Betty Sheaffer Branstad ’34 died on Nov. 25, 2018, at the age of 105. She may not have been the oldest alumna at her death, but she was close. Wellesley was always very important to her, and she was proud of the education she received there. She carried her interests in history, literature, and art with her throughout her life; at her family memorial dinner, we could all recite various pieces of poetry, especially Tennyson. Betty is survived by three children, four grandchildren, and three great-grandchildren.

Barbara Branstad, daughter

Nancy Jane Martin Barnes ’37 died on Dec. 11, 2017.

My cousin Nancy Jane loved everything about her years at Wellesley, and she was proud of the honor of having been elected to Phi Beta Kappa. She made friends easily and kept up with her Wellesley friends all her life.

Nancy Jane had a great store of knowledge about art, music, and gardening. Talking with her was always interesting and so much fun. In her last few years, she was the link between our many far-flung relatives, making phone calls and keeping us all in touch. She was a bright spirit and is greatly missed by many people.

Sara Goolsby ’59

Teresa Guillén Gilman ’43 died on Jan. 11.

Teresa arrived at Wellesley in 1941, after the rise of Francisco Franco and Adolf Hitler forced her family out of Europe. The daughter of Germaine Cahen and poet Jorge Guillén, she graduated Phi Beta Kappa in 1943 and married Stephen Gilman, a Hispanist and eventual Harvard professor. Fierce and glamorous, she was an archetypal matriarch—raising three children, managing homes in three countries, and supporting the careers of her father, husband, and brother. In 2010, Spain recognized her services to Spanish culture, making her a Dame of the Order of Isabel la Católica.

Teresa’s family

Jane Gillson Langton ’44 died on Dec. 22, 2018, in Lincoln, Mass., where she had lived most of her life. Rare for a writer, she was adept at children’s books, starting with her classic The Diamond in the Window, as well as adult fiction—the Homer Kelly mystery series. Her own words are the best remembrance:

“I suppose the thing is to feel each day is a gift—sometimes you just plod along and you’re not thinking about these things at all and other times you hoard them and think, ‘This is enough, just to be alive. … To walk around a tree and see the branches move against one another, to look at the fur on a dog’s back. All those different colors blending in a wonderful browny, whitey blacky color.’”

Katherine Hall Page ’69

Michal Ernst Feder ’47 died on April 28, 2018, from flu complications.

Michal led an active life mentoring and nurturing family, friends, and her community. At various times, Michal was a high school teacher, business/financial consultant specializing in women’s issues, political activist, and artist.

After the war years, Michal traveled west by motor home with her husband, eventually settling in the San Francisco Bay Area, where she raised two sons and a daughter.

Retiring to Boulder, Colo., and later Middlebury, Vt., Michal is survived by her children, five grandsons, one granddaughter, and a great-granddaughter born on July 26, 2018.

Leslie Feder, daughter

Josephine Louise Ott ’47 died on Oct. 20, 2018.

Josephine, my good friend, was professor emerita of French language and literature at Smith, and a loyal Wellesley alumna. Her last visit to campus was for her 70th reunion with her two special classmates with whom she always reuned.

Jo was a fantastic teacher whose students kept in touch forever. Her junior-year-abroaders looked forward to her Champagne brunches in their reunion years, and in 2016, scores of them gathered in NYC to celebrate her 90th birthday. No words about Jo would be complete without mentioning the New York and Paris fashions she brought to the Smith campus. She established two named funds to aid Wellesley students in study and travel abroad.

Caryl M. Newhof, professor emerita of exercise and sport studies, Smith College

Lucy Dent Venable ’48 died in Columbus, Ohio, on Jan. 29.

Lucy was a trailblazer in the field of dance notation. After graduating from Wellesley, where she pursued her love for dance through weekend lessons in Boston, Lucy spent 20 years in NYC dancing with Jose Limón and Doris Humphrey before joining the faculty of the Ohio State University in 1968. I met Lucy through the Columbus Wellesley Club, and because my daughter is a modern dancer and choreographer, I loved speaking with Lucy about her experiences and expertise, which she shared in her typical quiet and unassuming way, always with impeccable posture and grace. CWC members will miss her presence.

Marty Ross-Dolen ’88

Jean MacKinnon Crawford ’48 died on Feb. 22.

Jean was a proud member of her class as well as a proud Wellesley daughter (Frances Shongood McAbee 1917) and mother. After graduation, she worked at Sloan Kettering Institute and counted that time as one of her most fulfilling. She married A. James Crawford III in 1950 and gladly traded her career for motherhood and wholehearted devotion to her community, volunteering and serving as treasurer on numerous boards. She culminated 25 years of service as chairwoman of the Norwalk Hospital Ambulatory Surgical Volunteers. Her love of photography and music, established at Wellesley, enriched her family’s lives. She will be missed greatly by her three children, their spouses, four grandchildren, and three great-grandchildren.

Janice Crawford Hanson ’74

Helen Stevens Buttfield ’50, photographer, book designer, painter, naturalist, writer, and teacher, passed away on Nov. 6, 2018.

