obits

Jack French

John Brand French died quietly at his home in Lincoln, as he wished, on November 21 at the age of 89. Jack was known widely for his energy, good judgment, and open, generous spirit.

He was born in Springfield, Mass., on November 8, 1929 to the late Alden and Eleanor Brand French. Jack graduated from Williams College in 1951 and married Deborah Cole in June of that year. After graduating, he enlisted in the Navy, where he served on a destroyer and enjoyed teaching at the U.S. Navy Fleet Sonar School in Key West, Fla.

Jack graduated from Harvard Law School in 1957 and developed a distinguished career practicing corporate, business, and estate law in Boston for over 50 years, most recently as partner at Sullivan and Worcester.

He served as board chairman and trustee of the Boston Biomedical Research Institute, a director of the Conservation Law Foundation, and president and trustee of the deCordova Museum in Lincoln. Jack was especially dedicated to the town of Lincoln and served the town in many roles throughout his life including as member of the Conservation Commission, the School Committee, Board of Assessors, Library Committee member, and for 16 years as the Town Moderator.

Jack and Deb spent many summers on Vinalhaven, Maine, where they took great pleasure creating a summer place on the site of an abandoned granite quarry. They loved the exceptional beauty of the island and the island community, and they loved to be on the water sailing. Jack became an avid woodworker, producing wonderful furniture which he often gave as gifts.

Jack’s family loved him for his engaging and cheerful nature. He is remembered by Deborah, his wife of 67 years; son John Jr.  and his wife Olga Zizich of Ellicott City, Md;, daughter Lindsay and her husband Peter O’Neill of Providence, R.I.; daughter Hilary and her husband Christopher Foster of Wayland; son Stratton  and his wife Julie Henderson of Calais, Vt.; seven grandchildren who affectionately called him Jeefer (Danya, Karina, Piper, Ian, Alec, Lyle, and Eli); step-grandchildren Jason, Daniel, Alice and Claire; and his extended family of Frenches and Coles. He was a family man. He is preceded in death by three brothers, Peter, Alden Jr., and Hollis, and an infant grandson Corbin.

Family and friends are invited to gather for his memorial service at the First Parish of Lincoln  on Sunday, Dec. 16 at 2 p.m. with a reception to follow at the Pierce House. Additional parking will be available at the Pierce House with shuttle service available to and from the church. Burial at Lincoln Cemetery is private.

If you wish, donations in Jack’s memory may be sent to the Conservation Law Foundation. Condolences may be sent to P.O. Box 6303, Lincoln MA 01773 or to the Dee Funeral Home. Arrangements are under the care of Dee Funeral Home & Cremation Service of Concord. To share a remembrance or to send a condolence in his online guestbook, please click here.

(Obituary courtesy of Dee Funeral Home)

Patty Barkas Gregory

Patty Barkas Gregory, 59 (November 8) — Lincoln native and accomplished singer.

Catherine Basile, 91 (September 30) — grandmother of 19, great-grandmother of 19.

Lucretia Giese

(Editor’s note: the following obituary was submitted directly to the Lincoln Squirrel by Lucretia’s brother, Henry B. Hoover Jr.)

Lucretia Hoover Giese (1937-2018) died at her home in Lincoln on October 16, 2018 of cancer. Born in Lincoln on May 23, 1937 as an identical twin to the late Henry B. and Lucretia J. Hoover, Lucretia graduated from Oberlin College and received her master’s degree in 1980, working subsequently at the Seattle Art Museum and as assistant curator in the Department of Paintings at the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston.

She met her late husband, Paul E. Giese, in Seattle and moved back to the Boston area, where they were married on July 23, 1966. They took up residence in Lincoln, where her architect father remodeled a house for them. Paul worked for the Cambridge-based consulting firm Arthur D. Little, and Lucretia for the Museum of Fine Arts.

In the late 1970s, Lucretia returned to graduate school, receiving her PhD in fine arts from Harvard University in 1985 with her thesis, “Winslow Homer: Painter of the Civil War.” An academic career at the Rhode Island School of Design followed, where she was professor of history of art and visual culture from 1989, retiring as professor emeritus in 2007.

Lucretia helped found and was a board member of Friends of Modern Architecture/Lincoln that advocates mid-century Modern architecture in New England. Her post-retirement activities included serving as chair of the Lincoln Historical Commission and membership on the council of Historic New England. Her father designed the first Modern house in Lincoln (1937), which through her and her brother’s efforts, became the first of that period to be accepted into Historic New England’s Stewardship Program.

