obits

Anne Cynthia (Mattana) Kafina, formerly of Lincoln, died on Sunday, September 22, 2024 at Waltham Crossings following a period of declining health. She was 97, and at the end of her long life, continued to fiercely value her independence.

She was happily married to the late Martin Kafina for 35 years until his passing.

Born on August 6, 1927, Anne was the daughter of the late Giacinto and Domittela Mattana. She grew up in the Bronx, and was awarded the title of Miss Coney Island. She lived on Second Street in Park Slope for 30 years.

Anne enjoyed playing golf and tennis, and admired her favorite baseball player, Joe DiMaggio. She loved the music stylings of Frank Sinatra and Dean Martin. Annual vacations to Lake Hopatcong in New Jersey, where she could be found boating and water-skiing, brought her special joy.

Anne was a dedicated volunteer at Emerson Hospital for 20 years. A selfless mother and excellent grandmother, she was regarded as the cornerstone of her family.

She leaves behind her devoted son, Dr. Martin J. Kafina and his wife Theresa of Lincoln; two grandsons, Dr. Martin D. Kafina and Christopher J. Kafina; and a nephew, Dr. Fred Podorf. Anne was preceded in death by her four siblings: Josephine, Jack, Rose, and Argia.

Family and friends will gather for Anne’s Funeral Mass on Saturday, September 28 at 11 a.m. in St. Joseph Church in Lincoln. Burial will follow at Lincoln Cemetery. In lieu of flowers, donations in her memory may be made to Emerson Health Foundation, 133 Old Road to Nine Acre Corner, Concord MA 01742 or Rheumatology Research Foundation, 2200 Lake Boulevard, Atlanta GA 30319.

Arrangements are entrusted to Dee Funeral Home & Cremation Service of Concord, which provided this obituary. Click here to visit her online guestbook.

Kemon Peter Taschioglou passed away peacefully at home on August 31, 2024, just two days shy of his 96th birthday. Born to Greek immigrants Prothomos (Peter) Taschioglou and Despina Tossounoglou, Kemon grew up in a family duplex in Winthrop, where he developed lifelong friends, a love of sailing, and a deep appreciation for the ocean.

Kemon became an Eagle Scout and graduated from Winthrop High School in 1945. He then earned a degree in electrical engineering from MIT in 1949 and graduated from Harvard Business School in 1951. While at MIT, he participated in ROTC and was commissioned as a second lieutenant in the Air Force. He developed an enduring love of physics and astronomy, which he shared with his family, often visiting the Boston Museum of Science planetarium and stargazing at their home near Mt. Misery.

In 1960, while working in sales at Polaroid, Kemon noticed a fetching intern from upstate New York named Rhoda Kyser. She accompanied him on ski trips and outings with Kemon’s bachelor friend group, “The Lazy 8.” These men and their eventual spouses (some of whom still reside in Lincoln) continued to ski, sail, and hike together along with their children, remaining close friends for the rest of their lives.

Kemon and Rhoda commenced their 63-year partnership on May 27, 1961, and moved from Cambridge to Lincoln in 1963. In 1964, Kemon joined Teradyne, where he managed the company’s marketing services for the next 20 years, advancing the industry’s use of automated testing equipment to boost production.

Kemon was widely known for his ongoing civic commitment to the Town of Lincoln, most notably as a Selectman (1970-1972) and a member of the Conservation Commission (1974-1981). He was instrumental in implementing the town’s long-term development plan. He also helped develop and implement the town’s highly innovative land conservation strategy of purchasing parcels from private landowners for town use. This practice fostered responsible development while preserving ample open space for hiking and sustainable recreation; many other towns have since copied this strategy.

Kemon remained actively engaged in his community well into his 80s. For multiple decades, he and Rhoda were intrepid front-row participants at Lincoln’s Annual Town Meetings. A longtime member of the First Parish in Lincoln, he served as a deacon and both attended and taught Sunday school classes, earning him their lifetime achievement award. Starting at age 75, Kemon served two terms as the Lincoln School Committee representative on the Minuteman Regional High School Committee (from 2003-2006 and again from 2012-2015).

Throughout his life, Kemon held an irrepressible enthusiasm to understand the world around him and was known for engaging friends and strangers with a remarkably inquisitive yet disarming warmth. To feed his insatiable curiosity, he amassed an extensive collection of books on a wide array of subjects, which would have crowded Rhoda out of their living room had Kemon not confined his library to one long floor-to-ceiling wall. Kemon’s persistent pursuit of pluralistic perspectives made him slow to judge and eager to build bridges among multiple, often conflicting, points of view; this eagerness only increased with his age.

