obits

Webster Brockelman

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 Eckel

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 Holtrop

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.

Myra Green

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.

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.