The Lincoln Squirrel – News, features and photos from Lincoln, Mass.

obits

Jacques Maroni, 1923-2022

Jacques Maroni

Jacques R. Maroni died on September 8, 2022, at the age of 99. Born to Robert and Valentine Maroni in Paris, France on January 9, 1923, he graduated from Lycee Janson de Sailly in Paris, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (Class of ’43) and the Harvard Business School (Class of ’48). A U.S. Navy veteran who served in World War II, he worked for the Ford Motor Company for 37 years and was married to his beloved wife, Marilyn “Linette” Maroni, for 62 years.

He was raised in the 16th arrondissement of Paris and developed lifelong passions for tennis (competing as a junior in the French Open in 1938) and skiing (enjoying his last runs at Alta when he was 89). He was generally on the first and last chairs of the day, but always left the mountain to have lunch with his wife when she stopped skiing. 

After the fall of France in June 1940, his parents placed him and his brother on one of the last tugboats to leave the St. Malo harbor for safety in England, and later the U.S. He loved the energy of America and went to work at Ford after attending Harvard Business School on the GI bill. He held various executive positions over four decades, the most important of which was an assignment with an advertising executive and his assistant on marketing a new car. He married the assistant, and the marriage lasted. The car was the Edsel, and it did not.

He had prodigious curiosity. He held the patent for the automatic pilot and was the first person at Ford to use a computer in the fifties. He concluded his Ford career as Director of Energy and Environmental Planning, where he encouraged the company to support alternative sources of energy in the seventies and eighties.  

After retiring in 1988, he moved to the house his father built in Lincoln in 1952. There he focused on landscaping the fields, as his father had before him, and investing in technology. He loved the outdoors.

His singular focus, however, was always his family. He would hold hands with his wife, take pride in his daughter’s medical career and compare investment ideas with his son. However, he became most focused on his three grandchildren. Bopop (a name he warmed to gradually) loved their special days together when they were young and learning about their adventures when they became adults. He would often speak of his childhood in Paris, and took great pride in family trips with his grandchildren to explore his favorite city. 

He was born in his parents’ apartment in Paris in the 1920s and died in his parents’ home in Lincoln in the 2020s. To the end, he vividly remembered every decade. He loved new ideas, hated small talk and devoured books on future technology and world history in equal measure.

He leaves behind his wife, Linette Maroni of Lincoln; his sister, Claudine Harris of Iowa City, Iowa; a daughter and son-in-law, Jaman Maroni and Mike Terry of New York, N.Y.; a son and daughter-in-law, Kevin and Polly Maroni, of Brookline; and grandchildren Polly, Kate, and Jack Maroni.

Arrangements are under the care of Concord Funeral Home; click here to leave a remembrance. Donations in Maroni’s name can be made to Emerson Hospital.

James Cunningham, 1949–2022

Jim Cunningham

Flags on town buildings will be lowered to half-staff next week to commemorate James F. Cunningham of Lincoln, who died at age 73 on Friday, September 2, 2022. Jim passed away peacefully with the assistance of hospice after a battle with pancreatic cancer. He was predeceased by his mother and father, Claire Cunningham and Robert M. Cunningham, and he has left behind his brothers, Peter and William (Billy).

Jim had great love for the town of Lincoln, for his alma mater Cornell, and for Kent Island off the coast of Grand Manan in Canada.

Born, raised, and educated in Lincoln, Jim was a devoted community volunteer. He single-handedly organized, implemented and managed the town’s local cable television program, helping to increase access to the activities of town government and other community events. Jim possessed a keen engineering mind and a small-town sensibility about managing budgets, and he served for decades completely without compensation.

The Select Board used the occasion of the March 2022 Annual Town Meeting to honor Jim by presenting him with the annual Bright Light award for singlehandedly launching and maintaining Lincoln’s local cable program. In its presentation, the board said:

”Each year we present the Bright Light award to a resident or town staff member whose contributions to our town deserve to be celebrated. Now if you have ever come across Comcast channel 8 or Verizon channel 33 on your television, you will quickly realize that Lincoln has its own vibrant cable TV channel.  We owe this great viewing alternative to CNN, Fox News or ESPN to our own Jim Cunningham.