Kemon was also excited to travel, adopt trends, and try new adventures. He was among the first in town to get a 10-speed bike to commute daily to work in his suit, rain or shine. A few years later, Kemon and Rhoda bought their daughter a quarterhorse when she was 12, which he happily took over caring for and riding when his daughter left for college.

Kemon was physically vigorous well into his 90s. He would regularly jog, swim, chop wood, canoe on the Sudbury River, and camp in the Appalachians with his family and friends. While riding “his” horse, he injured his back, which required surgery. He subsequently recovered and was able to continue the majority of his former activities, largely because he remained doggedly committed to his rehab exercises.

In addition to his wife Rhoda of Lincoln, Kemon is survived by his daughter Ellen Parsons and her husband John of Belvedere, Calif., and their daughter Dominique; his son Peter Taschioglou of Waltham; Peter’s children, Danielle and Alexander of Portland, Ore.; and his niece Althea Henrickson of Athens, Texas. He was predeceased by his brother Byron J. Taschioglou and nephew Byron Peters.

A celebration of Kemon’s life will be held on Saturday, October 5, 2024 at 3 p.m. at the First Parish in Lincoln. In lieu of flowers, donations may be made to the The Trustees of Reservations, a nonprofit dedicated to preserving natural and historical places for public enjoyment and conservation.

Arrangements are entrusted to Dee Funeral Home & Cremation Service of Concord, which provided this obituary. The family invites you to share a favorite memory or to offer other messages or condolences on Kemon’s tribute wall.  

Carolyn Betts Johnston, age 82, of Kennett Square, Penn., and formerly of Lincoln, passed away on August 3, 2024 after an extended illness. Born 1942 in Morristown, N.J, she was the daughter of the late Walter and Hazel Jacobs Betts.

A graduate of Dickinson College, Carolyn developed a love for nature, animals, and in particular, miniature shelties; her enjoyment of art, bridge-playing, volunteering, and travel rounded out her many special qualities. She and her husband, Dr. David Johnston, lived on Farrar Pond Road from the late 1970s until 2013, when they moved to Pennsylvania (David is buried in Lincoln).

Carolyn developed many lifelong friendships wherever she went, sharing her talents with the canine community with dog-obedience training and care, along with giving of herself with her calligraphy skills. She shared her gifts with her community and with the treasured friendships she formed through the years. As a lifelong diabetic, Carolyn beat the odds and bore this disease with patience, determination, and grace.

A devoted wife, sister, aunt and cherished friend, Carolyn and her presence will be deeply missed. Carolyn is predeceased by her husband, Dr. David Johnston, and her stepson, Skip Johnston. She is also predeceased by her brothers, Roger (and his wife, Joan) and Richard. She is survived by her stepdaughter, Patti Johnston of Massachusetts, and cousins Alan Jacobs of Wales and Gregory Jacobs of Indiana. Two step-grandchildren, Jonathan Johnston of Oklahoma and Megan Johnston of Switzerland, also survive Carolyn. She also leaves nephews and their families: Stephen and Sandra Betts and their daughters Melissa and Nina, all of Clarks Summit, Penn.; David of Edwardsville, Penn., and Gregory of Scranton, Penn.; and her niece Heather of Tunkhannoc, Penn.

At Carolyn’s request, there was no viewing or service. In lieu of flowers, donations may be made to the American Diabetes Association or the American Kennel Club.

This obituary was provided by the Longwood Funeral Home in Kennett Square, Penn. To leave a sympathy note, click here.

Webster Bernard Brockelman, Jr. passed away quietly in Lincoln on July 25, 2024 with his loving wife of 49 wonderful years, Jennie Lou Brockelman, by his side. He was 93.

Web was born in Longview, Wash., on January 31, 1931, the son of Webster B. and Nina Harkins Brockelman. The family moved to Framingham, Mass., where Web attended public schools before attending Bates College, graduating in 1952 with a B.A. Throughout his life, Web attended every college reunion. He closely followed the Bates football team and viewed the annual Bates-Bowdoin game as the equivalent of a Super Bowl.

After graduation, Web entered the Marine Corps Officer Candidate School and attained the rank of captain during the Korean War. He was awarded a Purple Heart for an injury during the conflict. He continued in the Marine Corps Reserves until 1960. His experience in the Corps shaped the rest of his life as he embraced the teamwork, ethics and patriotism of his Marine Corps tenure.

