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Dryden Phelps Morse, 77
Was a Caring Physician
Dryden Phelps Morse died on Jan. 17 at Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston, after a long battle with Parkinson's Disease.
He was born on Oct. 2, 1924, in Berkeley, Calif. He was the son of Celeste Phelps and Marston Morse, a mathematician and founding member of The Institute for Advanced Study in Princeton, and devoted stepson of Louise Jefferys Morse, who, at 90 years old, survives him.
His love of Martha's Vineyard began in 1965 when he, his wife, Teri, and their four young sons came for a vacation. He returned nearly every year thereafter. After retirement in 1991, he and his wife spent ever increasing time at their home in Aquinnah before moving to the Island two years before his death.
He spent his childhood making many trips back and forth by train from California to Waterville, Me., after the divorce of his parents. But in 1934 he took a far longer trip. His mother had remarried
and her husband, Prof. William Fogg Osgood, who had been invited by one of his students at Harvard to teach mathematics at the National University, took his wife and her two children, Meroe and Dryden, to Beijing, China, for two years.
The time spent in China left Dryden with lifelong friends from his small school there, and with a deep love of the culture and people of China. Soon after China opened up to the West, he made the first of three trips back, teaching cardiac pacemaker implantation with a group of leading American and Chinese physicians, engineers and their spouses. They worked in many hospitals as they traveled around China, seeing patients, lecturing on pacemakers and speaking out forcefully against the ubiquitous habit of smoking.
When, in 1936, he made the long sea voyage back to America with his family, he began to attend Belmont Hill School in Belmont, graduating as valedictorian and beginning Harvard at age 16.
When World War II broke out he joined the army and was accepted to the Columbia Presbyterian Medical School class of 1947. He took his internship and surgical residency at The Philadelphia General Hospital, one of the huge city hospitals where, at that time, the interns and residents did a large share of the care of patients.
When he completed his surgical training he was sent to Korea where at times he was in front of the front lines. He became captain of a clearing company in a Mobile Army Surgical Hospital (MASH), receiving a Bronze Star for bravery and valor for rescuing wounded under fire and for operating day and night on the many wounded from the battle of Pork Chop Hill.
The experiences he had in the war left him with a strong commitment to the cause of peace in the world. He spoke out against war as a method for solving problems wherever and whenever he could. He joined the Society of Friends.
When he came back to the United States, he took another two years of training with the pioneer heart surgeon, Dr. Charles P. Bailey, in a thoracic surgical residency at Hahnemann Hospital in Philadelphia, Pa., and finished his training with six months at the Overholt Clinic in Boston.
When Dr. Bailey asked him to join the Bailey Thoracic Clinic as a heart surgeon, he returned to Philadelphia. He was also the chairman of the department of thoracic and cardiovascular surgery at Einstein Northern Division Hospital in Philadelphia.
In 1957 he participated in the first open heart surgery at Deborah Heart and Lung Center in Browns Mills, N.J. Deborah is a remarkable hospital which treats all who come there for operable heart and lung disease without ever sending a bill except, for those who are insured, to their insurance companies. Dryden continued his association with Deborah Hospital in many different capacities: as director of the Deborah Pacemaker Clinic, an attending thoracic surgeon and director of Deborah's medical education program. In a tribute from Deborah they wrote, "For all that Dr. Morse accomplished in his years of astounding service to Deborah, he is most loved and remembered for his kindness, generosity and intelligence.<\q>.<\q>.<\q>. His other endearing qualities were humility, kindness and caring." The tribute concluded by noting that he "treated everyone he encountered with the utmost respect."
He was one of four founders of the North American Society For Pacing and Electrophysiology (NASPE); a founding member of both the Society For Thoracic Surgeons and the Philadelphia Academy of Cardiology; a fellow of the American College of Cardiology and the American College of Chest Physicians, and a member of numerous other medical and professional societies. He authored or co-authored nine books on heart surgery, pacemakers and valves, and published well over a 100 papers and abstracts.
There were few subjects that did not interest him. He loved science and its ability to explain some of the mysteries of our world. He loved stories of adventure and bravery, from the Arctic to the Amazon, Shakespeare's sonnets and ditties from the turn of the century learned from grandparents, such as "Little Willie dressed in sashes Played among the red hot ashes." Classical music played a large role in his life with Bach, Chopin, and Beethoven among his favorites. He loved to play piano and had a special sweetness and love in his interpretation of some of the Chopin preludes.