“Jim was appointed to Lincoln’s cable committee way back in 2002 and has served as its chair for most of this time. As chair, Jim has been our point person for license negotiations with our cable providers.  More importantly, Jim has built our local cable channel from the ground up. An electrical engineer by education and training, Jim designed and helped install our cable programming infrastructure. He not only manages the technology and equipment, but also does most of the filming and production that allows the town to broadcast many key meeting (such as Select Board and School Committee meetings), special events, and lectures, providing a truly valuable service to the town. Jim spends many hours each week recording and broadcasting this town content for our enjoyment. 

“We on the Select Board are especially appreciative of how Jim always manages to film us from our good sides! Jim’s technical know-how and passion for what he does, which he has provided free of charge for many years, has saved the town thousands upon thousands of dollars, as other communities have needed to create full time employee positions for this work.

“Born, raised, and educated here, Jim is immensely proud of his Lincoln roots. And we could not be more proud and grateful to you, Jim, for all that you have contributed to Lincoln. Please join me in giving Jim Cunningham a round of applause as this year’s bright light award recipient.”

Additionally, working closely with Save Our Heritage, Jim was project manager for the restoration of the Barrett house in Concord.

Jim graduated from Cornell University with undergraduate and master’s degrees in electrical engineering. As an undergraduate student, he was business manager, photo editor and editor-in-chief of the yearbook for two years. Since graduation, Jim has remained involved as a volunteer, advocate and donor to Cornell. He served on the advisory board for Systems Engineering and spent time teaching students about systems engineering and its tools. In recent years he established the James F. Cunningham ’71 Assistant Director of Student Project Teams in the College of Engineering with an endowed gift. Mostly Jim talked about his time working with students and fellow Cornellians with great affection.

Jim Cunningham’s perseverance and talent brought the Kent Island’s weather station into modern times. What his father started in 1938 continues today, available to the world on the web, thanks in great part to his son.

A private graveside service will be held at Lincoln Cemetery. Jim’s public memorial service will be announced at a later date. Arrangements are under the care of the Concord Funeral Home. Click here to leave a message or remembrance.

Onerva Kohonen, 1921-2022

Onerva Korhonen

Onerva Miriam (Watka) Korhonen age 101 of Lincoln passed away on August 11. Onerva faced the world in a positive fashion right to the end, smiling and appreciative of everyone who helped. She was predeceased by husbands Edwin (1919-1987) and Edward (1920-2008), mother to Wayne (Margaret), Cynthia, and Dana (Patti); grandmother to Adam (Morgan), Rachel (Keith), Kathryn, and Ethan; great grandmother to Wesley, Cooper, and Nathan; and aunt to many nephews and nieces. 

Onerva was always involved in her community: she volunteered in the schools, at church, and on the Council on Aging. She still sang in the choir at age 99. She worked with the 4-H Club. She was a reader. She spoke Finnish fluently and she loved to paint. She loved her neighbors. She believed in women’s, LGBTQIA, and immigrant rights and said so out loud. She cross-country skied with the “ski group.” She will be missed and remembered.

Burial was in Lincoln Cemetery. Arrangements were under the care of Concord Funeral Home. Click here to leave a remembrance.

Service on August 28 for John Cowles

John Cowles

John Olmsted Cowles of Lincoln passed away in his sleep at age 88 on July 22, 2022. He is survived by his wife Diana and his sister Andra Raitch of Indialantic, Fla. He is also survived by his son Stephen of Durham, N.C.; son Christopher and his wife Lisa of Roswell, Ga.; and daughter Kristen and her husband Kenneth Kuhl of Montclair, N.J. The grandchildren are Katherine, Rebecca and Jonathan Cowles and Alexandra and Annika Kuhl. 

John, the son of Addison and Alexandra Cowles, grew up in Lincoln and graduated from Weston High School. He received B.S. and M.S. degrees in chemical engineering from MIT, where he was a member of Tau Beta Pi academic fraternity before earning a doctorate from the University of Michigan. 

