obits

Juliet Rago-McNamara

American artist Juliet Rago-McNamara passed away peacefully of natural causes on June 17, 2024 at the age of 97 at Bridges Memory Care Assisted Living in Westford. She was born on March 21, 1927, in Chicago and is survived by her four children and six grandchildren.

Juliet was pre-deceased by her first husband, Henry Rago, a poet, editor of Poetry magazine, and professor in the University of Chicago’s School of Theology and Literature who passed away in 1969, and by her second husband Robert J. McNamara, former dean of Loyola University and subsequently professor and chair of its Department of Sociology, who passed away in 1985.

Beloved within her community and by family, friends, colleagues and students, Juliet was known for her even temper, kindness, and grace. She was a full professor of painting in Loyola’s Department of Fine Arts and was a prolific and respected artist, a calling to which she devoted her life.

Juliet earned her Bachelor of Fine Arts degree from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago (SAIC) in 1950 and her Master of Fine Arts at SAIC in 1973. Her career in higher education began in 1969, when she became a professor of fine arts at Loyola and taught painting until her retirement in 2002. Prior to this, she was an art instructor at Barat College of the Sacred Heart in Lake Forest, Ill., from 1970-1971. She spent many summers working independently at arts colonies throughout the country, notably Yado, Ragdale, Oxbow Summer School of Art, Vermont Studio Center, and the Virginia Center for the Creative Arts.

A member of the College Art Association and the Women’s Caucus for Art, Juliet had a long career as an educator, lecturer, and artist. She received numerous awards, fellowships, and grants and is listed as a notable artist by Marquis Who’s Who. Juliet prolifically explored abstractions, landscapes, sky, sea, and figurative subjects in her work as an artist. She often depicted elements of nature and the ever-changing cloud formations over Lake Michigan and wherever she traveled. She was captivated by the human figure moving through water or space, especially in the form of angels, which graced most of the holiday cards she sent out yearly.

In addition to her work as an artist, Juliet loved music. She played guitar, dulcimer, and piano, and was a gifted singer, singing in local choirs wherever she lived. Her interest in art, music, and the humanities enabled her to create rich and varied friendships that mirrored what she cared most about.

Juliet continued through her over 70 years as an artist to create art works and exhibits in galleries and museums (in both solo and group shows) and leaves a rich and complex legacy as an artist and friend to many.

A celebration of life and memorial service will be announced at a later date at First Parish Church in Lincoln and at Rago Brothers’ Funeral Home in Chicago. In lieu of flowers, please contribute to the Alzheimer’s Foundation of America or a charity or scholarship of your choice in Juliet’s name.

John Edward Foster

John Edward Foster of Lincoln passed away on May 11, 2024 at Emerson Hospital in Concord. His wife, daughter and son were at his bedside. He was 83 years old.

Ed was born in Muskogee, Okla., in 1941 to John Norman Foster and Viola Gard Foster. He is survived by his wife of 62 years, Sara Kay Foster, and his two children, Kristine Foster Carbone and John Douglas Foster. He also leaves behind four beloved grandchildren, Enna Lea Carbone, Amelia Elizabeth Foster, Evan Aaron Foster and Margaret Avery Foster. His sister Virginia Foster McLain predeceased him in 2006.

In 1962, Ed received a B.S. in business at Oklahoma State University and a B.A. in English at the University of Oklahoma in 1964. He then obtained a law degree at Harvard Law School in 1967. He practiced law as a probate court and estate planning attorney with a solo practice in Harvard Square for 48 years. He was a member of the Massachusetts Bar Association. Ed was admitted to the bar of the Supreme Court, nominated by Lawrence Tribe, Professor Emeritus at Harvard Law School. He also served on the board of Coppermark Bank in Oklahoma City for many years.

Ed was a well-rounded individual and always had vigorous vegetable gardens at his home in Lincoln and a second home in Denmark, Maine. At his Denmark garden, he grew vegetables for the Bridgton Farmers market. He was a bee-keeper and his children helped sell the 150 pounds of honey from his hive at Lincoln’s Codman Fair.

Ed studied oil painting at the School of the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston. He loved to paint and he painted regularly for the last 20 years of his life. Enamored with Monhegan Island, his paintings depict the colorful houses and landscapes of the island he loved in Maine. He also painted many portraits of his grandchildren. Curious and adventurous, he loved traveling with his wife and family abroad and in the United States. He also had a private pilot’s license and took many trips around New England. He was quick to laugh and will always be remembered for his unique sense of humor and dry wit.

