Edith Cavell Lewis-Mccullough

Edith Cavell Lewis McCullough (Cal) was born in New Glasgow, Nova Scotia, Canada on November 11, 1915 to Fredric and Lillian Lewis. She passed away on August 24, 2012. Named after the famous World War I English nurse, Edith Cavell, she decided by age five that she wanted to be a nurse.



Cal graduated as a registered nurse from St. John Hospital Nursing School in 1939. Always an outstanding basketball player, team leader and coach, she was asked to train for the Canadian Olympic basketball team before the 2nd World War began. With the outbreak of World War II, she gave up her post as the private nurse to the Lt. Gov. of New Brunswick, Canada and enlisted in the army of the then British Empire. She was assigned to the South African Nurse Corp. Commissioned a Lt., Cal served in South Africa, Egypt and eventually was transferred to Italy where she and her fellow Canadian nurses were granted an audience with then Pope Pius the 21st. This she always recounted as a highlight of her life. After promotion to major, while in Italy she met and married Major Thomas R. McCullough, United States Army on October 26, 1944 in Spinazzola, Italy.



The Majors, McCullough and McCullough, honeymooned on the Isle of Capri, off the coast of Italy, staying in the summer home of the deposed Italian dictator, Benito Mussolini. Cal returned to the U.S. with her husband to live in Tuscarawas County and became a US citizen in 1948.



She was employed by Union Hospital for many years and devoted much of her time to community activities including the Ohio Nurses Association, Red Cross, Meals on Wheels, the YMCA, PTA, Mental Health Board, Girls Scouts and Church Women United.



She was the mother of four, Patricia McCullough (Glenn Enslen)and Kevin McCullough (Erma) of Atwood Lake, Michael (Sherry) of Sacramento, California and Margaret (Peg) Calhoun (husband Jeff) of Summersville, SC; a sister in-law, Mary T. Wilhelm of New Philadelphia, five grandchildren; Michael McKee of Dover, Shannon McKee of Huber Heights, TSGTJonathan Edie of Spangdahlem AB, Germany, Nathan Edie of Shreveport, Louisiana, and Clay Enslen of Pomeroy, along with eight beautiful great grandchildren and many nieces and nephews.



In addition to her husband, she is preceded in death by her sister; Margaret Clarke, and three brothers; Hardy, Crosby, and Winton Lewis.



In honoring Cal's wishes, cremation has been entrusted to the Toland-Herzig Funeral Home & Crematory in Dover. A memorial mass will be held at St. Joseph Catholic Church on Friday, August 31, 2012 at 10:30 am with Father Daniel Mindling officiating. Inurnment will take place at Calvary Cemetery in New Philadelphia. Following the service of committal, a reception will be held at the Toland-Herzig Monarch Center in Dover. Friends are invited to call at the funeral home on Thursday, August 30, 2012 from 5-7 pm.



Those unable to attend, or who would like to share a fond memory of Cal may do so by visiting the "Obituaries and Flowers" link on the funeral home's website.



Memorial contributions can be made to the Tuscarawas County Humane Society, PO Box 92, New Philadelphia, Ohio 44663.