obits

Flags on town buildings will be lowered to half-staff next week to commemorate James F. Cunningham of Lincoln, who died at age 73 on Friday, September 2, 2022. Jim passed away peacefully with the assistance of hospice after a battle with pancreatic cancer. He was predeceased by his mother and father, Claire Cunningham and Robert M. Cunningham, and he has left behind his brothers, Peter and William (Billy).

Jim had great love for the town of Lincoln, for his alma mater Cornell, and for Kent Island off the coast of Grand Manan in Canada.

Born, raised, and educated in Lincoln, Jim was a devoted community volunteer. He single-handedly organized, implemented and managed the town’s local cable television program, helping to increase access to the activities of town government and other community events. Jim possessed a keen engineering mind and a small-town sensibility about managing budgets, and he served for decades completely without compensation.

The Select Board used the occasion of the March 2022 Annual Town Meeting to honor Jim by presenting him with the annual Bright Light award for singlehandedly launching and maintaining Lincoln’s local cable program. In its presentation, the board said:

”Each year we present the Bright Light award to a resident or town staff member whose contributions to our town deserve to be celebrated. Now if you have ever come across Comcast channel 8 or Verizon channel 33 on your television, you will quickly realize that Lincoln has its own vibrant cable TV channel.  We owe this great viewing alternative to CNN, Fox News or ESPN to our own Jim Cunningham.

“Jim was appointed to Lincoln’s cable committee way back in 2002 and has served as its chair for most of this time. As chair, Jim has been our point person for license negotiations with our cable providers.  More importantly, Jim has built our local cable channel from the ground up. An electrical engineer by education and training, Jim designed and helped install our cable programming infrastructure. He not only manages the technology and equipment, but also does most of the filming and production that allows the town to broadcast many key meeting (such as Select Board and School Committee meetings), special events, and lectures, providing a truly valuable service to the town. Jim spends many hours each week recording and broadcasting this town content for our enjoyment. 

“We on the Select Board are especially appreciative of how Jim always manages to film us from our good sides! Jim’s technical know-how and passion for what he does, which he has provided free of charge for many years, has saved the town thousands upon thousands of dollars, as other communities have needed to create full time employee positions for this work.

“Born, raised, and educated here, Jim is immensely proud of his Lincoln roots. And we could not be more proud and grateful to you, Jim, for all that you have contributed to Lincoln. Please join me in giving Jim Cunningham a round of applause as this year’s bright light award recipient.”

Additionally, working closely with Save Our Heritage, Jim was project manager for the restoration of the Barrett house in Concord.

Jim graduated from Cornell University with undergraduate and master’s degrees in electrical engineering. As an undergraduate student, he was business manager, photo editor and editor-in-chief of the yearbook for two years. Since graduation, Jim has remained involved as a volunteer, advocate and donor to Cornell. He served on the advisory board for Systems Engineering and spent time teaching students about systems engineering and its tools. In recent years he established the James F. Cunningham ’71 Assistant Director of Student Project Teams in the College of Engineering with an endowed gift. Mostly Jim talked about his time working with students and fellow Cornellians with great affection.

Jim Cunningham’s perseverance and talent brought the Kent Island’s weather station into modern times. What his father started in 1938 continues today, available to the world on the web, thanks in great part to his son.

A private graveside service will be held at Lincoln Cemetery. Jim’s public memorial service will be announced at a later date. Arrangements are under the care of the Concord Funeral Home. Click here to leave a message or remembrance.

Onerva Miriam (Watka) Korhonen age 101 of Lincoln passed away on August 11. Onerva faced the world in a positive fashion right to the end, smiling and appreciative of everyone who helped. She was predeceased by husbands Edwin (1919-1987) and Edward (1920-2008), mother to Wayne (Margaret), Cynthia, and Dana (Patti); grandmother to Adam (Morgan), Rachel (Keith), Kathryn, and Ethan; great grandmother to Wesley, Cooper, and Nathan; and aunt to many nephews and nieces. 

Onerva was always involved in her community: she volunteered in the schools, at church, and on the Council on Aging. She still sang in the choir at age 99. She worked with the 4-H Club. She was a reader. She spoke Finnish fluently and she loved to paint. She loved her neighbors. She believed in women’s, LGBTQIA, and immigrant rights and said so out loud. She cross-country skied with the “ski group.” She will be missed and remembered.