Following Korea, Web and his first wife, Marcia D. Brockelman, moved to Atlanta, but loving New England, they returned and settled in Boxford, Mass., where Web became an active citizen in local and national politics. He was a member of the Boxford school committee and a thought leader in the planning of the area’s first regional high school, Masconomet in 1959. He coached his sons in baseball and football, continually instilling the concept of sportsmanship to his players. He absolutely loved dogs, both his own and all those he came in contact with.

He was an accomplished musician with a deep melodious bass voice and sang both spontaneously and with quartets on the North Shore. His successful executive career in the insurance brokerage business began in the south with Liberty Mutual and continued in Boston for the next 40 years. Beginning with the Boston firm Boit, Dalton and Church, and through many mergers, he became president and CEO of AON Corp. in the Northeast, an international risk management firm. He retired from AON in 1995 but continued to serve in a consulting role for several more years.

Web was an instinctive and skilled sailor. He was past Commodore of the Eastern Point Yacht Club in Gloucester. He and Jen spent many years plying the waters of New England in their own sailboat aptly named Esprit. There were also many voyages in Maine, the Caribbean, and the Grenadines. Web and Jen skied and traveled worldwide and made numerous auto trips, including five across the country, often to Washington state to visit relatives.

Starting in 1976, Winchester Mass., became home to Web and Jen who hosted lots of family events as the children grew into adulthood. After retirement, Web and Jen retired to a condominium in Lincoln, where they regularly entertained family and held gatherings for a wide circle of friends. Web was also past president of the condo association where they lived. Seemingly Web’s innate leadership qualities lead him to numerous involuntary and voluntary leadership roles throughout his life in the community and business.

Web is survived by his wife, Jennie Lou; a brother, James H. Brockelman; three children by his first marriage to Marcia: Laura J., James D., and Andrew F. Brockelman; seven grandchildren, and five great-grandchildren. He was predeceased by his stepchildren, Geoffrey F. and Rebecca E. Brackett. Web was an honored patriarch and loved as a remarkable presence in his family.

Webster’s funeral was private and he was buried in Wildwood Cemetery in Winchester. In lieu of flowers, donations can be made to the National Marine Museum, 1775 Semper Fidelis Way, Triangle, VA 22172, or online at secure.marineheritage.org/a/f11110. For online condolences, please visit his Lane Funeral Home obituary page and click on “Memory Wall.”

Susan Hall Eckel of Lincoln, who taught scores of elementary school students during a decades-long career as a teacher in Concord, died in Boston on May 6, 2024. She was 82.

Born January 6, 1942 in Port Chester, N.Y., to Robert Russell Hall and Jean Collins, Sue, as she was widely known, grew up in Riverside, Conn., where she was known to be gregarious and social. She was an avid sailor at the Riverside Yacht Club and sang in the choir at St. Paul’s Episcopal Church, nurturing a lifelong love of music.

She graduated from Greenwich High School in 1959 and then enrolled at Colby Junior College for Women in New London, N.H. (known today as Colby-Sawyer). After two years, she moved to Boston to attend Boston University, and she graduated from the School of Education with a Bachelor of Science in 1963. That summer, she participated in an exchange program in the Netherlands with the Experiment in International Living with a Dutch host family, which she recalled fondly for years.

While teaching at Hanscom Air Force Base, a mutual friend introduced her to an officer in the U.S. Air Force, George Mitchell Eckel III, known widely as Mitch. They married on August 28, 1965 at St. Paul’s Episcopal Church. Susan accompanied Mitch as he underwent pilot and other training in Kansas and various locations around the United States. When Mitch was deployed overseas, she lived briefly in Riverside, Conn., with her parents and taught in the Riverside schools.

Following Mitch’s return from to the United States, they moved to Cambridge, where Mitch enrolled at Harvard Law School. Susan began teaching again at Hanscom in the summer of 1969. Their first son, George Mitchell Eckel IV (Mike), was born in 1971. The following year, after Mitch completed law school, the family moved to Manchester, N.H. Their twins, Peter Heywood Eckel and Richard Hall Eckel, were born in 1974. In 1975, Susan, Mitch, and their three boys moved to Concord, where they lived for the following 43 years.

Susan initially worked as an educator at the Milldam Nursery School in Concord, then as a kindergarten teacher in the Concord Public Schools, and later as a first-grade teacher, primarily at Alcott School. She retired in 2007.

Susan was a devoted citizen of Concord. In addition to working in the schools, she was a member of the Trinitarian Congregational Church. She was an avid gardener and active in the Concord Garden Club in her later years. She also was an enthusiastic member of the Hugh Cargill Trust, which provides short-term emergency assistance to Concord residents in times of financial need.    

