Hortense (Culbertson) Andross

On Thursday, December 28, 2017 Hortense passed away in Rochester, NY at age 96.   She was born to Cornelia and Augustus Culbertson on July 21, 1921 near Geneseo and will be buried there in the Culbertson family plot. 

Raised in Rochester, Hortense graduated from Marshall High School in 1939.  She worked as a telephone switch board operator until becoming a war bride in 1942. For 11 years she was a Navy wife, living at duty stations in Long Beach and San Francisco, CA, Shanghai (from which they left in a hurry, being chased out by the Communists), Tokyo, and Arlington, VA. 

She returned to Rochester as a single mom in straitened circumstance.  Living with her parents, she burnished her clerical skills at Rochester Business Institute with an eye toward the practice of law.  Reentering the workforce with gusto, she thrived in the Rochester legal community, rising to become the longtime secretary/clerk to NY Supreme Court Judge Robert Witmer. 

In retirement, she remained active, tending to her extensive garden, wintering in Florida, and summer excursions to the family lake cottage.  Finally slowing down in 2014, she sold her home of 45 years and moved to the Legacy Senior Community in Greece. 

Hortense is survived by son, David and his wife Susan (Alexandria VA, Eagles Mere, PA) and three grandchildren: Claire and great-grandchild Piper (Reston, VA), Gillian (NYC) and Pamela (Washington, D.C.). 

The family wishes to thank Hortense’s nephew, Roger Culbertson, and her friend, Trish Knisley, for attending to her so faithfully in her final years.

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