Relatives and friends will gather for Ed’s memorial service at The Commons in Lincoln at Lincoln on Saturday, June 15 at 11 a.m. In lieu of flowers, please contribute in Ed’s memory to the charity of your choice.

Arrangements are under the care of Dee Funeral Home & Cremation Service of Concord, which provided this obituary. To share a remembrance or to offer a condolence in Ed’s online guestbook, click here.

Florenzo “Lolly” Evangelista

Florenzo T. “Lolly” Evangelista, of Lincoln, died on April 8, 2024 at Lahey Hospital in Burlington at the age of 98. Lolly was born in Berlin, N.H., on August 31, 1925, to Charles Evangelista and Annie (Bencivenga) Evangelista. Both Charles and Annie grew up in Calazzo, Italy, and moved to the United States after they were married. Lolly was the youngest of their 12 children.

Lolly left school at age 15 after the death of his father and went to work on DeVincent Brothers Farm in Waltham to help support his family. Five years later, on February 6, 1946, he enlisted in the Navy and engaged in active duty as a Fireman First Class on the aircraft carrier U.S.S. Tarawa (CV-40), spending most of his service in the Far East. He was honorably discharged on December 16, 1947. He spent the remainder of his working career as a manager with ABC Building Supply Co. in Waltham.

On September 4, 1949, Lolly married Dorothy L. Hand of Waltham, to whom he was married for 60 years until her death in 2009. They moved to Lincoln in 1958 and raised their family there.

Lolly is survived by his three daughters, Karen McEneaney of Gardner, Mont., Janet Dickey of Littleton, Mass., and Paula Lewis of Lincoln; two grandchildren, Julia Dugan of Manchester, N.H., and retired 20-year veteran First Sgt. Jesse Dugan: and five great-grandchildren.

Everyone who knew him thought Lolly was remarkable for his health and longevity. In fact, he was a three-time cancer survivor and lived with one kidney for 14 years. He went for two walks a day on Mill Street in Lincoln right up until November 2023.

Lolly loved to bowl. He was a member of a bowling league in Acton from the 1970s all the way until Covid hit in 2020. He enjoyed gambling and played cards three nights a week, and belonged to a private club in Maynard. He loved to draw and regularly took art classes at the COA in Lincoln. He could draw anything including cartoon characters, flowers, people, animals, and birds. He volunteered at the Lincoln COA front desk for several years and he enjoyed Senior Dining in Lincoln every Friday. Most of all, he loved singing to anybody and everybody who would listen to him, and he never stopped whistling and singing.

Over the past ten years, during the summer and fall, he helped his friend Frank Rotundo by manning the farm stand at Rotundo Farm in Concord while Frank worked in the field. He even made it onto “Chronicle” when they did a story called “Farmstands,” which aired September 2017. Of course he was singing!

Lolly was a friend to everyone he met. He was always smiling, always happy and would do anything to help anybody. People loved him and constantly commented on how amazing he was, and how happy. He never let anything get to him. He attended Club 600 in Bedford every week and he sang to everyone while he worked out. His daughter Paula, who worked at Bedford Charter school bus company, regularly brought him with her so he knew all the bus drivers. At the end of every summer when Paula had a BBQ/birthday party to celebrate his birthday, the bus drivers would come to celebrate his longevity, happiness and friendship. He loved having people over his house.

Lolly always ended the summer with his three closest friends, Ron, Lynne, and Priscilla, and his daughter, Paula, celebrating his Labor Day birthday with a cookout and an afternoon of playing cards on the back deck. Lolly will be dearly missed by everyone who knew him.

Maurice Torti

Maurice “Moe” Leo Torti Jr., 92, of Lincoln, passed away on May 13, 2024, at his residence. He was born in 1931 in Memphis, Tenn., to Maurice Leo Torti and Leah Glidewell Torti. 

He earned bachelor’s, master’s, and doctorate degrees in mechanical engineering and materials sciences at the Massachusetts Institute of Engineering. At MIT, he lettered in crew and played rugby. Upon completing his studies, he worked at the National Research Corp. in Cambridge, where he developed several patents, processes, and equipment for the purification of tantalum metal. His work contributed to developing tantalum powder for electronic uses and solid tantalum forms for industrial applications. He ultimately held the title of Senior Scientist at the Norton Abrasive Co., now Saint-Gobain Abrasives. Upon retirement, he continued as a consultant for the same company. 