In their later years, she and Mitch moved to Lincoln, where they were committed members of the Farrar Pond Community.  

Susan loved being a grandmother, attending soccer games, gymnastics events, and dance recitals. She will be remembered as a dedicated teacher, a loyal friend and “adventurer.”

Susan was predeceased by her husband of 58 years, Mitch, who died in July 2023, and her younger brother Robert Russell Hall, Jr., who died in April 2011. She is survived by sons Mike (Jenn) of Prague, Czech Republic; Richard (Marcy), of Stow, Mass.; and Peter (Isabelle) of West Roxbury, and their families, including eight grandchildren, Lily, Sydney, Scarlett, Daphne, Henry, Louise, Charles, and Grace, along with her brother, Daniel M. Hall of Palm City, Fla., and her sister Jane C. Hall of North Conway, N.H.

Family and friends will gather to remember Susan at her memorial service on Saturday, July 20, 2024, at 3 p.m. at the Trinitarian Congregational Church (54 Walden St., Concord). Burial in Sleepy Hollow Cemetery in Concord will be private. In lieu of flowers, the family asks that donations be made in Susan’s memory to: Trinitarian Congregational Church, 54 Walden St., Concord, MA 01742 or the Hugh Cargill Trust, Town of Concord, ATTN: Hugh Cargill Trust Committee. P.O. Box 535, Concord, MA 01742.

Arrangements are under the care of Concord Funeral Home, which provided this obituary. Click here to visit her online guestbook.

Marijke E. Holtrop loved the outdoors, skiing, backpacking, kayaking, mountain climbing, skating, and above all, sailing. She was a nature photographer, a nonfiction/scientific writer, and a scientist in the field of medicine. She passed away at her home in Lincoln on June 8, 2024 at age 92.

Marijke was born on April 17, 1932, in the Netherlands. She is the daughter of Marius Wilhelm Holtrop and Josien Holtrop-Juchter and the sister of Ernst Jan and Wouter Holtrop. In 1936, she and her family moved to California, where she attended kindergarten and two years of grade school. She loved her life there. They moved back to the Netherlands in 1939. The next spring, World War II broke out. This deeply affected Marijke. Deep down, she always wanted to go back to the U.S., and she did. After Marijke got an M.D. and a Ph.D. at the State University of Leiden in the Netherlands, she moved to the United States for good. She was a researcher at Boston Children’s Hospital Medical Center (Harvard Medical School) for many years, using photography to study bone cells and producing numerous publications.

When Marijke encountered hardship and times of trouble, she would go sailing to reconnect with friends and nature. “The wind touching my skin, the sun warming my body, the gentle rocking of the boat, the sounds of the waves splashing against the bow and lapping against the hull of the boat, the melodious washing of the water along the rocky shore, and the expanse of blue sky and drifting clouds reached my inner core and revived my spirit,” she wrote.

Marijke was also an intellectual interested in evolution, consciousness, ecology, biology, and environmental issues. Her spiritual interest was Taoism.

In retirement, Marijke thrived. She moved to Lincoln in 1998 where she created a living space to her needs: a “green” house in a quiet natural setting, with ample space for two housemates. Her world stretched out from the Assabet River National Wildlife Refuge to the ocean, sailing on her 23-foot boat Wu-Wei, sleeping on board and taking friends out.

She became a successful nature photographer. Nature and people, people and nature. She was healthy and strong, cognition and memory as clear as ever. Marijke gained a sense of belonging by connecting with a variety of people interested in environmental issues. “Much to contribute and much to learn,” she would say. She had found total peace within and was excited about how her life was evolving connecting with nature, family, and friends.

Unfortunately, Marijke contracted Lyme disease, which was first misdiagnosed. It seriously affected her health. Later, a tumor in her abdomen caused further trouble. She died in her home with friends and family close by.

Marijke was a truly remarkable woman. She will be missed.

In August 1989, many decades before her passing, Marijke wrote: “I feel that my life is a small part of a large process. My life is flowing like a river in a diverse landscape of valleys and mountains, fields, and forests. The river flows on and on, always moving, never still — sometimes fast and turbulent, sometimes slow and peaceful. The river feeds water to the land it runs through, water as an essential energy in life. The river also receives water from its tributaries and thus is being fed. In this way, there is a continuous flow and exchange of energy. The river becomes wider and wider and has more and more water to contribute to the land.