After finishing his studies, John worked for ten years in chemical and nuclear engineering research at the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory in Livermore, Ca. As gas lines became longer in 1972, John was asked to go to Washington, D.C., to be part of a White House Presidential Committee made up of one representative from each of the national laboratories. The committee was charged with finding alternative energy technologies. In the years that followed, as the Atomic Energy Commission evolved into the Department of Energy, John worked for several private companies that were consultants to the Department of Energy. His final position was serving as the chief engineer for the Yucca Mountain Nuclear Waste Repository. 

Upon retirement in 1999, John and Diana returned to John’s family home in Lincoln where he became a volunteer for the Lincoln Council on Aging and the Lincoln Historical Society. John also was active with the MIT alumni community, first serving as reunion chair for the MIT Class of 1956’s 60th reunion and then as class president for the following five years. His service to others and quick sense of humor endeared him to all those around him. 

Family together with friends will gather to remember John on Sunday, August 28 at 1 p.m. in Flint Hall at St. Anne’s in-the-Fields Episcopal Church in Lincoln. Burial will be private for family members at Lincoln Cemetery. In lieu of flowers, please send donations to the Friends of the Lincoln Council on Aging or the Lincoln Historical Society. 

Arrangements are under the care of Dee Funeral Home & Cremation Service of Concord.  To share a remembrance or to offer a condolence in his online guestbook, please visit www.DeeFuneralHome.com. 

Robert Lemire, 1933–2022

Robert Lemire

By Elise Lemire

Robert Arthur Lemire, a long-time resident of Lincoln, died on June 8, 2022 at The Commons in Lincoln after a long struggle with Alzheimer’s disease. He was 89.

Bob was born in Lowell, Mass., on January 19, 1933, the third child of Emile and Blanche (Bisaillon) Lemire. Upon graduating from St. Jeanne d’Arc School, where classes were conducted in English and French, he received permission from Cardinal Cushing to attend Lowell High School. He graduated in 1950 as a member of the varsity track and field and football teams and was honored as a Distinguished Alumnus in 2015.

Bob continued to play football at Yale University, from which he graduated with a degree in economics in 1954, before serving two years in the Navy as a junior officer on the heavy cruiser, U.S.S. Baltimore. After receiving an MBA from Harvard Business School in 1958, Bob wrote case studies for a Boston consulting firm and then worked in corporate underwriting at Paine, Webber, Jackson & Curtis, during which period he and Howard Reynolds had a nightly radio show called Spotlight on Business. In the mid-1970s, Bob started and for decades ran his own one-man investment advisory firm, Lemire and Co. During these early career years, Bob was an avid rugby player and in 1960, he was one of the founders of the Boston Rugby Club, for which he was inducted into the club’s Hall of Fame in 2010.

Bob was a committed environmentalist. He joined the Lincoln Conservation Commission in 1963, becoming the chair three years later and serving in that role for fifteen years, during which time the town put 1,400 acres into permanent conservation. He traveled the country teaching other communities how to cluster new development and thereby save open space and taught these principles at the Rhode Island School of Design, the Harvard Graduate School of Design, and the Conway School of Landscape Design.

In 1972, the Massachusetts Audubon Society awarded Bob its Action Award. Gov. Michael Dukakis appointed him to the Massachusetts Agricultural Preservation Commission and to the Citizens Water Supply Committee, for which Bob served several years as a member of the executive committee. Bob was also a consultant for the Nature Conservancy, the Conservation Foundation, and other national organizations. He is the author of Creative Land Development: Bridge to the Future (Houghton Mifflin, 1979).

In 1984, after watching his dyslexic son struggle to learn to read, Bob created Lexia Learning, a company that pioneered the use of computers to teach literacy skills. Today the company serves more than 5.5 million students across more than 3,300 school districts.

Bob was predeceased by his sister Gabrielle Marie (Lemire) Jussaume and his brother John (“Jack”) Emile Lemire. He leaves behind his beloved wife of 61 years, Virginia (Bock) Lemire; his daughter, Elise Lemire and her husband, James T. Taylor II of Port Chester, N.Y.; his son, Robert “Bo” Lemire and his wife Melissa (Strong) Lemire of Castle Rock, Colo.; and three grandchildren, Eli James Taylor-Lemire, Zachary Burk Lemire, and Sophia Grace Lemire.