Dryden loved being with his family and dear friends, sailing, canoeing, swimming, skiing, tennis, traveling, the theatre, music, art and walking the Vineyard beaches and trails. He enjoyed The Nature Conservancy and land bank properties and was a frequent visitor to Waskosim's Rock, especially in blueberry season. Years ago he sailed in the Menemsha Pond Sunfish races, and on a slightly larger boat to Tarpaulin Cove or Cuttyhunk. The August firemen's auction in Chilmark was, along with the agricultural fair, an important centerpiece to his summer. A highlight of the fair was always a ride on the merry-go-round. He was also fond of dancing in the aisles to the piped-in music in supermarkets, and occasionally, on an exceptionally pretty day, skipping down sidewalks.
After he retired he began organizing his old family letters, many from the late 1700s and early 1800s from Maine and Connecticut, which had come to him in wooden boxes and trunks. Many of them had not been opened for nearly a century and were tied together with ribbons.
Although he had Parkinson's Disease for 18 years, he rarely let it stop him. Even when he was in a wheelchair, he loved to go out and explore the Vineyard roads and stop for chowder and a sandwich at the cliffs he loved so well, at the Menemsha Deli, fried clams at The Bite or something delicious from Humphrey's.
Dryden, who was also known as Doc or Denny, will be sorely missed by the many family and friends who loved him. This colorful, kind and loving man had the wisdom simply to enjoy life and the ability to teach and share this enjoyment with others.
He is survived by his wife of 45 years, Teri; their four sons, Martin (Marty) of Nantucket; Thomas (Tom) of New Haven; Samuel (Sam) and his wife, Lauren, and their son, Nathan, of Pittsford, N.Y.; Michael (Mike) and his wife, Gabrielle (Gaby) King of Acton; his stepmother, Louise Morse; his sisters, Julie and her husband, Tom, Elizabeth and her husband, Daniel, and Louise (Weezy); and his brothers, Peter and his wife, Melissa, and William (Billy) and his wife, Cece, and numerous nieces, nephews and cousins. His beloved sister Meroe died in 1969.
A memorial celebration of his life will be held on April 6 in Concord. In lieu of flowers, please send contributions to The Parkinsons Foundation; Doctors Without Borders, Amnesty International, Hospice of Martha's Vineyard or the charity of your choice.
William Davis Taylor
Publisher of Globe, Is Dead at Age 93
William Davis Taylor, who followed in the steps of his father and grandfather and became publisher of The Boston Globe, died of heart failure on Tuesday, Feb. 19, at his home in suburban Brookline. Mr. Taylor, a longtime summer resident of Edgartown, was 93.
Mr. Taylor was the Globe's publisher for 22 years, beginning in 1955, and oversaw the newspaper's move to new quarters. He also was the first chairman of Affiliated Publications Inc., the paper's parent company, from 1973 to 1981.
"Davis Taylor was an extraordinary publisher for any editor to work for. He inspired and encouraged his editors to be creative, innovative and to do what they felt was right," said Thomas Winship, the Globe's editor from 1965 to 1984.
Mr. Taylor was born April 2, 1908, the son of William Osgood and Mary Taylor. He was graduated from Harvard in 1931 and joined the family-owned newspaper that year as a junior accountant. He was named general manager in 1940 and publisher on the death of his father, the son of the paper's founder, Charles H. Taylor. In 1972, Mr. Taylor was elected chairman of the American Newspaper Publishers Association.
After his retirement in 1981, he continued as a director and consultant to the Globe.
Mr. Taylor was a skilled yachtsman and deep-sea fisherman. In 1956, at the age of 48, he tried out for the Olympics in the 16-foot English Planting Hull Class. He also sailed in Newport-Bermuda and in Annapolis-Newport races.
In a 1990 interview with the Vineyard Gazette at his Edgartown home, Mr. Taylor recalled his first visit to the Island in 1923, on a sailing trip from Buzzards Bay. It was late June and his party planned to sail to Edgartown. But fog rolled in, so they sailed the 28-foot catboat into Oak Bluffs instead.
"How many boats do you think were in there, Oak Bluffs harbor?" Mr. Taylor said. "Two."
Mr. Taylor said he relied all his life on a maxim learned in childhood: Tell the truth. "If you ever told a lie, you were turned over to mother who had a hairbrush," he said. "My father never put his hand on me. But I can feel that hairbrush. And I adored my mother."