Burial was in Lincoln Cemetery. Arrangements were under the care of Concord Funeral Home. Click here to leave a remembrance.

Henry A. Francis, 83, of Lincoln died on May 21, 2022 from complications of lung cancer. He is survived by his wife of 56 years, Phoebe Lee Francis, his son Andrew and his wife Jennifer Lynch, and granddaughter little Phoebe, all of Boston; two brothers, Bartlett Francis of Santa Barbara, Calif., and Robert Colgate Francis of Port Townsend, Wash.; nieces Kirsten Francis of Encinitas, Calif., and Karina Francis of Los Angeles; and nephews Walter Allen Francis of Seattle and Craig Francis of Olympia, Wash.

Henry was born in Pittsfield on October 17, 1938. In 1944 the family moved to Santa Barbara., Calif. He later attended the Groton School, graduated from Harvard in 1960, and received a PhD in mechanical engineering from Imperial College London. Upon his return to the U.S., he worked at Draper Labs in Cambridge. His interest in things mechanical lasted a lifetime. He was able to take almost any sort of device, disassemble it, and put it back together in working condition, often achieving what seemed to others an impossible task.

His avocation in life was traditional jazz. Originally a trumpet player, one day he decided he wasn’t playing well, threw down the instrument and decided to take up piano instead, despite never having had a piano lesson. He played with bands in college and during summer vacations while working on a ranch in Wyoming. Later he became known as one of the prime exponents of the Harlem Stride School of piano playing.

In 1991 he founded a seven-piece band, The Swing Legacy. The band mostly played the music of the 1930s and 1940s which included many songs from The Great American Songbook, many with Henry’s arrangements. The Swing Legacy played at weddings, dances, concerts and parties in the Boston area and beyond. He played many solo gigs, as well as duos with John Clark on clarinet. His music will be missed by all who heard him, especially by his wife Phoebe, who listened to him practicing the songs every evening when she was preparing dinner.

Henry was an outdoor enthusiast and spent many enjoyable hours biking, rowing on the local rivers, and walking the trails of Lincoln with his dog. He was acutely aware of his surroundings, especially the birds and trees which he learned to identify. He planted many trees on his property in Lincoln and carefully watched them mature. He never gave up the battle with the squirrels, and enjoyed devising methods to outwit the critters.

Henry will be sorely missed by all who knew him. His final years were greatly enhanced by the joy of being a grandparent. His happiest moments were spent in the company of his beloved granddaughter, Phoebe, now seven years old, who called him “HenPa.”

A celebration of his life will be held in the fall. Donations to his memory may be made to the Lincoln Land Conservation Trust, 145 Lincoln Rd., Lincoln MA 01773 or to a charity of one’s choice.

Arrangements under the care of Concord Funeral Home, 74 Belknap St., Concord, MA 01742 (978-369-3388).

James Kenneth Buckalew, 88, of Lincoln, died May 24 following a long illness.

He was born on October 24, 1933 in Peru, Ind., the oldest of three children. He attended public schools in Peru and distinguished himself in high school as a championship debater Jim joined the U.S. Army in 1954 and after his discharge from active duty was an Army reservist until 1962. Jim returned to school and graduated with a B.S. in 1958 from Indiana State University. From 1958-1960 he pursued graduate studies and worked as a teaching assistant at the University of Hawaii. He received his M.A. in 1961 from Indiana State, where he wrote his thesis on his experiences with the potential of educational television in Hawaii. He received his Ph.D. in 1961 from the University of Iowa, where his dissertation research focused on the role of television news anchors as gatekeepers.

During most of his graduate study and for decades afterwards, Jim worked as a practicing journalist and broadcaster, from his first radio assignments as a reporter for WBOW radio in Terre Haute, Indiana, KGU Radio in Honolulu, and WSUI radio in Iowa City, to his last at WCBQ radio in San Diego. He also had many commissioned assignments for newspapers covering elections, reviewing plays, and reporting on sporting events. He was popular as a public address announcer, a role that he filled at San Diego State University basketball games, and he co-hosted a television series devoted to thoroughbred racing on the cable network Prime Ticket.

Jim joined the University of Iowa in 1963 as an instructor in journalism and head of radio/TV news. In 1967 he joined the faculty of San Diego State University, where he retired as a full professor of journalism in 1999. But his love of the classroom led him to continue to teach at small colleges in the
Los Angeles area until he finally retired at the age of 80. During his San Diego State career, he published numerous scholarly articles as well a book with colleague Tim Wulfemeyer, Mass Media in the New Millennium.