In 1969, he married Nancy Hunnewell Morse of Cambridge. After some years of living on the Boston waterfront, they moved to Lincoln. Dr. Torti was an avid skier, sailor, gardener, and tennis player. He was a member of the Longwood Cricket Club, where he served on the board of directors for several years. Upon retirement, he pursued a lifelong interest in sciences and humanities through the Harvard Institute for Learning in Retirement, where he attended and led classes for twenty years. 

He leaves his wife, Nancy Hunnewell Torti of Lincoln; a niece, Dr. Leah Neel Zartarian (Gary Zartarian), of Bath, Maine; and several great nieces and nephews. He is predeceased by two sisters, Alice Torti Neel of San Antonio, Texas, and Polly Jean Torti Lucas of Huntsville, Ala. 

Family and friends will gather to honor and remember Moe for his memorial service at St. Anne’s-in-the-Fields Episcopal Church, 147 Concord Road, Lincoln, on Saturday, May 25 at 10 a.m. followed by a reception in Flint Hall. All are welcome. 

Arrangements under the care of Concord Funeral Home, which provided this obituary. To share a remembrance or to offer a condolence in Moe’s online guestbook,  please click here.

Lorian Brown

Lorian Rounsevell Brown of Lincoln died after a long illness due to a degenerative brain disease. She was the oldest child of Robert Vance Brown and Majorie Waldron Brown. Born on March 29, 1941, she is survived by her brother Richard Brown (Susan McClellan) and sister Dory Rice (Kate Olgiotti). She was predeceased by her husband Joseph Urner in 2011.

Lorian grew up in Washington, D.C., and Wellesley, graduated from Radcliffe College magna cum laude, and received her M.A. from Wheelock College. She had many careers, beginning as an editor at Houghton Mifflin, then a preschool teacher and social worker in Quincy, an instructor at Wheelock College, and finally a poet.

She also leaves behind her nieces Elizabeth Lindenberg (David), Susannah Scanlon (Jon), Laurel Rice, Shanti Rice, two great-nephews Zachary and Tate, her step-daughter Katharine Urner-Jones (Larry), and her dear friend and helper Margaret Harding. Her beloved dog Josie predeceased her.

Lorian and Joe lived in Lincoln and loved working in their garden and going to the theater in Boston and concerts at Symphony Hall and Tanglewood. They also greatly enjoyed spending time at their second home in Gilmanton, N.H., where they hiked the nearby White Mountains.

Lorian was a wordsmith and played a fierce game of Scrabble. She was an inveterate reader; when she could no longer focus on a book, she would read all of the book titles, memos, and name tags around her. Funny, stubborn, prickly, and smart, she was introspective and observant, with astonishing insight into the world around her.

There will be a private burial and gathering for friends and family in Lincoln. In lieu of flowers, please make a donation to Doctors Without Borders.

Arrangements are under the care of Concord Funeral Home, Concord. To share a memory or offer a condolence, please click here.

Carol Westlake Quimby

Carol Westlake Quimby, 69, of Acton passed away at home on March 11 after gracefully living with MS for most of her adult life. Attending were her husband of 47 years, John Westlake Quimby, and their son, Paul Westlake Quimby, of Hayward, Calif. Together they have been long-standing members of St. Anne’s in-the-Fields Church in Lincoln.

Carol was born on Sept. 2, 1954 to Sarah Lance Westlake and Merle T. Westlake in Harrisburg, Penn. After her family moved to Lexington, Mass., Carol attended Dana Hall and graduated with honors from the University of New Hampshire studying studio fine arts. It was at UNH she fell in love with fellow art student, dancing partner, and husband-to-be John. After graduating they were married in a large garden party at her parent’s home in Lexington in 1976.

Carol’s professional career and studio art were always connected to her skills in drafting, graphic and three-dimensional design, and color. While living in Portsmouth, N.H. she was an exhibit designer in historic buildings at the Strawberry Banke Museum, presenting archaeological artifacts and the history of the buildings. Her extensive computer and design skills led to work in a graphic design company in Cambridge where she tested their custom graphic software and using their software, designed what today are web sites on standalone kiosks. One such project exhibited an introduction to American life in Russian that toured Russia in a cross-cultural exchange program sponsored by the State Department.

Carol ran her own business, WQDesigns in Acton. She designed and made custom jewelry on commission out of her home studio and designed personal and corporate identities. Carol also did professional computer graphics layout of several books and artist catalogues as a part of her business. She was an excellent water colorist, doing both precise still life and gestural landscapes of her many travels, and made abstract color works on paper. Later, Carol studied the tradition and techniques of religious art and wrote (painted) beautiful icons. She loved music of many forms, played alto recorder, and sang for many years in community chorus and in her church choir.  