Bob will be fondly remembered for his leadership skills, sense of humor (with jokes on hand in both French and English), love of fishing, camping, and hiking, and for his enthusiasm for his wife’s homemade cookies.

There will be a memorial service at a later date. In lieu of flowers, a donation to the International Dyslexia Association would be appreciated.

Henry Francis, 1938–2022

Henry Francis

Henry A. Francis, 83, of Lincoln died on May 21, 2022 from complications of lung cancer. He is survived by his wife of 56 years, Phoebe Lee Francis, his son Andrew and his wife Jennifer Lynch, and granddaughter little Phoebe, all of Boston; two brothers, Bartlett Francis of Santa Barbara, Calif., and Robert Colgate Francis of Port Townsend, Wash.; nieces Kirsten Francis of Encinitas, Calif., and Karina Francis of Los Angeles; and nephews Walter Allen Francis of Seattle and Craig Francis of Olympia, Wash.

Henry was born in Pittsfield on October 17, 1938. In 1944 the family moved to Santa Barbara., Calif. He later attended the Groton School, graduated from Harvard in 1960, and received a PhD in mechanical engineering from Imperial College London. Upon his return to the U.S., he worked at Draper Labs in Cambridge. His interest in things mechanical lasted a lifetime. He was able to take almost any sort of device, disassemble it, and put it back together in working condition, often achieving what seemed to others an impossible task.

His avocation in life was traditional jazz. Originally a trumpet player, one day he decided he wasn’t playing well, threw down the instrument and decided to take up piano instead, despite never having had a piano lesson. He played with bands in college and during summer vacations while working on a ranch in Wyoming. Later he became known as one of the prime exponents of the Harlem Stride School of piano playing.

In 1991 he founded a seven-piece band, The Swing Legacy. The band mostly played the music of the 1930s and 1940s which included many songs from The Great American Songbook, many with Henry’s arrangements. The Swing Legacy played at weddings, dances, concerts and parties in the Boston area and beyond. He played many solo gigs, as well as duos with John Clark on clarinet. His music will be missed by all who heard him, especially by his wife Phoebe, who listened to him practicing the songs every evening when she was preparing dinner.

Henry was an outdoor enthusiast and spent many enjoyable hours biking, rowing on the local rivers, and walking the trails of Lincoln with his dog. He was acutely aware of his surroundings, especially the birds and trees which he learned to identify. He planted many trees on his property in Lincoln and carefully watched them mature. He never gave up the battle with the squirrels, and enjoyed devising methods to outwit the critters.

Henry will be sorely missed by all who knew him. His final years were greatly enhanced by the joy of being a grandparent. His happiest moments were spent in the company of his beloved granddaughter, Phoebe, now seven years old, who called him “HenPa.”

A celebration of his life will be held in the fall. Donations to his memory may be made to the Lincoln Land Conservation Trust, 145 Lincoln Rd., Lincoln MA 01773 or to a charity of one’s choice.

Arrangements under the care of Concord Funeral Home, 74 Belknap St., Concord, MA 01742 (978-369-3388).

James Buckalew, 1933–2022

James Buckalew

James Kenneth Buckalew, 88, of Lincoln, died May 24 following a long illness.

He was born on October 24, 1933 in Peru, Ind., the oldest of three children. He attended public schools in Peru and distinguished himself in high school as a championship debater Jim joined the U.S. Army in 1954 and after his discharge from active duty was an Army reservist until 1962. Jim returned to school and graduated with a B.S. in 1958 from Indiana State University. From 1958-1960 he pursued graduate studies and worked as a teaching assistant at the University of Hawaii. He received his M.A. in 1961 from Indiana State, where he wrote his thesis on his experiences with the potential of educational television in Hawaii. He received his Ph.D. in 1961 from the University of Iowa, where his dissertation research focused on the role of television news anchors as gatekeepers.

