Dorothy VanWinkle “Mike” Morehouse died Aug. 28, 2026, surrounded by family. Born Oct. 1, 1928, in Paterson, Mike lived most of her nearly 98 years in the Garden State, including the last 56 in Rumson.
She graduated from Kimberly School, now Montclair Kimberly Academy, in 1942. One of her vivid memories was setting out the chairs for commencement as a junior at Kimberly and hearing the news of the attacks on Pearl Harbor.
Mike went on to study at Cornell University, where her freshman year was exceptional because she broke her ankle and had to maneuver around Cornell’s famed steeply sloped topography with a full load of books in the winter on crutches.
Because of her extensive equestrian history, Mike was in excellent physical condition throughout her youth and midlife. She began riding as a child in the 1930s and competed for almost 20 years. She garnered many ribbons, trophies and awards, culminating in winning the 1946 Good Hands Cup in Madison Square Garden on a horse named Meadow Sensation. She chose her nickname early in her riding career when she told the instructors at her stable she didn’t want to be known as Dorothy; she wanted to be called “Mike,” and so it was.
In 1949, Mike and some college friends traveled to a still-recovering Europe. She noted that, because of scarcity, meals and entertainment could be paid for with cigarettes and candy. While in Rome, family friend, notable Cornell alumnus and ambassador to the Vatican Willard Strait arranged for the group to be received at Castel Gandolfo, the Papal country estate, where Mike met and shook hands with Pope Pius XII. She recalled it as a highlight of her trip.
While at Cornell, Mike met Curtis B. Morehouse, a veteran Marine Corps pilot who returned to Cornell to finish his engineering degree and captain the crew. They married in 1950 and settled in northern New Jersey, where Mike worked in the lab at Schering-Plough, and Curt worked in the burgeoning jet engine industry.
During the early years of growing their family and pursuing Curt’s career trajectory, Mike and Curt moved numerous times, living in Binghamton; Cincinnati; Atherton, California; and Woodside, California; before ultimately settling in Rumson in 1970.
Mike was invited to join the Junior League in 1953 and was civically and culturally active in every community she joined, serving in many leadership roles. From children’s theater through state public affairs to museum formation and management, Mike exhibited intellect, curiosity, care, and dedication in every project and position she undertook. Her work with the Junior League of Monmouth County on projects at the Monmouth Museum ultimately led to her being selected as the fifth executive director. Mike served the museum with insight and enthusiasm for 27 years. She insisted that, as the leader, she had to be willing to “do it all, from cleaning toilets to meeting and greeting”; no task was too menial. The job had its upsides, too. On a trip to return borrowed museum materials to Lexington, Kentucky, after a museum show called “The Horse,” a former neighbor who had relocated to Lexington arranged for Mike to meet and pat Secretariat’s nose. Given her appreciation of fine horses, this was a great moment and one she recalled fondly.
Mike’s legacy of service includes terms on the Rumson-Fair Haven School District board. She said she gained great insight into education and administration doing this work. Mike had a lifelong commitment to educating young people and strove to spark intellectual curiosity at every opportunity, including history and geography questions at every large family gathering.
Widowed in 1994, Mike retired in 1998 to an active post-work life of golf, travel, book club, beach club, gardening and outings with grandchildren. Her intellectual curiosity was notable among family and friends, and her conversations were always wide-ranging and lively. Mike loved museums and historic sites and took every opportunity to explore. She admonished all who knew her to visit and support museums everywhere and to buy items in the museum shop.
Mike was a former member of Rumson Country Club, the Junior League of Monmouth County and Rumson Garden Club and Seabright Beach Club.
She was known to say, “When an old person dies, a library is lost.”
Mike was predeceased by her parents, Dr. John Shaw and Verna Kuett VanWinkle; her husband, Curtis B. Morehouse; her sister Valerie VanWinkle; and her brother Richard D. VanWinkle.
Mike is survived by her children, Susan Morehouse Berger, C. Schuyler (Liza) Morehouse, and Elizabeth M. (Ken) Ebner; her grandchildren, Luke Morehouse (Jennifer), Emma M. Hatcher (Marshall), Kenneth Ebner III (Jessica) and Catherine E. Gallagher (Jack); and 10 great-grandchildren, Halle Ebner, Trip Hatcher, Warren Morehouse, Rohn Ebner, MaryJane Morehouse, Amelia Hatcher, Boden Ebner, Nora Morehouse, Dallas Ebner and Marylynn Ebner.
The article originally appeared in the September 17 – 23, 2026 print edition of The Two River Times.