Jim’s hobby for most of his adult life was thoroughbred racing. He was fortunate to live near enough two famous race courses, the Del Mar Thoroughbred Club and Santa Anita Park, to become deeply involved in the sport as a member of a small group of investors who owned several successful horses, including Reason to Study and Study to Pass. He was also very adept at forecasting the results of races and won the Pick Six on more than one occasion; consequently, he was frequently consulted by newcomers hoping to learn how to “invest” at the racetrack.

Jim will be remembered by all who knew him as a kind, honorable, and generous man, a devoted teacher, and a loving father and husband. He was preceded in death by his parents, Homer Buckalew and Marguerite Anderson Buckalew of Peru, Ind.; his brother Charles Buckalew of Terre Haute, Ind., and his daughter-in-law, Gina Grandolfo of Tustin, Calif.

Survivors include his wife, Margaret McLaughlin of Lincoln, and his sons Michael Buckalew of Tustin, Calif., Thomas Buckalew of San Diego, and Robert Buckalew of Redding, Calif. and their mother, Karen Dempsey of San Diego; and sons Brett Buckalew and Kevin Buckalew of Los Angeles and their mother, Sally Hixon of San Diego.

James is also survived by his stepson, Malcolm McLaughlin and his wife, Julie Lamirande McLaughlin of Lucas, Texas, and his stepdaughter, Julia Cody Walkup and her husband Ward Gale Walkup IV of Lincoln; grandsons Shane and Lucas Buckalew of Redding, Calif., and their mother, Darcy Kelley-Buckalew; grandson Nicholas Buckalew of Tustin, Calif.; step-grandson Jackson McLaughlin of Lucas, Texas, and step-granddaughters Lila McLaughlin of Lucas, Texas and Kathryn Walkup of Lincoln.

Jim is also survived by his sister Joyce Buckalew Whittenberger and her husband Steven, of Boerne, Texas, sister Risa Buckalew Utley and her husband Michael of Nashville, Tenn., and sister-in-law Nancy Buckalew of Terre Haute, Ind.

Services and burial with military honors for James will be held at the Massachusetts National Cemetery in Bourne. An online celebration of his life will follow later. In lieu of flowers, donations in his honor may be made to the Association for Education in Journalism and Mass Communication, 234 Outlet Pointe Boulevard, Suite A, Columbia, S.C. 29210-5667.

Arrangements are under the care of Dee Funeral Home & Cremation Service of Concord. Click here to see his online guestbook.

Geraldine “Gerry” Lattimore, a lifelong resident of Massachusetts and Maine, died on April 22 at the age of 84.

She was a sculptor, sang for years in the Concord Chorus, and wrote poetry and stories in secret. She took many extension courses at Radcliffe and elsewhere, leading to lifelong friendships. She was also an inveterate storm-chaser. Deeply self-effacing, she never sought renown, but loved art and nature. She nurtured young people who shared her passions or simply needed shelter and affection. She was dear to her friends for her imagination, wit, and kindness. Although shy, she (a confirmed Democrat) never hesitated to speak out vehemently for women’s rights and against racial injustice and war.

Gerry grew up in Belmont, the daughter of Gerald Harrison, a radio pioneer, sports announcer, and sailor, and Janet Hoch Harrison, a radio pianist, organist, and station manager. Gerry went to Abbot Academy Andover and graduated from Beaver Country Day School. While at Colby College, she married Hugh Nazor in 1957. When he was at Wharton, they were house parents  for the Society for Prevention of Cruelty to Children and cared for homeless boys, which they remembered fondly.

From 1962–1972, Gerry lived in a 1738 farm house with 50 acres of fields and woods in Bolton. When Gerry sold the property, she introduced Bolton to the practice of land conservation. From 1973 onward, she lived in Lincoln, spending summers on a Maine island. From 1978 until the early 1980s, Gerry worked as a fundraiser for Physicians for Social Responsibility, assisting Helen Caldecott in her fight against “nuclear madness.” She also shared a sculpting studio in West Concord where they hired live models and introduced her grandchildren to the complexity of the human form.

Gerry’s life in Lincoln and Harpswell, Maine was shared with her two daughters, Karen Nazor and Leslie Nazor Riversmith, and with Andrew, Julia, and John Linnell, and Margaret Macy, the children of her second husband.

