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Dora Flore Hartwell
Was Noted Jewelry Designer
Dora Flore Hartwell, age 90, died peacefully on Feb. 11, 2004. Born in Central Falls, R.I., the daughter of Joseph and Alphonsine Marchand, she was the wife of the late Arthur I. Hartwell.
She attended Rhode Island School of Design in Providence, R.I. Dora was a well-known jewelry designer and many of her designs are currently being used today. She was also a fashion designer and model. She was active with the Providence Players at the Barker Playhouse and the Providence Art Club. Dora and Arthur started summering in Oak Bluffs in the 1940s and had many wonderful times in Ocean Park. They became full-time residents in Vineyard Haven during the 1960s. Here they enjoyed the harbor activities from their waterfront home. She was a member of the East Chop Beach Club, Martha's Vineyard Garden Club, New England Steamship Foundation, and volunteered for many nonprofit organizations.
She is survived by her son, Warren R. Hartwell, and his wife, Nancy, of Tisbury and Rehoboth. She was predeceased by three sisters, Beatrice, Loretta and Annette.
A memorial mass will be held at St. Augustine's Church in Vineyard Haven at 11 a.m. on Feb. 21. Memorial donations may be sent to Hospice of Martha's Vineyard Inc., P.O. Box 2549, Oak Bluffs, MA 02557. Arrangements are by the Chapman, Cole & Gleason Funeral Home in Oak Bluffs.
Elizabeth Nichols
Was Devoted to Community
Elizabeth (Bibi) Nichols died peacefully in Rockland, Me., on March 9 at the age of 85 surrounded by her family. Bibi was a summer Island visitor since the 1940s and a permanent resident of Vineyard Haven since 1975.
Born on Oct. 25, 1918 in Waltham, she was the daughter of Russell and Lelia Branch. Bibi spent her growing-up years on both the east and west coasts. Her parents eventually settled in Manhasset, N.Y. She was graduated from Skidmore College during World War II and soon after married
Clayton (Nick) W. Nichols Jr., who was serving in the Navy at that time. After the war they settled in Huntington, Long Island, N.Y., where Bibi devoted her time to her husband, children and community.
She and Nick retired to Martha's Vineyard where she golfed and played tennis at Farm Neck for many years. She also had many exciting adventures on a succession of family boats named Windigo. Bibi grew up cruising the waters of Long Island and during her married
life sailed anywhere from the coastal waters of Maine to the islands of the Caribbean.
While on the Vineyard she spent many hours helping at the Vineyard Haven Public Library, at Martha's Vineyard Hospital and at Felix Neck Wildlife Sanctuary.
Her four children, Patricia Nichols of East Greenville, Pa., Rusty Nichols of Annapolis, Md., Christopher Nichols of Yarmouth, Me., and Deborah Warren of Camden, Me., survive her. Also surviving her are 10 grandchildren and four great-grandchildren. Her sister is Kathryn Powell of Port Townsend, Wash., and her surviving brother is George Branch of North Carolina.
A memorial service will be held at The First Congregational Church in West Tisbury at 1 p.m. on Saturday, April 3. Contributions in her memory may be made to the church at P.O. Box 3000, West Tisbury, MA 02575, to the Vineyard Haven Public Library at RFD 139A, Vineyard Haven, MA 02568, or to the Massachusetts Alzheimer's Association at 36 Cameron avenue, Cambridge, MA 02140.
Charlotte L. Turgeon, 56
Was Nurse and Executive
Charlotte (Lapworth) Turgeon, formerly of Holliston, died at home on March 23 after a long battle with lung cancer. She was 56.
She graduated from Cape Cod Community College in 1972 with a degree in nursing; and in 1985 with a degree in computer science. At the time of her death, she was a vice president for Eclipse Inc. where she was employed for 11 years, and was working toward a degree from Suffolk University's Sawyer School of Management.
From 1980 to 1990, Mrs. Turgeon lived in Edgartown. She then moved to West Barnstable.
She is survived by her husband, Bruce Turgeon of West Barnstable; her sister, Katie Goudreau, and her husband, Pete Goudreau, of Natick; her sister in law, Terry Lapworth, of Hollliston; and several nieces and nephews.
In lieu of flowers, donations may be sent to: Visiting Nurse Association of Cap Cod/Hospice, 434 Route 134, Building G, South Dennis, MA 02660.
Funeral services will be held in the John-Lawrence Funeral Home, 3778 Falmouth Road (Rt. 28), Marstons Mills, on Saturday, March 27, at 1 p.m. A visiting hour will precede from 12 to 1 p.m.
Edward F. MacNichol Jr.
Was Noted Biophysicist
Dr. Edward Ford MacNichol Jr. died peacefully on Sunday, March 14, at Emerson Hospital in Concord, in the company of family and friends.