Well known for her quiet and evocative photographs of the natural world, Helen had a long and distinguished career in variety of artistic undertakings. She graduated with a degree in art history and then received a master’s at Ohio State. She lived in New York City for over 50 years, traveled extensively, and was a longtime teacher of photography at the School of Visual Arts.

Helen lived life and made art with passion and originality, and she will be deeply missed.

Terri Tibbatts

Barbara Powell ’50 died in Key West, Fla., on Oct. 1, 2018.

Barbara was the only person in her high school class in Dexter, Mo., to take the SAT, and she had to drive hours to do it. Barbara was a clinical psychologist, an author of 11 books, an award-winning painter, and an avid traveler. She loved the coast and lived for many years on Block Island, R.I., and later in life, in Key West, Fla. She was very proud of her four children, one of whom walks around Lake Waban with her husband on a regular basis.

Julie O’Neill, daughter

Janet Cox-Rearick ’52 died on Nov. 27, 2018.

Janet fully used her art history major in her life’s work. She was a professor of art history for many years at Hunter College and was distinguished professor at City University of New York for six years. Janet was a specialist in Italian Renaissance art and was recognized with many awards and fellowships. She loved Italy and was a visiting professor at Villa I Tatti in Florence. Janet published several books and articles and curated an exhibit of Bronzino’s drawings at the Metropolitan Museum of Art. She will be remembered for her talents and contributions to the history of art. Thank you, Janet.

The Class of ’52

Mary Ellen Hayes Kania ’52 died on Nov. 23, 2018. A history major, she earned a M.S. degree in English in the 1970s. Mary Ellen and her freshman roommate, Allie James Quinn ’52, married husbands who had been roommates at Harvard Business School. The couples remained lifelong friends, traveling extensively together after their children were grown.

Mary Ellen belonged to the Shakespeare Society at Wellesley and was keen to transmit her love of literature to her children and grandchildren. Passionate about history, she was the longtime curator of a local historical society. Her beloved husband, Edwin, survives her, along with three children and nine grandchildren whom she regularly convened for holiday gatherings, sometimes involving poetry and song.

The Kania Family

Ruth Piette Steiner ’52 died on Feb. 22 at Collington Retirement Community outside of Washington, D.C.

Ruth was the founder of the Cantus Database and visionary of the potential for digital and computer-based tools in humanities research. She was professor of music at Catholic University of America. In an age of file cards and print-based research materials, before “online” existed, her vision for digitized indexes of chant manuscripts, with which their contents could be located quickly and easily through electronic searching, and sorted and manipulated, transformed how one studies medieval chant and liturgy. On the wall of her apartment at Collington was a poster of a musical she was in at Wellesley with Rex Harrison.

Meg Murray

Edith Roberts ’55 died on Nov. 14, 2018, of cancer.

Edith was a teacher all of her adult life, retiring at the age of 81. She taught English, first at the university level, then at the high school level: the University of Missouri, the University of Colorado, and Boulder High School in Colorado, and Wingate High School and Midwood High School in Brooklyn, N.Y.

Whether as Ms. Roberts or as Mrs. Reid, Edith was an excellent discussion leader. Her students told her that she made them think. She loved to learn and to teach, relishing the moment when the light came on in her students’ eyes.

She is survived by her students.

Maria Atherley, former colleague

Valerie Le Brun Smith ’56 of Great Barrington, Mass., died on Dec. 4, 2018.

Val and I grew close in Cazenove and again during our class committee stint, 1986–1991. As Ester Rota Gasperoni writes, “Valerie was a symbol of vitality and joie de vivre. I will always remember her wonderful, smiling blue eyes.”

A Bible major, Val married divinity graduate Howard and became active in the civil rights movement. She worked as director of Catholic Family Services in West Hartford, Conn., then joined Howard in his executive search organization. She volunteered with hospice and her vestry’s scholarship fund. In our 50th reunion record book, Val wrote, “Non Minstrari sed Ministrare was my prime motivator in life.”

Toni Holland Liebman ’56

Ann Jackson O’Sullivan ’57 died on Feb. 19.

Ann was a wonderful woman whom I first met—believe it or not—when we were together at Camp Interlaken in New Hampshire for a number of summers. I still have a photo of all of us campers in our uniforms, posed as though for a graduating class. Ann and I must have been in the same cabin, and my strongest, most vivid memory is of the two of us having “deep conversations” under pine trees by the lake. We might well have been writing poetry together, too. She was a creative soul from the start.

Ann Geracimos ’57

Martha Savener Mason ’57 died on Dec. 20, 2018.

Martha and I met in seventh grade in New Haven, Conn., and six years later we were both admitted to Wellesley. After college, Martha worked in New York for Mademoiselle magazine, then in New Haven as advertising director for Bessie Richey Company, where she met her husband-to-be, David Mason. They were married for 56 years and had two sons, Scott and Andrew. Martha was public relations director for Anna Maria College in Worcester, Mass., and a freelance writer for the Worcester Telegram. Later in life, Martha and David owned the Welch House Inn Bed and Breakfast in Boothbay Harbor, Maine.