In 1992 she married her third husband, Professor David Lattimore of Brown University, adding to the extended clan his six children by a former marriage: Michael Lattimore, Maria Sheppard, Clare Lattimore, Anne Price, Evan Lattimore, and the late and much-loved Rosette Lattimore. Gerry also leaves a  brother, Stanley Harrison, and his children, Michael Harrison and Rebecca Harrison Moser. She leaves Ama Harrison, widow of her deceased brother Theodore Harrison, their two sons, Cobina and Anthony Kwame Harrison, and daughter Joan Nowak. In all, she leaves 15 grandchildren.

In celebration of Gerry’s life, an informal gathering will be held at her Lincoln home on Saturday, June 4 at noon. Click here to send flowers or make a donation in her memory.

A memorial service was on May 11 for Lincoln resident Jerome “Jerry” Rappaport, one of the most storied figures in modern Boston history. Jerry was a famed developer, philanthropist, and civic leader who helped transform the Boston skyline and is sometimes known as the man who rebuilt Boston.

Rappaport, who passed away in December 2021 at age 94, was honored with a celebration of life held at Harvard University. Harvard’s Kennedy School of Government is home to the Rappaport Institute for Greater Boston, which has helped educate many top government leaders in Boston and throughout the country and helped shape enduring public policy. Rappaport helped shape Boston’s current political scene by mentoring some of the best and brightest who are now top elected officials, including Boston Mayor Michelle Wu and U.S. Attorney for Massachusetts Rachael Rollins, both of whom are Rappaport Fellows and spoke at the service.

Rappaport first came to prominence after graduating from Harvard College and Harvard Law School when he helped John B. Hynes defeat Boston Mayor James Michael Curley in the historic 1949 mayoral election. He quickly moved on to reshape Boston’s neighborhoods and skyline as a developer, most famously for the West End renewal project, which brought many residents back to the city and led to a housing renaissance.

While Rappaport’s legacy is evident in our current landscape, he is also credited with shaping our politics and creating a generation of government leaders who take a thoughtful approach to policy and governance. He founded the Harvard Law School Forum and New Boston Committee, which promoted and supported Boston City Council and School Committee candidates in a very successful venture. He also founded the Rappaport Institute for Law and Public Policy, which is now at Boston College Law School. With his beloved wife Phyllis, Rappaport also contributed more than $30 million to public policy, health, and arts initiatives through the Phyllis and Jerome Lyle Rappaport Foundation. 

The celebration of Jerry’s life was attended by a veritable “who’s who” of top government and education leaders. Massachusetts Gov. Charlie Baker told the crowd of hundreds that Rappaport “found ways to truly make a difference and the legacy of much of his work will live on long after many have joined him in the great beyond.”

“Someone like me, who never would have imagined any of this was possible — I am only here because Jerry believed it was possible,” Wu said. 

Harvard University President Lawrence Bacow said Rappaport “believed in us, he created spaces for us, he made us all better than we might have been, stronger than we might have been, wiser than we might have been without him.”

A long list of dignitaries spoke at the Memorial Hall service honoring Jerry’s life, including others whose lives and career have been enhanced through participation at the Rappaport Institute for Greater Boston. Maria Magdalena Campos-Pons, the Cornelius Vanderbilt Endowed Chair of Fine Arts at Vanderbilt University and Rappaport Art Prize Winner, gave an emotional tribute in honor of her mentor. 

Others who spoke included Jerry Rappaport, Jr.; longtime former Rappaport Institute Director Ed Glaeser; former Massachusetts Rep. Jeffrey Sanchez; Dr. Jacob Hooker, professor of radiology at Harvard Medical School; and Chestnut Hill Realty CEO Edward Zuker. 

The service concluded with a beautiful tribute to Jerry by his wife and true love, Phyllis Rappaport, who said, “Jerry was a life force with a twinkle in his eye — sharp, warm, incisive, mischievous, determined, brilliant, loving and loved.”

The Rappaport Institute for Greater Boston strives to improve the governance of greater Boston by strengthening connections among the region’s scholars, students, and civic leaders. The institute pursues this mission by promoting emerging leaders, producing new ideas, and stimulating informed discussion. It was founded and funded by the Phyllis and Jerome Lyle Rappaport Charitable Foundation, which promotes emerging leaders in greater Boston.

