At 100, Carroll Doggett reflects on life and history in Frederick

Aug. 28—Carroll Doggett has never liked Halloween.

He grew up with an older sister, and when they were kids, she once dressed him up in a dress and lipstick for their church's Halloween party.

"I remember being miserable the whole time, but I gave in," he said.

The Frederick resident, who turned 100 years old in March, does have some positive memories attached to the holiday — in particular, meeting his wife when they were both students at Western Maryland College, now known as McDaniel College, in Westminster.

Doggett was in his third year at Western Maryland and was helping decorate the gymnasium for a Halloween party when Nan Austin, a freshman at the time, walked in to deliver the list of the hymns that Doggett would have to play on the organ at that week's religious service.

That sparked a relationship between the two that lasted more than 75 years. They got married about two years later, after Doggett graduated, and the two would go on to raise a family in the Frederick area and become an integral part of the community.

"We just started talking about getting married, and I never said, 'Will you marry me?' and she didn't say, 'Will you marry me?' We just assumed it would be," Doggett recalled.

The pair moved to New York City, where Doggett went on to attend Union Theological Seminary while his wife went to Barnard College. He served as a student pastor at a church in Brooklyn for three years while he finished seminary. The couple also welcomed their first daughter, Sandy, while living in New York.

Doggett stayed with ministry for his entire professional life, serving over 40 years as a minister in the United Methodist Church. The last church he served at was the Calvary United Methodist Church in downtown Frederick, a place where he said he has fond memories.

He didn't always know he wanted to be a pastor.

Doggett grew up in Baltimore in a lower-middle class family. His parents, who were raised in rural Virginia and didn't have more than an eighth-grade education, did not encourage him — or his two siblings — to go to college.

But when Doggett was 17, he got recruited to teach a boys' Sunday school class at his local church. There, the Sunday school superintendent implored him to go to seminary school and offered to pay for his education, Doggett said.

"We believe, in the Methodist church, that God calls you to do something. I feel Mr. Bowen [the superintendent] offering to send me to college and pay for it was God calling me through him," Doggett said.

After moving to the area to become a minister at the church in Frederick, Doggett and his family bought a piece of property in Myersville. They'd go on to build a house there, but before they could afford to do that, they used the land for weekend camping trips.

Doggett's daughter, Martha Doggett, said many of her most treasured childhood memories are attached to these trips.

"We did all the cooking over either an open campfire or Coleman stove, so it was great fun," she said. "And then on rainy days, we all had to stay in the tent, and he tried to read his books and entertain us in the tents."

Doggett's love for reading, born in his early years and nurtured during those camping trips, has stayed with him through his life.

At Homewood at Frederick, the retirement home where he's been a resident for more than 12 years, he and his wife led discussion groups on books and social issues.

Nan Doggett died in 2021 at the age of 95.

Doggett misses her, he said, but has continued staying active and inquisitive, filling his time with autobiographies and visits with family.

"We were very close, and it's very lonely now ... but I usually have two or three books going at all times," he said, gesturing to a magnifying device he uses to read the newspaper and his books each day.

When he wasn't camping or reading, Doggett was an avid advocate, speaking out against the Vietnam War.

"I came of age in the Vietnam War years, and it was a big issue," his daughter said, "so I was very proud of him at that time."

The Civil Rights Movement also drew Doggett's attention, and he attended the March on Washington during which Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. delivered his famous "I Have a Dream" speech. Doggett stood about two blocks away from where King was speaking, he recalled, and was relieved that the protest stayed peaceful.

He never publicly shared his stance on social issues during his sermons, he said, but people came to know about his passion for justice, something that he still upholds at 100.

"I've always been for equal rights for all people and against violence and warfare," he said. "And I stand on those principles."