Davis Taylor's career started during the depression, rough times for the newspaper. "In 1935," he said, "we had to go to the big news dealers to get enough cash to make the payroll." He recalled that in 1931, when the Globe's weekly payroll was $28,000, he would walk to the bank and get a bag of money to pay the staff, returning to the Globe via City Square. When he finally left the firm in 1990, Mr. Taylor said, the weekly payroll had grown to more than $2 million.
A highlight of his career was the planning, financing and construction of a new Boston Globe building on Morrissey Boulevard in Dorchester. Mr. Taylor said he started tucking away money for that project in 1939, the year he became treasurer. The project got under way in the 1950s, and the Globe moved out of its Washington street headquarters on a May weekend in 1958. A doctor and nurse were on duty and three ambulances stood by; the Taylors were worried about accidents in the moving of the heavy printing equipment. "We had one fellow with a bad finger," Mr. Taylor told the Gazette. "Not another accident."
When they got to the Globe's new building, the metal in the linotype machines was still hot and the presses started printing the day's paper.
Davis Taylor's career spanned an era of dramatic change in the newspaper business. When he started with the Globe in 1931, Boston supported 11 dailies. Now there are two. "If we had a 20-page paper when I started in the '30s," he said, "that was a big paper. Today we can run 132 pages in one run."
Asked the secret of his family's success in the newspaper business, Mr. Taylor said: "We always work at it. We've never delegated authority. And the door was always open. No one had to wait to see one of the Taylors - John, myself or Father."
Mr. Taylor was active in charitable work, and proud of his ability at "picking pockets" for favorite causes. As president of the American Newspaper Publishers Association, he helped raise $1.5 million for the Nieman Fellows program. He helped raise $1 million for the American Constitution Museum in Washington, D.C. He actively supported and raised money for Boy Scouting, and donated money to the Martha's Vineyard Regional High School hockey program.
Mr. Taylor was always both optimistic and confident about the future of journalism in this era of multimedia communications. On his retirement as head of Affiliated Publications in 1982, he said:
"In today's world, there is a plethora of ways to get good information. But a good newspaper - accurate, fair, complete, and with the interests of all the segments of its audience, poor as well as rich, as its chief objectives - will always have a place in the home. After all, there's no real substitute for the printed word. Only a newspaper can do the complete job, whereas the airwaves can't. We've never been without the printed word. If we ever are, we'd all be in a bad way."
During his tenure, the Globe garnered 11 Pulitzer Prizes, journalism's highest distinction.
Mr. Taylor's first wife, the former Mary Hammond, died in 1947. He leaves his second wife, Ann C. (Macy); a son, William O. Taylor of Boston; and a daughter, Anna T. Caleb of Enosburg Falls, Vt.; and two sons and two daughters by his second marriage, Thomas M. of Edgartown, Margaret Kane of New Haven, Wendy Patriquin of Dover and Jame M. of York, Me.; 16 grandchildren and six great-grandchildren.
A memorial service will be held in Harvard Memorial Church at a later date, and interment will be at sea.
Elizabeth Homans, 78
Was Worcester Native
Elizabeth Greenleaf Pattee Homans died at her son's home in West Tisbury on April 8. She was born in Worcester on May 28, 1923, to Penelope Winslow Lincoln and Richard Saltonstall Pattee. After her father's death in 1932, her mother took the family to live in Greece and Italy from 1935 to 1939. She attended a Greek girls' school in Athens and the Sacred Heart Convent in Rome. Her other schooling included Edgehill School in Windsor, Nova Scotia, Milton Academy and Bennington College, from which she was graduated in 1943.
In 1944, Mrs. Homans was sent to Rumania with the American section of the Allied Control Commission in Bucharest. There she met Nicolae Ionnitiu, the eldest son of a prominent Rumanian publishing family. At the time, Mr. Ionnitiu was active in opposing the Communist takeover of the government. In early 1948, following the abdication of King Michael, Mr. Ionnitiu came to the United States and the couple was married
in Cohasset on July 3, 1948. They lived in Boston and Cambridge, where daughter Ana Ionnitiu of Santa Fe, N.M., and son Nicholas of West Tisbury were born. The marriage ended in divorce.
Mrs. Homans worked with the anaesthology department of Massachusetts General Hospital, directly involved in a long-term pain study program. Her second husband, whom she married
Dec. 7, 1957, was William P. Homans Jr., a prominent Boston trial lawyer. The children of that marriage, which ended in divorce, are Penelope Craig of Essex, Conn., and Elizabeth McKenna of Phoenix, Ariz.
