Nancy Atwood Gordon Brewster, 96, died peacefully on May 11, 2022 with her family nearby.
She is survived by her daughter The Rev. Elizabeth (Gordon) Meade of Ballwin, Missouri, son Geoff Gordon of Norwell and daughter Carol (Gordon) Stone of Duxbury, six loving grandchildren, one great-grandchild, and five nieces and nephews. Her beloved husband, Bill Brewster, passed away in February. She loved this country and loved all the birds and all the flowers that grow between its Atlantic and Pacific Northwest shores.
Nancy was born in the summer of 1925, raised in Litchfield and Madison, Connecticut. She graduated from Northampton School for Girls and Smith College, a longtime active alumna of both. She taught grade school at Derby Academy and in Marshfield.
She married Andrew Gordon in 1950 and moved to Norwell to raise their three children. The family spent time in Freedom, New Hampshire where they enjoyed skiing, hiking, swimming and socializing with friends. She and Andy then pivoted to Marsh Harbour, Abaco, Bahamas for many winters into springs, enjoying the flora, boating, swimming and friends.
Nancy was an active member of the Norwell community, including the North River Gardeners, the Community Club, the VNA Rummage Sale and other Norwell community magnets. Nancy was among the original group that conceived a Congregational Church in Norwell, signing as an esteemed Charter member of the United Church of Christ, Norwell.
Nancy moved to Seattle in 1991 and immediately became involved in the Washington Beaches cleanup campaign. She continued to play a lot of tennis with friends near their home in Innis Arden, not giving up the game until age 88.
After her husband Andy died in 2005, Nancy reconnected with her childhood friend William Brewster, also of Litchfield, Connecticut. Nancy and Bill married on July 2, 2021, and lived in Duxbury tackling crossword and sudoku puzzles together daily, and enjoyed watching tennis, golf, Jeopardy and football.
Nancy loved travel, gardening, bird watching, her family and friends, and all kinds of music, especially the Hallelujah Chorus. She loved collecting things, including shells from Abaco, and clearing debris from Washington coast beaches, and found joy on the community tennis courts.
Friends and family will miss her, but she knows not that she is gone: “Do not weep for me, child of my womb. Do not weep for my life gone by; my agony, my pain. For I am with you.”
Special remembrances to the caring and compassionate team at Newfield House, to Cranberry Hospice and to Always Safe at Home, most notably Laura, Maxine, Chrissy and Guerline, for their tender care.
In lieu of flowers, remembrances in Nancy’s name may be made to the Massachusetts Audubon at massaudubon.org.

Joanna Freeman (Ewing) Jones 1937 – 2022

Joanna Freeman Ewing was born in Keene, N.H., June 9, 1937, to Anna Kraatz Ewing and Donald Freeman Ewing. In 1947 the family, now including a younger brother, was transferred by the State Department to Sofia, Bulgaria, where her father was assigned as a Vice Consul to the American Legation. After returning to the U.S., her parents separated, and Joanna and her brother were raised by their mother, a teacher. Joanna attended the Northampton School for Girls, in Northampton, Mass., where she received the award as the outstanding graduating senior in 1955. She attended Smith College, Northampton, Mass. graduating in 1959. Remarkably, this made her the sixth consecutive generation of women in her family to attain a bachelor’s degree. After Smith, Joanna lived in Boston and worked at Union Mutual insurance (a forerunner of Unum). Of this job, Joanna recalled that gender discrimination was the norm at the time: Her director told her unapologetically that he couldn’t pay her as much as her male peers because she was “already the highest paid woman in the company”. In the early ’60s Joanna met her husband, Griffith Jones “Griff”, an Electrical Engineer at MIT Lincoln labs. The couple met at The Sevens pub on Beacon Hill, a place they frequented with a circle of friends that they remained close to for the rest of their lives. The couple married, settled in Marblehead, Mass., and started a family. There they enjoyed skiing, sailing, and socializing at Maddie’s Sail Loft. The family moved to Leominster, Mass. for a few years and started an auto parts store in 1973 before heading to Bath, Maine in 1977. Their second auto parts store, Bath Automotive Supply, was a fixture in downtown Bath for nearly 30 years. Always into fitness, Joanna attended jazzercise classes for almost as long. In 2006, Joanna and Griff sold their store and retired. Joanna enjoyed traveling with longtime friends, visiting with family, and spending time at their place on Saddleback Mountain. She enjoyed working out with her YMCA friends, dining out, gardening, cooking, and being a part of the Holly Street Gang. Joanna was predeceased by her husband, Griff in 2020. She is survived by her brother, David, of Portsmouth, N.H.; her three sons, Darrick and Melissa Jones of Southbury, Conn., Channing Jones and Amy Leonard of Bath, Chris and Sue Jones of Wadmalaw Island, S.C.; and eight grandchildren, Trevor, Ethan, Justin, Emelia, Evan, Porter, Cameron, and Benjamin. The family would like to express their gratitude to the wonderful people of Thornton Hall and CHANS Hospice. A date for her Celebration of life for will be announced soon. In lieu of flowers, the family asks that donations be made to a charity of your choice.

