Dola Marie Sylvester Duke DENTON, Md. - Dola Marie Sylvester Dukes (known to many as Marie), former resident of Denton, Md., for most of her life, passed away on Wednesday, April 7, 2010, at Emeritus, an assisted living facility in San Dimas, Calif. She was 87. Dola's story began in Goldsboro, Md., where she was born to Harold and Ruth Quillen Sylvester on April 21, 1922. She grew up on a farm near Felton, Del. After she graduated from Felton High School, she attended the University of Delaware until she transferred to Washington College in Chestertown, Md., from which she graduated in 1944. Upon college graduation, she accepted a position teaching high school English in Cecil County, until her marriage to Albert G. Dukes. She and Albert had one daughter, Barbara. She spent the next several years raising her daughter and occasionally filling in as a substitute teacher in Caroline County. After Barbara entered nursing school in Easton, Dola began a career as a social worker. She was employed by the Caroline County Department of Social Services where she worked for over twenty years, retiring in 1987. After Albert passed in 1998, Dola remained in their home until December 2005, when she moved to California to be near her daughter and grandchildren. She lived with her daughter for several months until health issues made it necessary for her to move to an assisted living facility nearby. She enjoyed the company of her peers, the entertainment the facility provided, and frequent visits and outings with her family. While living in Denton, she was an active member of St. Luke's United Methodist Church, the United Methodist Women, AARP, Unity Homemakers Club, and the Caroline County Business and Professional Womens Club. Until Albert's passing, they enjoyed going to the theater, dining out, and ballroom dancing. Dola is survived by her daughter, Barbara Slaughter and her husband Roger of Covina, Calif.; granddaughters Desiree McArthur and her husband Bill of Covina and Nicole Pinckard and her husband Bob of Claremont, Calif.; a great-granddaughter, Sage MacArthur; great-grandsons, Colby Pinckard, Mason McArthur, and Kaiden Pinckard; one brother, Nolan Sylvester and his wife Betty Lee; three sisters, Page Brothers, Janet Palmatary and her husband Louis, and Mary Lou Cooper and her husband Bobby; a sister-in-law, Louise Singer; and numerous nieces and nephews. She will be missed and remembered by all whose lives she touched. Funeral services will be 2 p.m., Sunday, April 18, at the Moore Funeral Home, PA, 12 S. Second St. in Denton where friends may call from 6 until 8 p.m. on Saturday evening, April 17. The interment will be in the Denton Cemetery, 24865 Meeting House Road in Denton. The family suggests for friends to send memorial donations to St. Luke's United Methodist Church, 100 S. Fifth Ave., Denton, MD 21629 or to the National Parkinson Foundation, Inc., 1501 NW, 9th Ave./Bob Hope Rd., Miami, FL 33136-1494.