Mrs. Newcombe was born Charlotte Rachel Wilson on March 28, 1890 in Philadelphia. Her father, Dr. Matthew James Wilson, was a physician and a public-spirited citizen who served several terms on Philadelphia's Board of Education. Dr. Wilson was a pharmacist before he became a physician and he maintained an interest in pharmaceuticals, making wise investments in a Philadelphia drug company (Smith Kline) over a period of many years, beginning in the 1890's. Before his death in 1931, Dr. Wilson secured a promise from his daughter that she would never sell any of the Smith Kline stock she would inherit. Her firm adherence to that promise was rewarded late in her life by the remarkable growth of the drug company and of her fortune. Although she had lived modestly all her life, at her death her estate was valued at more than $34 million.
Charlotte Wilson lived with her parents and cared for them in their declining years. During World War I, she sold war bonds in her community and was active in the Red Cross, teaching women in classes to knit socks, scarves and warm hats for soldiers. She accompanied her parents on a leisurely trip around the world in 1925-27, spending several months each in Japan, India, Egypt, France and England. On the ship that took them from India through the Red Sea to Egypt, she met Fred C. Newcombe, the ship's officer who became her husband almost three decades later. After their marriage in 1952, the Newcombes made two further voyages around the world and several other trips by sea. Mrs. Newcombe continued to travel even after her husband's death in 1968. In the last few years of her life, although she was legally blind, she toured the Holy Land twice and visited Switzerland, France and England.
Descended from Scots who immigrated to the United States from the north of Ireland in the mid-19th century, Mrs. Newcombe was proud of her heritage and loyal to the Presbyterian Church. She was a member of three Presbyterian congregations in the course of her years in Philadelphia, and was a strong supporter of their ministry and mission. She derived great pleasure from regular church attendance, from the beauty of church music, and from supporting her churches with generous gifts. In her will, Mrs. Newcombe provided a large bequest to Princeton Theological Seminary for the training of Christian ministers, dividing her residual estate between the Seminary and her new scholarship foundation.
Mrs. Newcombe was a benefactress of the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine, where her father had trained as a physician in the early 1880's. Together with her brother, Mrs. Newcombe endowed the Matthew J. Wilson Professorship of Radiology in 1961 to honor their father on the 100th anniversary of his birth. In 1970, she established the Fred C. and Charlotte W. Newcombe Fund for research in radiology. She left one million dollars in her will to create the Charlotte W. Newcombe Research Laboratory in Radiology.
Although her older sister and younger brother were college graduates, Mrs. Newcombe never attended college. Her vision was impaired from childhood and she could not read for long enough periods to make serious study possible. Mrs. Newcombe greatly valued higher education, however, and during her lifetime sent the children of many of her friends to college, taking a vigorous interest in their progress. In her will, she established the Charlotte W. Newcombe Foundation to continue her scholarship gifts.
It seems certain that Mrs. Newcombe would, if she were alive today, be thrilled to have had a part in providing financial support to so many students in the course of the past 26 years. She would surely be pleased by the results of her generosity in assisting others to complete their degrees and pursue their dreams.