Mrs. Homans lived in Cambridge, where she was active in the Cambridge Art Association, the Cambridge Garden Club and the Massachusetts Horticultural Society. She moved to Essex, Conn., in 1997. Also surviving are her sister, Penelope Smith of Washington, D.C.; brother Richard Saltonstall Pattee of Munich, Germany; three grandchildren, Keifer and Will McKenna of Phoenix, Ariz., and Alexis Ionnitiu of Washington, D.C., and three step-grandchildren, Lindsay McKenna of Phoenix, Ariz., and Matthew and Kristen Craig of Essex, Conn.
She was preceded in death by her two husbands: Nicolae Ionnitiu and William P. Homans Jr.
Funeral services will be held at Christ Church, Cambridge, on Monday, April 15. Arrangements by Dyer-Laker Funeral Home, 161 Commonwealth avenue, Attleboro Falls, North Attleboro.
Marjorie Pratt, 81
Was Active in Eastern Star
Marjorie C. Pratt, 81, a resident of Edgartown for the past 18 years, died Saturday, March 30, at her home.
She was born Nov. 6, 1920, in Newton Center, the daughter of the late Charles E. and Hester M. Coughlan.
Marjorie was a graduate of Baptist Hospital Nursing School in Boston and was active in the Eastern Star.
She was preceded in death by her husband, Kenneth B. Pratt, and son, Bruce D. Pratt. Surviving are her sister, Ruth C. Wortman; brother, C. Ernest Coughlan; granddaughters Alison, Jamie and Robyn; grandson Jeremy; devoted caretakers Brenda Donahue, Pam O'Quinn, Cynthia Farrington, Angie Fisher, Shauna Fullin, Kim Gasper, Bobbi Greer, Yolanda Nordstrom and Tara Lynn Viera, and close friends Joan and Earl Jecoy.
Her funeral service will be held on Saturday, April 6, at 1 p.m. at the Chapman, Cole and Gleason Funeral Home on Edgartown-Vineyard Haven Road in Oak Bluffs. The Rev. Thomas O'Quinn will officiate; additional honors wiil be provided by the Order of the Eastern Star and the Veterans of Martha's Vineyard.
Donations may be made in her memory to Hospice of Martha's Vineyard, P.O. Box 2549; Vineyard Nursing Association, P.O. Box 2568, and Tabernacle Restoration Fund, P.O. Box 1176, all Oak Bluffs, MA 02557.
Stewart Searle, 64
Was Military Veteran, Cook
Stewart Searle, 64, North Attleboro died Monday, April 8, at the New England Medical Center in Boston following a brief illness. He was the husband of Irene (Miller) Searle, to whom he was married
on Jan. 1, 1962.
Born in Oak Bluffs on Oct. 1, 1937, he was a son of the late George Raymond and Margaret Mary (Andersen) Searle. He was a 1955 graduate of Plainville High School.
Mr. Searle was a veteran of both the United States Army, having served from 1965 to 1970, and of the United States Coast Guard, having served from 1970 to 1974.
He was employed as a cook for a variety of restaurants on Martha's Vineyard, Wrentham and most recently at the Towne Restaurant on South Washington street in North Attleboro.
A resident of North Attleboro for the past five years, he previously resided in Attleboro, Vista, Calif., and Oak Bluffs.
Mr. Searle was a member of the Attleboro Elks Lodge number 1014.
In addition to his wife of 40 years, he leaves a son, Michael Searle of Halifax; two daughters, Kelley Ariosta of Attleboro and Leigh Ann Carby of South Attleboro; four brothers, William Searle of Mashpee, David Searle of Vineyard Haven, Robert Searle of Vineyard Haven and Alex Searle of Sandwich; a sister, Margaret Ditson of West Tisbury; six grandchildren, and several nieces and nephews. He was the brother of the late George Searle and James Searle.
Relatives and friends are cordially invited to attend funeral services with veteran's honors on Friday, April 12, at 11 a.m. in the Commonwealth Chapel of the Dyer-Lake Funeral Home, 161 Commonwealth avenue, Village of Attleboro Falls, North Attleboro, with the Rev. Katrina Clinton, pastor of the First Congregational Church, North Attleboro, officiating. Interment with military honors is scheduled for Friday, April 12, at 1:15 p.m. in the Massachusetts National cemetery, Bourne.
Visitation will be held from 10 to 11 a.m., prior to the funeral service.
In lieu of flowers, memorial donations may be made to the American Diabetes Memorial Program, P.O. Box 2680, North Canton, Ohio 44720.
Dorothy Jones, 85
Had Long Career in Nursing
Dorothy Sylvia Powell Jones, a resident of Windemere for the past five years, died on April 18, surrounded by her husband; Mary Tucker, a dear friend since nursing school days; three of her sons, and a grandson.