She and her husband continued to enjoy outdoor activities, cultural events and museums while traveling extensively in this country and abroad.            

Lucretia is survived by her brother, Henry B. Hoover, Jr., of Bedford. Contributions in her memory to Harvard’s Henry B. Hoover Fellowship are welcome. Checks may be made out to the Harvard University Graduate School of Design (note the Henry B. Hoover Fellowship in the memo line) and mailed to Alumni and Development Services, Harvard University, P.O. Box 419209, Boston, MA 02241.

A celebration of Lucretia’s life is planned.

In the October 24 obituary for Ted Knowlton, the name of his daughter, Polly Knowlton Cockett, was misspelled. The error has been corrected in the original article.

Ted Knowlton

(Editor’s note: this obituary was submitted directly to the Lincoln Squirrel by Polly Knowlton Cockett, Ted Knowlton’s daughter.)

Edward “Ted” Almy Knowlton, 92, of Lincoln died peacefully on October 2 with his special dog, Boomer, at his feet and his wife of 33 years, Anne “Annie” (Preston) Raker Knowlton, by his side.

Ted was born to Edward “Ned” Allen Knowlton and Leila May (Osborne) Knowlton of Holyoke, Mass., on August 26, 1926 in Westerly, R.I. The family summered in Groton Long Point, Conn., where they owned the Duck, a 24-foot open sailboat which Ted skippered for many years. He attended public schools in Holyoke through grade 10, completed school at Phillips Exeter Academy, and enlisted in the Army Air Corps in 1944.

At Yale University, Ted lived in Branford College and graduated in 1950 with a B.S. in industrial administration, a combination of engineering and economics. In 1951, Ted married the late Marianne (Heimburg) Knowlton, and they and their four children lived in Winchester, Mass. for many years.

Following a variety of engineering jobs, including developing an innovative line of products, six with patents, Ted gained electronics experience, capping his career at NEC Electronics by developing a floating-point math package for computer controllers. Combining his computer and mechanical skills, as well as his musical pursuits, Ted built and developed a computer-controlled precision piano tuner—with the prototype gracing his grand piano in the living room for many a year.

Throughout his life, Ted was deeply engaged in music as a jazz pianist, which built on early classical training followed by self-taught jazz improvisation during high school and university, and regular gigs for the remainder of his life, including teaching at Berklee College of Music in Boston. He cherished the myriad musical colleagues he had the privilege to play with over the years, and his legendary jazz parties will be remembered.

With his wife Annie, Ted became involved in the New England Old English Sheepdog Rescue as a charter member, and created NEOESR’s website and database. Ted philosophically evolved to embrace the abiding concepts of truth, beauty, goodness, and love.

Ted is survived by Annie; his children Laurence (Suzanne), Polly (Robin), and Liza (Clifford); stepchildren Robert (Annette), Deborah, Michael (Leslie), and David (Lisa); many grandchildren, step-grandchildren, great-grandchildren, nieces, and nephews. He was predeceased by son Edward and siblings Sylvia, Archa, Bessie, and Harriette.

A celebration of Ted’s life will be held at a later date. In lieu of flowers, please consider a memorial donation to a charity of your choice.

George Hatsopoulos

Lincoln resident George Hatsopoulos, founder of Thermo Electron and a life member emeritus of the MIT Corporation (its board of trustees), died on September 20 at the age of 91. By the time he retired in 1999, Thermo Electron (now Thermo Fisher Scientific Inc.) had over 24,000 employees in 23 countries and worked in industries ranging from medical devices and environmental systems to bomb detectors and biomass electric generation. Click here for the full obituary on the MIT website. Click here for a video interview with Hatsopoulos for MIT’s Infinite History project.

Ruth Sartori

Ruth Sartori, 86 (September 17) — longtime teacher aide in Lincoln schools. Visiting hours on Thursday, Sept. 20 from 4–8 p.m. in the Dee Funeral Home (27 Bedford St., Concord); funeral Mass on Friday, Sept. 21 at 10 a.m. in St. Joseph Church in Lincoln. Click here for full obituary.

Peter Rubel

Peter Rubel, 87 (August 17) — Held patents for metallurgy and plastics production processes. Click here for full obituary.

Vernon Welch

Vernon Welch, 90 (June 16) — active with the Lincoln Jazz Club.

Alan B. Smith

Alan B. Smith, 86 (August 3) — engineer and physicist. There will be a celebration of his life in Concord on August 26.