MIRIAM (DOBLE) CARY BATH – Miriam (Doble) Cary, 94, died peacefully in her sleep Monday, Aug. 25, 2008, at Hill House, Bath. She was born Dec. 21, 1913, in Milo, the daughter of Malcolm and Augusta (Farmer) Doble. The family moved to Bath in her childhood years and she attended Bath schools, graduating from Morse High School, Class of 1931. She went on to Wheaton College, earning her bachelor’s degree in 1935. From those days, she earned the nickname “Toni,” and she became “Toni” for family and friends for the rest of her life. She had a singular ambition to become a doctor and she was accepted to Tufts Medical School, becoming one of the first women to ever enroll there. She received her medical degree in 1939 and specialized in anesthesiology. She married George Foster Cary II, Aug. 17, 1940. After spending a year in Norfolk, Va., she and her husband returned to Bath. She practiced medicine during the war, but stopped for several years when the war ended to raise her family. She returned to medicine in the mid-1950s, practicing anesthesiology at several area hospitals, including a residency at Maine Medical Center, Portland; two Brunswick hospitals, Park View and Regional Memorial; and Bath Memorial Hospital. She retired as a physician in 1965 when she and her husband moved to a second home at Sugarloaf Mountain. For the next several years, she maintained three residences – the Bath home, the Sugarloaf camp and a summer cottage on a family island off Milbridge. Toni was predeceased by her husband, who died unexpectedly Aug. 27, 1978. After his death, she made their Bath home her primary residence. She began painting in earnest, producing watercolor pieces of local color, as well as scenes from her travels. She audited a number of courses at Bowdoin College and she took advantage of Elderhostel offerings. She began carving wood, taking classes from a local woodworker. At this time, her extraordinary affinity for polar bears emerged. She carved many, many bears in various poses and began a collection of artifacts, including pictures, statuary and plush animals that numbered in the hundreds. Perhaps most remarkable, when she was 85, she traveled to Churchill Bay, Manitoba, Canada, to see the polar bears in their own environment. Toni also gave back to the community in which she lived most of her life. She volunteered for many organizations, including American Red Cross, Hospice Volunteers of Mid-Coast Maine, Maine Maritime Museum and was a literacy volunteer. She was predeceased by one grandchild, Benjamin Cary. She is survived by four children, three sons, George F. Cary III and his wife, Lee, of Milton, Mass., Charles M. Cary and his wife, Elly, of Harpswell, and John D. Cary and his wife, Patty Glidden, of Arlington, Mass., and one daughter, Frances Cary Emmons and her husband, Edward, of Greenville; and grandchildren, Rebecca Cary Anderson and her husband, Greg, of Weymouth, Mass., Jeffrey Cary and his wife, Aimee, of Danvers, Mass., Laura Cary and her husband, Michael Berg, of Portland, Ore., Nathaniel Cary and his wife, Ann, of Westminster, Colo., Meaghan Cary of Cambridge, Mass., Derek Emmons and his fiancee, Melissa Carver, of Windham, and Benjamin Emmons, of Windham. She also had five great-grandchildren. Toni’s wishes were that there would be no service to mark her passing. The family will gather privately for her burial in East Machias. Arrangements are being made by Daigle Funeral Home, 819 High St., Bath. In lieu of flowers, donations may be made in her memory to Hospice Volunteers of Mid-Coast Maine, 45 Baribeau Drive, Brunswick, ME 04011 or Bath YMCA, 303 Centre St., Bath, ME 04530.