In 2000, the foundation also funded the deCordova’s Sculpture Park and Museum’s annual $35,000 Rappaport Prize.

Rappaport is buried in Lincoln Cemetery. Donations in his memory may be made to the Rappaport Institute of Greater Boston.

Editor’s note: this is a lightly edited version of a piece provided to the Lincoln Squirrel by Regan Communications Group.

Elizabeth “Betty” Teabo, age 93, passed away peacefully at her home in Lincoln surrounded by the love of her dearest family members. She grew up in Jefferson, Maine with six siblings, resided in New York City, and eventually found her home in Lincoln, where she met and married her beloved husband of 64 years, Prince “Bud” Teabo, who preceded her in death.

Betty was a member of St. Anne’s-in-the-Fields Episcopal Church. She served on their Altar Guild for over 50 years, taught Sunday school to children, and mentored many others. She worked with her dear friend Judy Gross at Country Weddings in Lincoln for several decades, where she exhibited her floral talents at innumerable weddings and celebrations. She was also a member of the Lincoln Garden Club. Her artistic eye and attention to detail yielded floral compositions of singular beauty that live on in photographs.

Betty loved animals and was known to take in a stray from time to time. This brought opportunity for joyful laughter from family members in response to their comedic antics.

Mom loved to cook, but rarely wrote down her recipes; they were committed to memory only. With some encouragement from the family, we persuaded her to memorialize our favorites to perpetuity and we enjoy them thoroughly still. She was host to many memorable holiday celebrations, and never let anyone go home hungry.

We remember picking raspberries, apples, walks to Drumlin Farm, and car rides to Crane’s Beach with friends.

Devoted to her family for so long, we became devoted to her care in her struggle with Alzheimer’s. Mom leaves us now and is survived by her four sons and their spouses, David and Nadine (Rando) of Hudson, Michael and Tammie (Corey) of Marlboro, Timothy and Pauravi (Dalal) of Carlisle, and Scott and Melanie (Borromeo) of Wilmington. She is also survived by 16 grandchildren and four great-grandchildren.

Family and friends will gather to honor and remember Betty on Saturday, May 21 at 2 p.m. for a memorial service at St. Anne’s-in-the-Fields Church in Lincoln. She will be interred after the service in the Peace Garden at St. Anne’s beside her beloved husband.

Arrangements under the care of Concord Funeral Home, 74 Belknap St., Concord, MA 01742 (978-369-3388).

---

Obituaries are provided by the funeral home to Lincoln Squirrel for a fee.

Wallace P. Boquist, a longtime resident of Lincoln passed away in Lexington on April 8, 2022 after a short illness. He was 89 years old.  

Wallace was born to Irene and Paul Boquist in Minneapolis, where he and his sister Barbara grew up. He attended Washburn High School before driving his jalopy to Cambridge to attend MIT to study what his classmates called “unclear” (nuclear) physics.   

Before settling at Fairhaven Bay, Wallace traveled the world, from Alaska to Argentina and from Samoa to Russia. He served in both the U.S. Navy and the U.S. Army and was a keen student of World War II and Cold War history. During his professional career, Wallace launched two successful companies supporting field research for the defense of the United States.

Wallace lived a life of contrasts. He worked on atomic tests in the Pacific and was a lover of nature, feeding and creating safe havens for the wildlife on his property. He lived alone but regularly enjoyed impromptu social gatherings at the Colonial Inn and Chang An in Concord. He studied nuclear physics but spent his time tinkering with innumerable carpentry projects around his home while listening to ragtime jazz. For many years, he and his German shorthaired pointer Greta were inseparable. More than a few of the shops in Concord with “no pets allowed” signs secretly kept dog biscuits to give to Greta when the pair made their Saturday morning rounds. 

Wallace is survived by his son, Gregory, his sister Barbara, and niece Kim.  

Relatives and friends are invited to celebrate Wallace’s life during a memorial visitation on Friday, May 20 from 3:30–5:30 p.m. in the Dee Funeral Home, 27 Bedford St., Concord. In lieu of flowers, please consider making a donation to the Massachusetts Audubon Society, 208 South Great Rd., Lincoln, MA 01773 or the MSPCA–Angell, Attn: Donations, 350 South Huntington Ave., Boston, MA 02130. Arrangements are under the care of Dee Funeral Home & Cremation Service of Concord. To share a remembrance or to offer a condolence in his online guestbook, please click here.