Catherine Millard

Catherine Cooper Millard, 85, of Lincoln passed away peacefully, surrounded by family on Tuesday, September 17, 2024, at Brigham and Women’s Hospital in Boston.

Catherine was born in Philadelphia on April 4, 1939. Her father, the Reverend Dr. Charles Muhlenberg Cooper, was president of the Ev. Lutheran Ministerium of Pennsylvania and her mother, Alta Peterson Cooper, was the daughter of Swedish immigrants. Catherine was a direct descendant of Henry Melchior Muhlenberg, who was integral to the founding of the first Lutheran church in the United States. Catherine attended Germantown Friends school, a private Quaker school that instilled in her a life-long love of learning. An intellectually advanced student, she attended Radcliffe College and married Donald Allan Millard, Jr. upon graduation in 1961.

A gifted pianist and musician, Catherine was devoted to her family, instilling a love of music in her children and sharing her talent with her many musical friends. In 1993, she joined the Jeannette Giguere Piano Workshop which met faithfully every month to play piano, attend concerts, and share life’s joy and sorrow. Her pianistic interpretation of the music of Federico Mompou was greatly admired and she loved the works of J.S. Bach, which soothed her during her final illness.

Her eldest child, Donnie, was autistic and nonverbal at a time when the syndrome was little understood and services were limited. Catherine was his fiercest advocate, ensuring that he received the educational support, vocational training, job placement, and services he needed for a fulfilling adult life. She continued to take him to weekly music lessons and include him in all family occasions and vacations to the beach until he passed away in 2023.

For several years, Catherine worked as a real estate agent in Concord, where she made many friends and enjoyed touring the beautiful homes in the area. She continued to feed her intellect through classes in business communication and negotiation at Radcliffe Seminars. When most of her friends were retiring, Catherine earned a paralegal degree from Babson College. Her first-hand experience with special-needs legal issues and academic success made her an excellent fit for a position at Rosenberg, Freedman and Lee, LLP, where she worked until retirement.

Catherine traveled extensively, delighting in the museums, architecture, scenery, cuisine, and music of many European cities including Ulm, Vienna, Munich, Venice, Bologna, Florence, London, and Rome. In 1973, she and Donald ventured to Dakar, Senegal for a total solar eclipse, yielding spectacular pictures for the family at home. During one visit to Milan she and her family serendipitously encountered Itzhak Perlman and calmly walked a half a block behind him on their way to his concert. In later years, Catherine and Donald visited Panama and Guatemala. Of the many places they traveled, Paris was a favorite and they hoped she would be able to visit one last time.

Catherine is survived by her husband of 63 years, Donald A. Millard, Jr.; her daughters, Ann Lindsay Clinton of Hull and Carol Cooper Millard of Lexington; her brother, Jeremy Cooper of Concord, N.H.; and her grandchildren, Nathan Lee Kaufman of Lexington, Alyse Jessica Clinton of Quincy, Charles Frederick Clinton of Philadelphia, and Miriam Davis Kaufman of Lexington.

Family and friends are all invited to gather for visiting hours on Monday, Oct. 7 from 4–7 p.m. at Dee Funeral Home (27 Bedford St., Concord). There will be no funeral services. Burial will be private at Lincoln Cemetery.  

In lieu of flowers, please make a charitable contribution in Catherine’s name. Autism Services Association Inc. or Historic Trappe Historical Society would be especially meaningful choices.

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

Anne Kafina

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.