A memorial service celebrating her life will be held at St. Anne’s in-the-Fields Lincoln on May 11 at 11:00 a.m. In lieu of flowers, the family requests donations be made to the St. Anne’s Music Fund.

Arrangements are under the care of Concord Funeral Home, which provided this obituary. To share a memory or offer a condolence, click here.

Connie Lewis

Connie Lewis died peacefully March 2 in hospice care at Carleton-Willard Village in Bedford after a brief illness.

An only child, Connie was born on August 3, 1936, in DeKalb County, Ga. to Constance (Adams) Lewis and Albert Washington Lewis Jr. Both parents died young, so Connie was raised with love by her mother’s sister-in-law, Hortense (Horne) Adams — Aunt Horty.

Connie graduated from Sophie Newcomb College (then the sister school associated with all-male Tulane). She went on to earn M.S. degrees from Cornell University in English and from Harvard University in counseling and consulting psychology.

She held a variety of positions in pursuit of her two loves, writing and teaching. She worked at an Atlanta newspaper, taught at Beaver Country Day School in Chestnut Hill, and taught freshman writing at both the Drexel Institute of Technology (now Drexel University) and Simmons College (now Simmons University). A few years later, she realized there was no future in that job, so reinvented herself as a technical writer. She took a course in BASIC at UMass-Boston and joined the startup Interleaf as one of the first few employees. She worked until her retirement as a technical writer at several tech companies. Once retired, she continued to teach writing by running memoir-writing groups at both Bemis Hall and The Commons in Lincoln.

Connie moved to Battle Road Farm in Lincoln in 1997, where it is alleged that she grew amazing Christmas cacti, conjured hummingbirds from nowhere, and made the best Hoppin’ John ever experienced in New England. She also lent her talents to the condominium handbook and served on the garden committee for many years.

An antiwar activist, Connie protested both the Vietnam and Iraq wars, holding signs weekly on busy street corners. She was also a stalwart feminist, supporting female candidates financially and fighting sexism in the work place. Connie was also active at the local level, serving on Lincoln town boards including the Housing Commission, the Historical Society, and Friends of the Council on Aging. She was a fixture at the Lincoln Town Meeting, spoke out in the local paper, and wrote voter mobilization postcards by the hundreds. Connie was also a highly knowledgeable fan and supporter of music. She was a patron for many years of Symphony Nova, a training orchestra for young musicians.

Most of all, Connie was an exemplary friend. She built long-standing friendships with both her age peers and people decades younger than herself. Thus it was that during her final months, Connie was surrounded by and cared for by friends of long standing, a family not by blood but by heart. She will be widely missed.

There will be a memorial gathering in Lincoln this spring on a date yet to be determined.

Peter Conrad

Peter Conrad, a pioneering medical sociologist who brought attention to the increasing medicalization of society, died in his home in Lincoln on March 3, 2024. He was 78 years old. He died at home, surrounded by loved ones, listening to Joan Baez. His cause of death was pneumonia after a long experience of Parkinson’s.

Peter Conrad, the author of 16 books or monographs and more than 100 articles and chapters, was a dedicated academic at Brandeis University for more than 30 years, where he chaired both the Sociology Department and the Health, Science, Society, and Policy program.

Peter Franklin Conrad was born on April 12, 1945, in New York City to George Conrad and Gertrude (Rosenthal) Conrad. They were recent Jewish emigres from Germany and Austria, respectively. Conrad always proclaimed that he was a disobedient, distracted student during middle and high school school — one of the sources of his later interest in ADHD — and that he only came alive academically after taking sociology courses at SUNY Buffalo, now the University of Buffalo.

He went on to earn a master’s degree from Northeastern University, in part to get a draft deferment from the Vietnam War. As a conscientious objector, he was assigned to do alternative service as an occupational therapy assistant at Boston State Hospital, a historic mental health institution. Witnessing interactions between patients, clinicians, and the institution provided him with initial insights that would later lead him to apply sociological tools in examining the medical system’s roles in society.

Combining this perspective with sociology’s mid-century preoccupation with “devianc,e” he wrote his PhD dissertation at Boston University, which became his first book, Identifying Hyperactive Children: the Medicalization of Deviant Behavior. Peter began to understand that the diagnosis of hyperkinesis — later called hyperactivity, then ADD, and now called ADHD — “medicalized deviance.” It transitioned a perceived “moral failing” into a medical diagnosis. This became a major theme in his research. As the subtitle of one of his most cited books puts it, medicalization transforms from “badness to sickness.”

