Alumnae Memorials

Margaret “Peg” Ker Perry Gotz ’52 peacefully passed away on Oct. 14, 2024. A wonderful and wise woman, she treasured her time at Wellesley both in and out of the classroom. Peg’s mother and aunt also attended the College. She was a strong member of the crew and enjoyed her colleagues and Lake Waban. Peg dearly loved books and reading. After Wellesley, she worked in publishing at Houghton Mifflin in Boston. She married Frederick Perry, a Boston businessman, in 1957, and they had three children. Throughout her entire life Peg radiated Wellesley’s goodness and grace.

Elizabeth Perry, daughter

Ann Brooke Power Mason ’53 died on Oct. 18, 2024, at 92. She was the wife, for 57 years, of Robert Cook Mason. Before moving to Providence, R.I., she and her husband lived for three years in Morocco, while he served in the U.S. Navy. She was active in the local community, serving on the boards of the Providence Athenaeum and the Handicraft Club. She was a member of the Providence County Garden Club, the Providence Art Club, the RISD Museum Associates, and the Wednesday Club, a debating society. She enjoyed traveling and painting. She is survived by her two daughters, Sarah Mason ’76 and Abigail Mason.

Abigail Mason, daughter

Phyllis Arlt White ’48 died peacefully in Palo Alto, Calif., at age 98. She loved her years at Wellesley, where she majored in English and coxed for the crew team. Her husband of 71 years, Robert White, predeceased her by seven months. They raised a family of four in California and are survived by them, their spouses, eight grandchildren, and three great-grandchildren. Phyllis was happiest when traveling and savored three sabbatical experiences in Oxford, England, Tokyo, and Zurich. She was an accomplished pianist, dedicated gardener, and avid reader, and she loved the stimulating company of good friends. She was a creative person who appreciated many contemporary and modern artists, and filled her home with original art. Her spirit lives on in our hearts.

Kim White, daughter

Hope Cowen Solomons M.S. ’54 died on Oct. 15, 2024. After graduating from Wellesley with an M.S. in psychology, she earned an Ed.D. from Boston University. Hope was intent on having an academic career. She began at the Rhode Island School of Design before moving to Iowa City, Iowa, where she later joined the faculty of the College of Nursing at the University of Iowa. In retirement, she became a skilled knitter and began beadwork. Her manual dexterity belied her age. Hope had a great intellect, a generous heart, a ready smile, and took great joy in the love of family and friends.

Mary Solomons ’84, daughter

Carole Tims Todaro ’54 died on Nov. 6, 2024, in Londonderry, N.H. At Wellesley, Carole studied French, played the carillon, and squeezed in bridge games when possible. A friend invited her to a U.S.O. dance where she met her eventual husband, Nate. Following graduation, Carole traveled abroad with college friends, ending up in Rome, Italy, where she rendezvoused with Nate, who was stationed in Ethiopia. They married in Rome, and ultimately raised five children. Carole’s musical interests developed into a career teaching violin. She could also be found on the tennis court, playing until age 89. Carole always expected the best from herself and others and faced life with hope and optimism.

Linda Todaro ’77, daughter

Janet Ayres Coles ’55 was born on Dec. 1, 1933, in Worcester, Mass. An avid skier and golfer, she enjoyed 88 adventurous years before passing on Jan. 11, 2024, in Bend, Ore. Her health was good and spirits were always upbeat—even through COVID. Her sudden passing was consistent with her general approach to life: Keep things simple and minimize the drama. She is survived by her four children, eight grandchildren, and two great-grandchildren.

Scott Coles, son

Sidonie “Suggie” Triepel Williams ’55 died on Oct. 25, 2024. Always known as Suggie, she graduated from the Buffalo Seminary, a girls’ college prep school in Buffalo, N.Y., in its 100th year. Ten percent of the class went to Wellesley! She married R. Victor Williams, Jr., on Dec. 28 of senior year. The first of her four children was born a year after Wellesley graduation. Suggie was devoted to her family and to her role as a volunteer at Oishei Children’s Hospital, where she eventually became president of the board of trustees. When she died after a long illness, she was a great-grandmother six times over.

Joan Willard Gruen ’55

Mary Louise Robertson Wilde ’57 died on Nov. 16, 2024. A proud third-generation Wellesley alumna, she was a loving daughter, wife, mother, grandmother, great-grandmother, sister, and aunt. She was a good citizen, steadfast and loyal friend, and a respected coworker. “When I see something wrong, I fix it.” She lived Wellesley’s motto.

John Wilde, husband

Nancy Faunce Haslett ’58 died peacefully on Oct. 20, 2024. She studied French at Wellesley, where she made many lifelong friends, and enjoyed her junior year abroad in France. She then spent years as a French teacher in England and the U.S. In 1983, having married and raised three children in London, Kingston, Mass., and Oxfordshire, England, she returned to Wellesley, where she took regular walks around Lake Waban, attended events at the French House, and taught at Noble & Greenough School, before moving to Cambridge, Mass., in 2005. She is survived by her children, Julia and Adam, and is lovingly remembered by dozens of friends for her kindness, curiosity, and love of nature.