During most of his graduate study and for decades afterwards, Jim worked as a practicing journalist and broadcaster, from his first radio assignments as a reporter for WBOW radio in Terre Haute, Indiana, KGU Radio in Honolulu, and WSUI radio in Iowa City, to his last at WCBQ radio in San Diego. He also had many commissioned assignments for newspapers covering elections, reviewing plays, and reporting on sporting events. He was popular as a public address announcer, a role that he filled at San Diego State University basketball games, and he co-hosted a television series devoted to thoroughbred racing on the cable network Prime Ticket.

Jim joined the University of Iowa in 1963 as an instructor in journalism and head of radio/TV news. In 1967 he joined the faculty of San Diego State University, where he retired as a full professor of journalism in 1999. But his love of the classroom led him to continue to teach at small colleges in the
Los Angeles area until he finally retired at the age of 80. During his San Diego State career, he published numerous scholarly articles as well a book with colleague Tim Wulfemeyer, Mass Media in the New Millennium.

Jim’s hobby for most of his adult life was thoroughbred racing. He was fortunate to live near enough two famous race courses, the Del Mar Thoroughbred Club and Santa Anita Park, to become deeply involved in the sport as a member of a small group of investors who owned several successful horses, including Reason to Study and Study to Pass. He was also very adept at forecasting the results of races and won the Pick Six on more than one occasion; consequently, he was frequently consulted by newcomers hoping to learn how to “invest” at the racetrack.

Jim will be remembered by all who knew him as a kind, honorable, and generous man, a devoted teacher, and a loving father and husband. He was preceded in death by his parents, Homer Buckalew and Marguerite Anderson Buckalew of Peru, Ind.; his brother Charles Buckalew of Terre Haute, Ind., and his daughter-in-law, Gina Grandolfo of Tustin, Calif.

Survivors include his wife, Margaret McLaughlin of Lincoln, and his sons Michael Buckalew of Tustin, Calif., Thomas Buckalew of San Diego, and Robert Buckalew of Redding, Calif. and their mother, Karen Dempsey of San Diego; and sons Brett Buckalew and Kevin Buckalew of Los Angeles and their mother, Sally Hixon of San Diego.

James is also survived by his stepson, Malcolm McLaughlin and his wife, Julie Lamirande McLaughlin of Lucas, Texas, and his stepdaughter, Julia Cody Walkup and her husband Ward Gale Walkup IV of Lincoln; grandsons Shane and Lucas Buckalew of Redding, Calif., and their mother, Darcy Kelley-Buckalew; grandson Nicholas Buckalew of Tustin, Calif.; step-grandson Jackson McLaughlin of Lucas, Texas, and step-granddaughters Lila McLaughlin of Lucas, Texas and Kathryn Walkup of Lincoln.

Jim is also survived by his sister Joyce Buckalew Whittenberger and her husband Steven, of Boerne, Texas, sister Risa Buckalew Utley and her husband Michael of Nashville, Tenn., and sister-in-law Nancy Buckalew of Terre Haute, Ind.

Services and burial with military honors for James will be held at the Massachusetts National Cemetery in Bourne. An online celebration of his life will follow later. In lieu of flowers, donations in his honor may be made to the Association for Education in Journalism and Mass Communication, 234 Outlet Pointe Boulevard, Suite A, Columbia, S.C. 29210-5667.

Arrangements are under the care of Dee Funeral Home & Cremation Service of Concord. Click here to see his online guestbook.

June 4 gathering in memory of Gerry Lattimore, 1937–2022

Geraldine “Gerry” Lattimore, a lifelong resident of Massachusetts and Maine, died on April 22 at the age of 84.

She was a sculptor, sang for years in the Concord Chorus, and wrote poetry and stories in secret. She took many extension courses at Radcliffe and elsewhere, leading to lifelong friendships. She was also an inveterate storm-chaser. Deeply self-effacing, she never sought renown, but loved art and nature. She nurtured young people who shared her passions or simply needed shelter and affection. She was dear to her friends for her imagination, wit, and kindness. Although shy, she (a confirmed Democrat) never hesitated to speak out vehemently for women’s rights and against racial injustice and war.