Over his career, he looked at how cultural and social factors in medicalization shape the definitions, perceptions, and experiences of alcoholism, depression, homosexuality, baldness, short boys, and tall girls, among other conditions in addition to ADHD.

While many tried moralizing medicalization, Peter resisted that impulse. “I’m not trying to say it’s good or bad,” he’d often say. “I’m saying it’s happening and we should understand it.” Though his work was deeply analytical and theoretical, he always rejected the title of “theorist,” but prided himself on “conceptualization.”

Beyond medicalization, Peter studied the experience of epilepsy, worksite wellness programs, medical education, the social meanings of the new genetics, and illness on the internet. Graham Scambler, emeritus professor at University College London, once wrote that, when it comes to medical sociology, “people and things tend to revolve around Peter.”

Peter was elected chair of the Medical Sociology Section of the American Sociological Association in 1987 and elected president of the Society for the Study of Social Problems in 1995. He was a dedicated teacher, mentor, and collaborator, and had tremendous pride in the accomplishments of his graduate and undergraduate students, even long after they became his colleagues.

Beyond sociology, Peter had an enduring interest in green spaces and rural heritage in Massachusetts. He served on the Lincoln Conservation Commission, the board of Codman Community Farms, and the community board of Drumlin Farm, a site of the Massachusetts Audubon Society. He also nurtured this interest in his annual vegetable garden, cultivating multiple potato varieties and giving many opportunities for his younger family members to squash potato bugs.

Peter was an avid traveler taking many journeys with his beloved wife and family. These included two sabbatical years abroad: one in Yogyakarta, Indonesia and the other in London. He was also a Distinguished Fulbright Scholar at Queens University in Belfast, Northern Ireland, and maintained close professional relationships with colleagues there through a 20-year visiting faculty appointment.

One of the great joys of his later years was reuniting with a lost branch of his maternal lineage through family research that brought multiple branches of that family together in Munich and later in Washington, D.C. Peter spoke what he called “kitchen German” from his emigre parents and engaging more deeply with his family history was deeply meaningful.

Though born in New York, Peter was a devoted Boston sports fan, particularly of his beloved Celtics, who were a constant comfort in his last years and a joy he shared with many family members and friends. After his diagnosis with Parkinson’s in 2014, he also became deeply involved with Rock Steady Boxing at SLS in Lowell to maintain strength, mobility, and community. He was supported during this time by loving caregivers, most notably Annette and Moses Mugwanya, who were with him during the last four years.

He is survived by his wife, Libby Bradshaw of Lincoln, a physician and assistant professor at Tufts Medical School; his daughter Rya Conrad-Bradshaw, an executive in EdTech in Concord; a son, Jared Conrad-Bradshaw, an educational consultant in Istanbul, Turkey; three grandchildren, Rafi, Sela, and Avi; son-in-law Drew Magliozzi, and daughter-in-law Rita Ender, both of whom he adored. He is also survived by close-in-heart family members across the world, students from multiple generations, dear friends of more than 50 years (including multiple housemates), and a dog he tolerated. He is predeceased by his sister Nina (Conrad) Furgiuele.

Peter was buried on March 5  the Lincoln Cemetery. The family will receive visitors at their home from 4–7 pm on Tuesday, March 12; Thursday, March 14; and Friday, March 15.

Arrangements are entrusted to Dee Funeral Home & Cremation Service of Concord, which provided this obituary. Click here to share a remembrance or to offer a condolence in Peter’s online guestbook.

Martha O’Neill Pickett

Martha O’Neill Pickett, 77, of Lincoln passed away peacefully on Friday, February 16, 2024. She was the wife of the late Robert Clement Pickett, who died in 2012. She is survived by her sister, Olivia O’Neill of Jamaica Plain, and sister-in-law Heather O’Neill of Petaluma, Calif. Also survived by many loving cousins and friends. Martha was predeceased by her parents, John J. and Rosemary L. (Donovan) O’Neill, and brother, John J. O’Neill, Jr. 

Family and friends will gather to honor and remember Martha at her memorial service on Saturday, Feb. 24 at 2 p.m. in St. Anne’s in-the-Fields Episcopal Church, 147 Concord Rd., Lincoln, MA. Donations in her memory may be made to St. Anne’s.

Arrangements are under the care of Concord Funeral Home, which provided this obituary. Click here to see Martha’s online guestbook.