Susan Riley Clarke, educator, poet, and mother, died in her sleep on April 14, 2022 in Syracuse, New York. Ms. Clarke was known to her friends, family, and colleagues for her sense of flair, her purposeful and artful use of words, her advocacy for equity and justice, her warmth for children, nature and animals, and her love of the communities and beaches of Cape Cod. She was 71.

Ms. Clarke was born and raised near Boston, Massachusetts. She graduated from the Northampton School for Girls. Susan studied English Literature at Syracuse University, began her family, and later completed her bachelor’s degree in English at Westfield State College. She went on to gain her master’s degree from the University of Massachusetts. In the mid-1970s through the 1990s, Ms. Clarke taught high school English in South Hadley, Massachusetts.

While teaching high school English, Ms. Clarke returned to the University of Massachusetts and earned her educational doctorate degree. She then became a professor of education at Quinnipiac University in Hamden, Connecticut, where she stayed until her retirement. A student from Quinnipiac shared that Dr. Clarke was a ‘believer and a true supporter’ in and of the family of students that she taught and mentored, and that she had made a profound difference in her students’ college experiences and life choices.

Dr. Clarke led a writer’s life. She attended and led writing workshops and was an accomplished, published poet. Often, she wrote poems about her children or Cape Cod (frequently, her children and Cape Cod). In response to her words, a colleague and friend replied that “…this universe is changed every time you put your pen to parchment or your pencil to a ragged page torn from your young son’s school notebook”.

Anyone who knew Dr. Clarke knew of her immense love for her son, daughter, and grandchildren. She is survived by her daughter, Megan (Hart) of Marietta, New York, and son, Joshua (Kortright), of Belchertown, Massachusetts, along with her beloved grandchildren Kalyani, Quinn, Eli, and Luke. A celebration of Susan’s life will take place on Cape Cod in the fall.

From Leaving the Cape:

I am watching my little girl’s skinny legs

Scurry in and out white ocean foam like the terns.

I am making a check through empty rooms,

My children’s beach toys scattered into corners

Of thinking they are still two and four

On a sunny day at Skaket,

Where I’d chase them and scoop them up

Along the little bayside waves.

Phoebe Lansdale, 95, of Woodbridge, CT, beloved wife of the late Richard Hyatt Lansdale, passed away peacefully on April 17, 2022. Born on November 12, 1926, in Springfield, MA, she was the daughter of the late William S. Taylor and Phoebe L. Smith.

Phoebe was infinitely generous, gregarious, idealistic, literary, spunky, and ever the optimist. She attended Smith College and received a graduate degree from Columbia University. She worked for many years in foreign aid, including at the U.S. Department of State, the Organization of American States and at the Pan American Foundation; her work at PADF led to the planting of one million trees in Haiti.

Her love of life and appreciation for words, art and music has influenced her children, who survive her: Elizabeth Hyatt Lansdale (partner James Modula), Katherine Taylor Lansdale (husband Peter Alexander), and Steven Ballard Lansdale; and her grandchildren, Zoë Elizabeth Lansdale-Alexander, and Jasmine Olivia Lansdale-Alexander. In addition to her husband, she was preceded in death by her sister Dr. Cicely Taylor Buckley ’46.

All services will be private at this time.