obits

Heather Ammen, a practitioner of western and Asian medicine as well as a painter, potter, fiber artist and seamstress, died of cancer on June 17 at age 57.

Asked what she wanted in her obituary, she said, “Be authentic in your life, and if you don’t know what that means, check out YouTube. In lieu of flowers, send love to the first person that annoys you. If you feel that went well, do it to the next person too. Goodbye, everybody. Live a full life with as much love as your heart can open to.” Click here for full obituary.

Jane K. Canfield

Jane K. Canfield died in June at the age of 83 She was a former bursar at Lesley College and a long-time member of All Saints Episcopal Church in Belmont. Click here for full obituary.

Henry Harrison Hadley IV

Henry Harrison Hadley IV died on June 24 at age 83. He was on several town committees including the Recreation Committee and its subcommittee that designed and built the Codman Pool. He was also the first president of the Codman Community Farms and was active at St. Anne’s in-the-Fields Episcopal Church. Click here for full obituary.

Kuol Acuek, a former “Lost Boy” from Sudan who lived at Codman Community Farms in Lincoln for a time, died on June 15 after a three-year battle with cancer. At the time of his death, he was at a refugee camp in Uganda with his father and brother by his side.

Born in Bor, Sudan, Kuol was among 20,000 boys who were displaced or orphaned seeking refuge from the civil war in that country. In 1989, at the age of 7, Kuol was separated from his family and travelled over a month by foot from his village to Ethiopia. He lived in a refugee camp in Ethiopia for two years when in 1991, the war forced the Lost Boys to flee once again to Kakuma refugee camp in Kenya. Kuol described living in the refugee camp as “very very hard.” There was little food and the camp was extremely violent.

He lived there for almost ten years before coming to the United States. first to Roxbury and then to Lincoln. He lived at Codman Farm and attended Lincoln-Sudbury Regional High School (LSRHS). While at L-S, he was a soccer star and helped bring the soccer team to the state championship. Kuol was loved by his peers and teachers alike. He graduated in 2005 and attended Lasell University, where he received a bachelor’s degree in sports management in 2009. He lived in Chelsea after college and worked at the Langham Hotel.

Kuol was diagnosed with esophageal cancer in 2017. He was very grateful to the medical professionals at Dana Farber, Boston Medical Center, Brigham and Women’s Hospital, and various rehabilitation centers that cared for him during his illness. In March 2020, he went to Uganda to be with his wife’s family and his father and brother. Although he had every intention of returning home to Boston, he became gravely ill and died on June 15.

Kuol is survived by his wife of three years, Achol Tavisa, and his one-year-old daughter Aliee. Donations in his memory may be made to the preschool and education scholarship fund for his daughter. Donations can be sent to the South Sudanese Enrichment for Families, PO Box 492, Lincoln, MA 01773.

There will be a virtual funeral on Sunday, June 28, 2020 at 5p.m. on Zoom. If you would like to attend, please send an email to davidchristenfeld05@gmail.com and you will be sent the link.

Charles Calvin

Charles Calvin died on May 8. After a career at Polaroid, he was actively involved in Parkinson’s studies at Massachusetts General Hospital, where his brain has been donated for research. Click here for full obituary.

James Newkirk

Newkirk, who died on May 17 at age 75, started and ran several businesses in transportation and other fields. He was also an addictions counselor. Click here for full obituary.

Mary O’Brien

Former nurse’s aide and principal’s assistant at the Lincoln School. Click here for full obituary.  

Paola Rossoni

Former researcher in pathological anatomy and histology. Click here for full obituary.

 

 

Richard Puffer

Richard Puffer passed away on May 8 at the age of 82. He served in the U.S. Marines, had a long career as an architect, and was an accomplished painter and birder. Click here for full obituary.

Alan Burt

Alan Burt passed away on May 7 at the age of 84. He spent most of his career in the site location research department at Stop & Shop, with a second career in real estate appraisal. He was also a Lifetime Member of the Appalachian Mountain Club. Click here for full obituary.

Herbert W. Pollack

Herb Pollack passed away on April 26 at the age of 93 in Lincoln. He was the founder of Parlex Corporation headquartered in Methuen, and served on the Board of Directors of the Massachusetts Eye and Ear Infirmary for 12 years. Click here for full obituary.

Herbert Wasserman, 92 (April 19) — He marched behind Rev. Martin Luther King at Selma and could be found many years later on the Lexington Battle Green where, in a tricorn hat, he regaled tourists with tales of Revolutionary War battles. Click here for full obituary.

John W. Earle, 94 (April 17) — A U.S. Army Ranger who served at Normandy and the Battle of the Bulge during World War II. Click here for full obituary.

William Reals, 94 (April 13) — Fondly remembered at The Commons in Lincoln as “Mr. Bill,” the man with his well-worn tan briefcase always in hand. Click here for full obituary.

Miriam Schaffel, 95 (April 12) — The longtime resident of Pittsburgh and later The Commons in Lincoln died of Covid-19 in Cambridge. Click here for full obituary.

Elizabeth Whitman, 91 (March 15). Click here for memorial donation information.

Joseph Hingston, 94

Joseph A. Hingston of Lincoln died on March 6, 2020. He was born in Boston on Nov. 29, 1925. and served in the U.S. Marine Corps during WWII. He worked for the Boston Public Schools Department of Planning & Engineering until his retirement and then worked with his son Wayne building New England School Services, which is now run by his grandson Brian. Survivors include his wife Gloria of Lincoln. Donations in his memory may be made to Care Dimensions Hospice House, 125 Winter St., Lincoln, MA 01773. Click here for full obituary (courtesy of Douglass Funeral Home).

Phyllis Wasserman, 89

Phyllis Wasserman of Lincoln passed away peacefully on the morning of March 22, 2020. She grew up in Chisholm, Minn. With her husband Herbert Wasserman, she raised her two children in Lexington and was Director of Volunteers at the former Deaconess Hospital. Donations in her memory may be made to the Concord Orchestra, 51 Walden St., Concord, MA 01742. Click here for full obituary (courtesy of Levine Chapels).

John Bartsch, 55

Bartsch died on February 23 at age 55. He was an alumnus of Brandeis university and UC-Santa Cruz and worked at the Virgin Islands’ first internet provider, Cobex, Inc. in St. Thomas, where he was head software engineer. Later, Bartsch was director of information services at Fisher College in Boston for 19 years. Read full obituary.

Liz King, 82

King died in Hanover, N.H. on February 25 at the age of 82. She worked at the Boston Lying-In Hospital with Dr. T. Berry Brazelton and also at Massachusetts General Hospital. She and her late husband William A. King lived in Lincoln for 38 years. She co-founded the Lincoln Youth Soccer Program and later was assistant director of the Lincoln Council on Aging for 17 years. She was also a member of the First Parish in Lincoln. Read full obituary.