Mary A. Dove

Mary Wooddell Addison Dove, 92, passed away on Monday, August 7, 2025, at Augusta Health Hospice of the Shenandoah in Fishersville.

She was born April l9, 1933, in Twin Branch, West Virginia to the late William Irvine, Sr. and Gladys Bryan Vance Woodell.

Mary graduated from Robert E. Lee High School and Dunsmore Business College in Staunton. She enjoyed playing tennis and was an active member of the Beverley Manor Chapter of the Daughters of the American Revolution (DAR).

For thirty years, she worked as an administrative assistant to her father, who served as the Adjutant-Quartermaster of the Veterans of Foreign Wars in Virginia. She remained in that role until his passing in 1969.

In 1982, she reconnected with Bill Dove, a fellow Staunton native who had returned to the area to go hunting with a Navy friend. Having spent many years in McLean, she had not seen him since his time as Commandant at Staunton Military Academy. They married the following year in the Old Guard Chapel at Fort Myer, Virginia, and made their home in McLean.

She later worked at the Federal Election Commission in Washington, D.C. for 26 years. Her roles included Deputy Secretary of the Commission, Special Assistant to the Ex-Officio Member from the House of Representatives, and finally, Commission Secretary, serving the six presidential appointees during her last six years.

She is survived by her son, David A. Addison, of Staunton; her grandson, Andreas Addison and his wife, Allison of Richmond and their daughter, Poppy; her stepson, William K. Dove, II of Somerset; her step granddaughter, Anna Dove, of Chincoteague; and a special friend, Judy Cash of Afton.

In addition to her parents, she is preceded in death by her second husband of twenty-eight years, Cdr. William K. Dove, USNR (retired); her two brothers, First Lt. William I. Wooddell, Jr., and James H. Wooddell of Okeana, Ohio; and her first husband, A. Douglas Addison.

As per her wishes, her ashes will be interred at Thornrose Cemetery.