Gerry grew up in Belmont, the daughter of Gerald Harrison, a radio pioneer, sports announcer, and sailor, and Janet Hoch Harrison, a radio pianist, organist, and station manager. Gerry went to Abbot Academy Andover and graduated from Beaver Country Day School. While at Colby College, she married Hugh Nazor in 1957. When he was at Wharton, they were house parents  for the Society for Prevention of Cruelty to Children and cared for homeless boys, which they remembered fondly.

From 1962–1972, Gerry lived in a 1738 farm house with 50 acres of fields and woods in Bolton. When Gerry sold the property, she introduced Bolton to the practice of land conservation. From 1973 onward, she lived in Lincoln, spending summers on a Maine island. From 1978 until the early 1980s, Gerry worked as a fundraiser for Physicians for Social Responsibility, assisting Helen Caldecott in her fight against “nuclear madness.” She also shared a sculpting studio in West Concord where they hired live models and introduced her grandchildren to the complexity of the human form.

Gerry’s life in Lincoln and Harpswell, Maine was shared with her two daughters, Karen Nazor and Leslie Nazor Riversmith, and with Andrew, Julia, and John Linnell, and Margaret Macy, the children of her second husband.

In 1992 she married her third husband, Professor David Lattimore of Brown University, adding to the extended clan his six children by a former marriage: Michael Lattimore, Maria Sheppard, Clare Lattimore, Anne Price, Evan Lattimore, and the late and much-loved Rosette Lattimore. Gerry also leaves a  brother, Stanley Harrison, and his children, Michael Harrison and Rebecca Harrison Moser. She leaves Ama Harrison, widow of her deceased brother Theodore Harrison, their two sons, Cobina and Anthony Kwame Harrison, and daughter Joan Nowak. In all, she leaves 15 grandchildren.

In celebration of Gerry’s life, an informal gathering will be held at her Lincoln home on Saturday, June 4 at noon. Click here to send flowers or make a donation in her memory.

Service for Lincoln’s Jerry Rappaport draws hundreds

Jerry Rappaport (undated family photo)

A memorial service was on May 11 for Lincoln resident Jerome “Jerry” Rappaport, one of the most storied figures in modern Boston history. Jerry was a famed developer, philanthropist, and civic leader who helped transform the Boston skyline and is sometimes known as the man who rebuilt Boston.

Rappaport, who passed away in December 2021 at age 94, was honored with a celebration of life held at Harvard University. Harvard’s Kennedy School of Government is home to the Rappaport Institute for Greater Boston, which has helped educate many top government leaders in Boston and throughout the country and helped shape enduring public policy. Rappaport helped shape Boston’s current political scene by mentoring some of the best and brightest who are now top elected officials, including Boston Mayor Michelle Wu and U.S. Attorney for Massachusetts Rachael Rollins, both of whom are Rappaport Fellows and spoke at the service.

Rappaport first came to prominence after graduating from Harvard College and Harvard Law School when he helped John B. Hynes defeat Boston Mayor James Michael Curley in the historic 1949 mayoral election. He quickly moved on to reshape Boston’s neighborhoods and skyline as a developer, most famously for the West End renewal project, which brought many residents back to the city and led to a housing renaissance.

While Rappaport’s legacy is evident in our current landscape, he is also credited with shaping our politics and creating a generation of government leaders who take a thoughtful approach to policy and governance. He founded the Harvard Law School Forum and New Boston Committee, which promoted and supported Boston City Council and School Committee candidates in a very successful venture. He also founded the Rappaport Institute for Law and Public Policy, which is now at Boston College Law School. With his beloved wife Phyllis, Rappaport also contributed more than $30 million to public policy, health, and arts initiatives through the Phyllis and Jerome Lyle Rappaport Foundation. 

The celebration of Jerry’s life was attended by a veritable “who’s who” of top government and education leaders. Massachusetts Gov. Charlie Baker told the crowd of hundreds that Rappaport “found ways to truly make a difference and the legacy of much of his work will live on long after many have joined him in the great beyond.”

“Someone like me, who never would have imagined any of this was possible — I am only here because Jerry believed it was possible,” Wu said. 

Harvard University President Lawrence Bacow said Rappaport “believed in us, he created spaces for us, he made us all better than we might have been, stronger than we might have been, wiser than we might have been without him.”