Adam Haslett, son

Cynthia Collin Stong ’60 was fun, loving, somehow both whimsical yet grounded, and a passionate and determined trailblazer in her field. Her pride and joy were her children and grandchildren, and the Marine Lab she founded in 1963 at Bowling Green State University in Ohio. Cindy introduced hundreds of Midwestern undergraduates to the wonders of marine biology, inspiring numerous careers in the field, and was a fierce champion for women in STEM. During her tenure at BGSU, she was honored with the Master Teacher and Distinguished Educator awards; and in 2005, BGSU awarded Cindy with an honorary doctorate in marine science education.

Andrew Groat, son

Nancy Wilson Norseen ’63 passed away at age 82 in Concord, Mass., on June 21, 2024, with family by her side. The daughter of Anita Wilson Norseen Hooker ’36 and sister of Hannah Norseen McClennen ’66, Nan majored in zoology and became a teacher, living in Idaho and California before returning to Massachusetts and raising horses and sheep in Bolton for many years. Nan’s passion at the end of her life were her Shetland sheep and the young people in 4-H that she worked with. She leaves a sister in Gettysburg, Pa.

Alexandra Dohan, niece

Dorothy Hubbard Segal ’65 died on Sept. 16, 2024, at 80. Dorothy was an editor, social worker, and potter, and a lover of great books, food, and trees. Full of strong opinions and endlessly curious, in one moment, she could deftly analyze Thomas Nashe’s “A Litany in Time of Plague”; in the next, she was relishing the latest season of The Bachelor. From gardening on her Manhattan terrace, to her summer home in Maine, to handing out subway tokens to the homeless in the ER at Bellevue Hospital or coaching a writers group for the inmates at Rikers Island, her love was boundless and all-encompassing.

Ashley Harmon ’11 niece

Hannah Norseen McClennen ’66 passed away at age 80 in Lexington, Mass., on Sept. 5, 2024, with family by her side. Daughter of Anita Wilson Norseen Hooker ’36 and sister of Nancy Norseen ’63, Hannah majored in art history and went on to have a career in graphic design and eventually became an architect (Syracuse University ’92). She raised two children and numerous animals in upstate New York while working at Colgate University, where her husband was a professor. She treasured her Wellesley friends and attended nearly every five-year reunion, excited to be back on campus to see the changes and renew old friendships. She leaves a daughter in Lexington, Mass., and a son in Atlanta, four grandchildren around the country, and a sister.

Alexandra Dohan, daughter

Candace Somerall Sherber ’66 died on June 2, 2024. Candace was Wellesley’s youngest graduate at the time, at age 19. She continued blazing a trail, winning Vogue’s Prix de Paris and earning Middlebury’s French and Spanish language and literature master’s degrees in Paris and Madrid. While a Ph.D. candidate at Yale, she married cardiologist Harvey Sherber in 1974. For a decade, she volunteered directing the Woodley Dancing Class, which raised hundreds of thousands of dollars to benefit Wellesley. Cotillion students, including her dermatologist daughter Noëlle Sherber, remember her edict “Politesse is not martyrdom,” conveying the high Wellesley standards by which she lived.

Noëlle Sherber, daughter

Felice Gaer Baran ’68, a renowned human rights advocate, passed away on Nov. 9, 2024. Felice is survived by her husband, Henryk Baran, sons Adam and Hugh (and son-in-law Jacob), and siblings Arthur and Wendy. Felice received Wellesley’s 1995 Alumnae Achievement Award. For 30-plus years, she directed the American Jewish Committee’s Jacob Blaustein Institute for the Advancement of Human Rights. Felice was the first American and first woman elected to the U.N. Committee Against Torture, and served on the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom. At Wellesley, Felice was elected funniest person/best comedian in the class of ’68.

Hugh Baran, son

Cynthia Williams-Pierce ’73 died on Oct. 29, 2024. I remember Cynthia’s gentle and welcoming smile, both when we lived in Tower Court and at our class reunions, and her gift for listening. She was the type of person who made you happy just to be in her presence. She radiated the very kindness and caring that must have stood her well in her distinguished career of service as an OB/GYN. A medical colleague described her as “ethereal, rare, special, with a bright light for humankind … [with a] beautiful smile and gorgeous grace.” That says it so well.

Margaret Yonco-Haines ’73

Linda Pole Shelby ’74 died peacefully on Nov. 21, 2024. Born in New York City and raised in Short Hills, N.J., she followed her mother Mildred Waterhouse Pole ’35 to Wellesley, receiving a B.A. in music. We married in 1972, and together raised our three daughters in Madison, N.J. Our life paths diverged in 2012, but we remained close friends to the end. Linda loved to laugh, to create as a knitter and quilter, and was devoted to her family. Throughout her life, she maintained her love of reading, politics, history, and music. She leaves her three daughters, Caroline Shelby, Christina Skeen (husband Ian), and Heather Shelby, and grandson Owen. We will carry her with us always.

Bryan Shelby, former husband

Suzannah McLellan Soloviev ’08 passed away on Sept. 22, 2024, surrounded by loved ones after a fierce battle against cancer. Embodying Wellesley’s spirit throughout life, while a student Suzie was a first-year mentor; participated in Upstage; was class songmistress; and served terms as president of the Shakespeare Society, both as a student and an alumna. After Wellesley, she earned her master’s in theater education at Emerson and ran a successful life-coaching business. She faithfully served within her church community, too. She is survived by her husband and daughter, by Wellesley alums cousin Meg Malone ’90, sister Ann Lardas ’85, and nibling Xenia Lardas ’08. She was among the best of us and impacted so many—we miss her.

Xenia Lardas ’08, nibling, and Meg Malone ’90, cousin