She was born on May 27, 1916, in Mt. Vernon, N.Y., to Adele Parham Powell and James Orris Powell. She was the youngest of six children, all sisters with the exception of one brother.
After graduating from Evander Childs High School, she completed studies at the Lincoln School of Nursing in the Bronx in 1941, and became licensed as a registered professional nurse. She then entered Columbia University, and was graduated in 1945 with a bachelor of science degree.
She met her husband, William, in 1936. They were married
in February, 1943, at the Cathedral of St. John the Divine in New York. They moved to Newton in 1952. It was there that they raised their three sons, Peter, Geoffrey and Marc. When the boys completed elementary school, she returned to work, first at the physics department at Harvard University, reading atomic particle tracks from bubble chamber experiments. Following that, she returned to nursing.
In 1946, she resumed her nursing career at Newton-Wellesley Hospital, for 19 years, with the exception of a period in the 1980s when she entered the MGH/Harvard program to earn her nurse-practitioner degree. She returned to the hospital as director of student health.
She retired in 1981 and was able to relish time spent at the family home on Martha's Vineyard. This also provided an opportunity to spend a lot of time with her five grandchildren, who nicknamed her "Beka." This was one of the joys of her life. The name remained with her for the rest of her life.
In 1991, she and her devoted husband and companion, Bill, reaffirmed their wedding vows in a service at the Cathedral of St. John the Divine where they were wed 48 years earlier.
She is survived by William, her husband of 59 years; three sons, Peter of Belmont and Edgartown; Geoffrey of Bristol, Vt., and Oak Bluffs, and Marc of Belmont and Oak Bluffs. Two sisters survive: Ethel of Mt. Vernon, N.Y., and Muriel of Sewell, N.J. Five grandchildren are among the survivors.
Services were conducted at Grace Episcopal Church in Vineyard Haven on April 20, 2002. The Rev. Alden Besse presided.
As a nurse, Dorothy felt that the Martha's Vineyard AIDS Alliance was not getting the financial support it should have. For that reason, the family requests that memorial gifts be given to the AAMV, P.O. Box 2093, Vineyard Haven, MA, 02568. The organization's contact person is Joyce Steward, 508-693-8868.
Mrs. Adeline Pachico
Adeline Pacheco of Lady Lake, Fla., died on Feb. 26. She was born in Oak Bluffs in 1915 to James and Mary Soares Cardoza. She married
Antone Pacheco of Oak Bluffs and they lived for many years in New Bedford before moving to Florida.
She is survived by a sister, Marian Cardoza of Oak Bluffs, and a brother, Nelson Cardoza of lady Lake, Fla. She was a beloved aunt to Martin and Steven Cardoza, Mary Gibson and Karen Hinman. She was also a beloved great-aunt to Barbara, Michelle and Cory Gibson, Kristine and Marlene Cardoza and Bryan, Shane and Andrew Hinman. She will be sorely missed.
A funeral mass will be held at Our Lady, Star of the Sea Church in Oak Bluffs at 10 a.m. on Thursday, June 13.
Dorothy Almstead, 78
Was Singer and Educator
Dorothy Ayers Buck Almstead, age 78, of Delaware, Ohio, died Monday afternoon, May 20, at Grady Memorial Hospital.
She was born May 7, 1924, in Springfield to the late Percy Reed and Margaret E. (Ayers) Buck. She was a graduate of Ohio Wesleyan University and Curtis Institute of Music. She was a Delaware-area resident since 1951. A retired elementary schoolteacher with the Delaware city schools, she taught at the Woodward, Conger, Smith and Carlisle elementary schools. She also taught piano lessons and volunteered for Helpline in Delaware. She worked with the Von Trapp family in Vermont and was a well-known alto soloist around the central Ohio area after several years singing on the radio in Buffalo, N.Y.
She is survived by sons Robert Bruce Almstead of Marengo and David (Wendy) Almstead of Orlando, Fla.; daughters Laurie Almstead Campos of Martha's Vineyard and Wendy Bell of Carmi, Ill.; 10 grandchildren, and three great-grandchildren.
She was predeceased by a brother, Robert R. Buck, and a sister, Elinor M. Bush.
Memorial services are planned for the weekend of Oct. 11 to 13 in Delaware and will be announced at that time.
Arrangements are in care of DeVore-Snyder Funeral Home, Delaware, Ohio. Memorial contributions may be made to a charity of one's choice.