A long list of dignitaries spoke at the Memorial Hall service honoring Jerry’s life, including others whose lives and career have been enhanced through participation at the Rappaport Institute for Greater Boston. Maria Magdalena Campos-Pons, the Cornelius Vanderbilt Endowed Chair of Fine Arts at Vanderbilt University and Rappaport Art Prize Winner, gave an emotional tribute in honor of her mentor. 

Phyllis and Jerry Rappaport at Harvard Law School’s inaugural Rappaport Forum, launched in 2020 to promote discussions on current affairs. (Photo by Tom Fitzsimmons)

Others who spoke included Jerry Rappaport, Jr.; longtime former Rappaport Institute Director Ed Glaeser; former Massachusetts Rep. Jeffrey Sanchez; Dr. Jacob Hooker, professor of radiology at Harvard Medical School; and Chestnut Hill Realty CEO Edward Zuker. 

The service concluded with a beautiful tribute to Jerry by his wife and true love, Phyllis Rappaport, who said, “Jerry was a life force with a twinkle in his eye — sharp, warm, incisive, mischievous, determined, brilliant, loving and loved.”

The Rappaport Institute for Greater Boston strives to improve the governance of greater Boston by strengthening connections among the region’s scholars, students, and civic leaders. The institute pursues this mission by promoting emerging leaders, producing new ideas, and stimulating informed discussion. It was founded and funded by the Phyllis and Jerome Lyle Rappaport Charitable Foundation, which promotes emerging leaders in greater Boston.

In 2000, the foundation also funded the deCordova’s Sculpture Park and Museum’s annual $35,000 Rappaport Prize.

Rappaport is buried in Lincoln Cemetery. Donations in his memory may be made to the Rappaport Institute of Greater Boston.

Editor’s note: this is a lightly edited version of a piece provided to the Lincoln Squirrel by Regan Communications Group.

May 21 service for Betty Teabo, 93

Elizabeth Teabo

Elizabeth “Betty” Teabo, age 93, passed away peacefully at her home in Lincoln surrounded by the love of her dearest family members. She grew up in Jefferson, Maine with six siblings, resided in New York City, and eventually found her home in Lincoln, where she met and married her beloved husband of 64 years, Prince “Bud” Teabo, who preceded her in death.

Betty was a member of St. Anne’s-in-the-Fields Episcopal Church. She served on their Altar Guild for over 50 years, taught Sunday school to children, and mentored many others. She worked with her dear friend Judy Gross at Country Weddings in Lincoln for several decades, where she exhibited her floral talents at innumerable weddings and celebrations. She was also a member of the Lincoln Garden Club. Her artistic eye and attention to detail yielded floral compositions of singular beauty that live on in photographs.

Betty loved animals and was known to take in a stray from time to time. This brought opportunity for joyful laughter from family members in response to their comedic antics.

Mom loved to cook, but rarely wrote down her recipes; they were committed to memory only. With some encouragement from the family, we persuaded her to memorialize our favorites to perpetuity and we enjoy them thoroughly still. She was host to many memorable holiday celebrations, and never let anyone go home hungry.

We remember picking raspberries, apples, walks to Drumlin Farm, and car rides to Crane’s Beach with friends.

Devoted to her family for so long, we became devoted to her care in her struggle with Alzheimer’s. Mom leaves us now and is survived by her four sons and their spouses, David and Nadine (Rando) of Hudson, Michael and Tammie (Corey) of Marlboro, Timothy and Pauravi (Dalal) of Carlisle, and Scott and Melanie (Borromeo) of Wilmington. She is also survived by 16 grandchildren and four great-grandchildren.

Family and friends will gather to honor and remember Betty on Saturday, May 21 at 2 p.m. for a memorial service at St. Anne’s-in-the-Fields Church in Lincoln. She will be interred after the service in the Peace Garden at St. Anne’s beside her beloved husband.

Arrangements under the care of Concord Funeral Home, 74 Belknap St., Concord, MA 01742 (978-369-3388).

Obituaries are provided by the funeral home to Lincoln Squirrel for a fee.