Judith Finman ’57

Joan Marx ’61 died on Oct. 15, 2018.

Joan was full of energy, kindness, passion for the environment, determination to speak her conscience, and endless curiosity. Wellesley nurtured a love of English literature, which she carried forward as a Ph.D. student at Berkeley, lecturer at Stanford, professor at Dennison, playwright, and poet. She was also proud to write an article on being a housewife for this magazine.

She raised two sons in the Bay Area, where she became deeply involved in the local schools. For Joan, the Wellesley community always remained a source of strength, joy, and pride.

Amos Irwin, son

Barbara Schlesinger Paul ’62 died in her home in Westport, Conn., on Dec. 30, 2018.

One week after her graduation from Wellesley we were married, four years after I met her as a freshman. After graduation, Barbara taught math at private schools in Washington and New York. She also received a master’s degree in business administration from New York University.

After living in Paris for a year with two small children, Barbara developed a keen interest in third-world countries, and became adept at photography there.

Zoe Amou Se Agapo (which I first recited to her 60 years ago on the shore of Lake Waban and which is now inscribed on her tombstone).

Roland Paul, husband

Nancy Buss Donner ’64 died suddenly on Jan. 21 in Yorkshire, England.

Nancy was an amazing person. She embraced the life she and her husband, Ricky, made together in Yorkshire, but never ceased being an American, celebrating Thanksgiving, etc. They welcomed friends to their tiny cottage the summer they were married. They never stopped reaching out to friends and acquaintances. We walked Hadrian’s Wall with them. Nancy’s knowledge of Roman history and her positive energy and delightfully dry humor made her a superb guide. Joan Crunden Lewis wrote, “I’m eternally glad I shared a room with Nancy and continued to share our ups and downs during our respective lives. She was indeed a lovely lady!”

Caren Wilcox ’64
Diane Phillpotts ’64
Joan Crunden Lewis ’64

Ellen Armstrong Kanarek ’70 died in Princeton, N.J., on Nov. 22, 2018.

Ellen and I both lived in Bates Hall for several years and enjoyed each other’s company. She had a wonderful sense of humor and a memorable, hearty laugh. We played a lot of bridge in college and even got together (with our husbands) a few times in later years to play at duplicate bridge tournaments. Of course, Ellen became a Life Master. She got her Ph.D., worked, played, volunteered in her community, and raised a wonderful family. Ellen always lived the spirit of our Wellesley motto—Non Ministrari sed Ministrare.

Heidi Winslow ’69

Dorothy Cheney ’72 died at home in Devon, Pa., on Nov. 9, 2018, of breast cancer.

Daughter of a foreign-service officer, Dorothy grew up in Washington, D.C., and abroad, graduating from Abbot Academy. At Wellesley, she was a wraith, preferring the energy of Cambridge. Senior year she married Robert Seyfarth, who became her research partner. Their children were raised in Africa, surrounded by baboons, as Dorothy and Robert studied the primates’ fascinating communications and interactions. Students enchanted her; she felt encouraged that brains were so engaged in the upcoming generation. Dorothy truly was a world citizen who made a huge contribution with her research, but it’s her wonderful smile and infectious laughter that linger in memory.

Nancy Roberts ’72
Margy Stiehler Bacon ’72

Laura Schall Gouillart ’75 died on Nov. 15, 2018.

Laura’s Wellesley studies in art history and music became her lifelong passions. She was an expert in Old Master prints and served as docent for the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum in Boston for many years. She sang in her church choir in Concord, Mass., and reveled in roles as leading alto characters in Gilbert and Sullivan works such as The Mikado and The Gondoliers. Laura’s husband, Francis Gouillart, and their children, Emily and Gregory, were the beneficiaries of her loving care, and they provided care and support during her many years of health challenges. Laura is lovingly remembered by them, her sisters and their families, art and music colleagues, and her Wellesley friends.

Aimée Ergas ’75

Molly Kochan Ouanes ’95 died of metastatic breast cancer on March 8. Notably, she first detected a small lump in 2005, but her concern was dismissed by her doctor, and she was not properly diagnosed until 2011. Molly was a beloved friend to many of us—a vibrant, funny, razor-sharp woman who generously shared her light with all who were lucky enough to cross paths with her. Full of honesty, a special brand of bravery (see class of ’95 notes), joy, wit, generosity of spirit, big, booming laughter, Molly left her mark on all who knew her.

Leslie Muir ’95

Susan Shaw CE/DS ’15 passed away on Feb. 2, 2018.

Miss Sue, as I called her, attended Wellesley as a Davis Scholar after a long career. She drove the campus shuttle, which I frequently used to escape the snow. A Maine native with a keen interest in South Asia, she understood my struggles as a student from India. We enjoyed Bollywood together at Fenway, and she introduced me to one of her favorite authors, the Urdu writer Manto. Her enthusiasm about her studies in political science was infectious. I’ll always treasure the memories of her warmth, which, along with the shuttle she drove, got me through the New England winters.

Bhargavi Ramanathan ’16