“Where is the river going? Eventually, the river will flow into the ocean, a homecoming, and will merge with the ‘ten thousand things,’ the everything, and become nothing and everything at the same time.

“When will that happen? The day I die.”

A private commemoration with family and friends was held on June 12. Donations may be made in Marijke’s memory to Friends of Woodlands and Waters, P.O. Box 27, Hudson MA 01749. Please indicate that donations are intended for the Assabet River National Wildlife Refuge.

Lincoln resident Myra Green passed away on June 21, 2024. She was born on February 11, 1947 in New York City, the daughter of Louis Goldenberg, eventual president of the Manhattan-based Wildenstein Gallery, and his gracious wife and fellow golf enthusiast Helen Goldenberg.

Both Myra and her younger sister Barbara became accomplished classical pianists, attended New Rochelle public schools, and for many years enjoyed, with their friends, summers at Camp Wi Co Su Ta in New Hampshire. In 1964, Myra enrolled at the University of Pennsylvania as an English major, graduating Phi Beta Kappa in 1968. She subsequently became one of the very few female members of the Yale Law School’s class of 1971. Her 1970 marriage to her first husband, David Green, an aspiring physician, ended in divorce, but not until years after their sons Michael and Alexander were born.

Myra’s first job as a lawyer was at Proskauer Rose LLP in New York. She and her husband then moved to Boston where, as an associate at the firm of Choate, Hall & Stewart LLP, she acted as the first general counsel to University Hospital, now Boston Medical Center.

At Choate, Myra rose to become one of the earliest female partners of a major Boston law firm. Over the ensuing twenty years, she mentored many young lawyers, served a term as chair of the firm’s health care law department, developed a national reputation for excellence in her specialty, and routinely won “best lawyer” honors from her peers. She did all this while working “part-time” helping to raise her sons and her two stepdaughters, Audrey and Sarah, from her marriage in 1987 to Jeffrey Heidt, also a partner at the Choate firm.

Myra left Choate in 2004 to become the first general counsel to Health Dialog, an international health care disease management enterprise. Following the company’s acquisition by a British insurer, she became general counsel to DentaQuest, the management company for a large number of Delta Dental plans across the country.

Myra and Jeff traveled extensively around the world but spent most of their summers with friends and family at their summer home in Chilmark on Martha’s Vineyard. Myra loved long beach walks, seafood lunches in Menemsha, and the sensuous joy of swimming in the surf at Black Point Beach on the island’s south shore. She loved to play in the sand with her children and, in time, her nine grandchildren (all of whom called her “Ummi”, which is Yiddish for “grandma”).

In 2015, Myra and Jeff had a family home rebuilt on Jeff’s family’s lakefront property on Lake Ainslie, Cape Breton, Nova Scotia. The pandemic prevented them from enjoying it as much as they would have liked, but they loved their visits to the property, savoring fresh air, lake breezes, the Cabot Trail, wildlife, and the company of friends and relatives.

Myra was known to all as kind, warm, loving, smart, and classy as they come, while remaining modest to a fault. She loved her life which, like those of her parents, was cut tragically short by a debilitating disease, but throughout the course of her illness she maintained an upbeat attitude, a smile for everyone, and a readily apparent love of her friends and family.

She and Jeff moved to a retirement community in 2020, where Jeff remained by her side. Myra passed on June 21 in the company of her husband and family, listening to music she loved and surrounded by pictures of the people who loved her. She is survived by her husband Jeff; her children, Michael Green and his wife Laura Carey; Alex Green and his wife Katie, Sarah Provance and her husband Alan, Audrey O’Shaughnessy and her husband Shannan; her sister, Barbara Goldenberg; and her grandchildren Franklin, Rose, Martin, Olivia, Aiden, Ares, Rowan, Brianna, and Sadie.

A celebration of Myra’s life will be held at the Pierce House in Lincoln in July. Donations in lieu of flowers may be made to the Cure Alzheimer’s Fund, 34 Washington St., Suite 310, Wellesley Hills, MA 02481 or at curealz.org.

There will be a memorial gathering in July for Jacquelyn “Jacqui” James of Lincoln, who passed away on June 10, 2024 at the age of 86. The gathering will be held on Saturday, July 20 at 2 p.m. at the First Unitarian Universalist Society in Newton  (1326 Washington St., Newton). Click here to read her obituary.

Mark Scott of Lincoln, a graduate of Lincoln Public Schools and Lincoln-Sudbury Regional High School, passed away on November 15, 2023 at age 74. He was buried with military honors in the Lincoln Cemetery on December 7, 2023. Click here to read his obituary.