DORHTOL ERNESTINE QUARLES WRIGHT ITHACA - Dorthol Ernestine Quarles Wright, of Ithaca, died March 19, 2007 at Oak Hill Manor, after a prolonged illness. She was 88. Ernestine was born April 28, 1918 in Canadian, Texas, to Palmer Allen Quarles and Jessie Lee Goodman Quarles. She grew up in Amarillo, Texas, graduating from Amarillo High School, Amarillo College, and Texas Tech University. She was a pre-med student and participated in the band and the debating societies in both high school and college. She was also an outstanding pianist. After college she worked in the laboratory of Dr. Roger Williams at the University of Texas, Austin, where she is credited with playing a major role in the discovery of folic acid. It was also there that she met a post doctoral student, Lemuel Wright. They were married in May, 1941, and began their married life at the University of West Virginia in Morgantown. The following year they moved to the Philadelphia area where Lemuel worked at Sharp and Dohme in Glenolden, PA, and later Merck Sharp and Dohme in West Point, PA. While in the Philadelphia area, in addition to raising her daughters, Ernestine was very active in the Girl Scouts, the Garden Club, church activities, and musical groups, including playing in piano ensembles with members of the Philadelphia Orchestra. She was also a co-founder of the Marple-Newtown Swim Club. As her children were growing up, she continued to be active in the PTA, scouting, and musical groups playing the clarinet with Lemuel on the flute in local musical groups. She also began working as a substitute teacher. In 1956, the Wright family, which by this time included five daughters, moved to Ithaca where Lemuel became a professor in what was then the School of Nutrition at Cornell. Ernestine continued to be active in many local groups. At various times over the next forty some years, she was involved with the American Cancer Society, the Girl Scouts, Bib and Tucker, Sigma Delta Epsilon, the Paleontological Research Institute, Area Congregations Together, the Tompkins County Fair Board, and the Black Sheep Spinners. In addition, she was involved in teaching English to foreign student wives and also conveyed her love for, and expertise in, quilting to many interested foreign student wives. Ernestine also worked for almost twenty years as a teacher in the Ithaca City School District. She taught math briefly at Ithaca High School, elementary classes at Northeast and West Hill, and was particularly involved in the elementary math and science curriculum areas. She retired from the District in 1978. Ernestine is survived by her brother, Palmer Quarles of Newville, PA; her five daughters and husbands, Carolyn (David) Corson of Ithaca, NY, Martha Wright (husband, Murray Solomon) of New York, NY, Priscilla (Frederick) Pazzano of Gambrills, MD, Barbara (Dennis) Falgout of Vienna, VA and Nancy (John) Matyas of Calgary, Alberta, Canada. In addition, she is survived by ten grandchildren, Catherine Corson (husband, Desmond Fitz-Gibbon) of Berkeley, CA, Amy (Gary) Schwartz of Freeville, NY, Molly Rose Solomon of New York, NY, Karen (Michael) Markham of New York, NY, Stephen Pazzano of Gambrills, MD and Ithaca, NY, Juliet (Bryan) Price of Hampton, VA, Michael (Tara) Giordano of Reston, VA, Nathan (Brooke) Graham of Virginia Beach, VA and Michael Matyas and Mark Matyas of Calgary, Alberta, Canada. In addition, she is survived by six great-grandchildren. She was predeceased by her parents, her husband; and her sister, Katherine, of Sedona, Arizona. The family especially wishes to thank the staff at Oak Hill Manor for their thoughtful and compassionate care of Ernestine and Lemuel over the last 16 years. A Memorial Service will be held at 4:00 p.m. on Sunday, April 1, 2007, at the Herson Funeral Home. Memorial gifts may be made to the Family Reading Partnership, 54 Gunderman Road, Ithaca, NY 14850.