Year in Kentucky, Doreen claimed there was no such thing as an unteachable student and went to great lengths to reach her students, even paying their tuition at one point.
Asked what she considered her major accomplishment, she said, “I’ll say that with the exception of finding one wonderful husband and producing four wonderful children, I haven’t done it yet!” Doreen was an avid reader and volunteer and for several years combined those interests by recording books for the blind. She had many interests and retained her curiosity and love for learning throughout her later years, writing children’s books, researching and writing books on family and church history, plus writing and editing a genetics textbook. She loved all types of insects, especially Sawflies and Monarch butterflies.
Doreen is survived by her children, Arland, Jr. (Julia Goplerud), Anne Anderson (Dale), John (Mindy), and Mary (Mark Powers), and grandchildren Brett, Samuel, Colin, Dylan, Shannon, Ian and Juna. She was preceded in death by her husband, Arland Hotchkiss, Sr., and her parents.