Dr. MacNichol's scientific career integrated technology, engineering, medicine and teaching. After studying physics at Princeton University, he worked at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology's radiation laboratory developing radar air tracking equipment during World War II. His subsequent long and illustrious career in biophysics began under the auspices of Dr. H.S. Hartline; he gathered data and designed instruments for his mentor's model of a primitive vision system, for which Dr. Hartline received a Nobel prize.
Dr. MacNichol was awarded his Ph.D. in biophysics in 1952 from Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore, Md., where he subsequently taught for 13 years. From 1968 to 1972, he directed the National Institute of Neurological Diseases and Stroke and was acting director of the National Eye Institute, both parts of the National Institutes of Health in Washington, D.C. From 1973 on, he operated a year-round Laboratory of Sensory Physiology at the Marine Biological Institute at Woods Hole, and in 1986 he became a professor of physiology at Boston University, a post from which he retired at the age of 86.
Dr. MacNichol is survived by his wife, Dorothy Thorne MacNichol of Concord; his son, Edward MacNichol 3rd of Maryland and daughter, Anne MacNichol Brownell of Oak Bluffs, children of his previous marriage to Anne Ayer MacNichol of Wenham, and their children: Edward MacNichol 4th, Laura Snyder and Amber MacNichol of Maryland; Ian Brownell of Medford and Deirdre Brownell of Burbank, Calif.; and Dorothy's children, Elizabeth and Telly Theodoropoulous and Cam, Scott, David and Duncan Thorne and their families.
A memorial service will be held in late April.
Adeline Rappaport, 83
Passion Was World Travel
Adeline Rappaport, widow of Island physician David Rappaport, died Thursday in Boston. She was 83.
Mrs. Rappaport was born in Lancaster, Pa., but spent most of her life on the Vineyard. Her grandfather, Benjamin Hall, moved to Edgartown from Boston in the late 1800s. Mrs. Rappaport's parents, Morris and Rose Hall, were proprietor's of Halls Department Store on Main street in Edgartown. The store was well known for its reddish-tone trousers, a fashion statement synonymous with Edgartown beginning in the 1950s.
A graduate of Edgartown High School, Mrs. Rappaport attended Wellesley College and majored in economics. She met David Rappaport on a blind date while he was in medical school. The couple married
and moved to the Vineyard after World War II. Dr. Rappaport practiced medicine in Oak Bluffs from 1946 until his death in 1982.
Mrs. Rappaport had a sharp intellect. She also had the gift of tact. "She was the doctor's wife," said longtime friend Helen Issokson. "Very cool. Very calm and collected."
Being the doctor's wife also made Mrs. Rappaport very independent: she had to be because she never knew when Dr. Rappaport might be called away. She made sure the household, which included the Rappaport's three children, ran smoothly no matter her husband's schedule. She even managed to return to school, earning a master's degree in education from Northeastern University in 1970. She was certified to teach that same year by the Commonwealth. She tutored children with reading disabilities and used her knowledge while serving on the Oak Bluffs School Committee, one of her many civic responsibilities.
Mrs. Rappaport loved golf. She loved bridge - when the Rappaports first moved to the Vineyard they lived above Dr. Rappaport's office on Circuit avenue. Optometrist Bernard Issokson also had office space in the building. "When things were really slow, the four of us would go upstairs and play bridge," Mrs. Issokson recalled.
But what Mrs. Rappaport really loved was travel. At the time of her death, she had traveled to almost 100 countries. She visited major cities, and out-of-the-way places. Her passion for travel led her to open Dukes Travel Service in 1973 with Audrey LeVasseur. She ran the business until her retirement to Sarasota, Fla. in the late 1980s.
After her retirement, Mrs. Rappaport spent summers on the Vineyard and winters in Florida. Three years ago, after her health began to fail, she moved to the Boston area to be nearer to her children. She is survived by Susan of Chestnut Hill, Ronald of Chilmark, and Alan of Bronxville, N.Y. She is also survived by five grandchildren.
Services will be held at the Martha's Vineyard Hebrew Center, Sunday, April 4, at noon. Contributions may be made to the Dr. David Rappaport Scholarship Fund, care of the Permanent Endowment Fund of Martha's Vineyard, P.O. Box 602, West Tisbury, MA 02575, which was established to encourage interest in health care among graduates of the Martha's Vineyard Regional High School.
Irene Miller Searle, 62
Was Devoted to Family
Irene Miller Searle, 62, of Temecula, Calif., formerly of North Attleboro, died on Friday, March 12, in California.
She was the wife of the late Stewart Searle, an Oak Bluffs native, to whom she was married
on Jan. 1, 1962 and who died on April 8, 2002.
Born in Central Falls, R.I., on Nov. 25, 1941, she was a daughter of the late Melvin F. and Irene F. (Brehio) Miller of South Attleboro. She resided in North Attleboro for seven years prior to returning to California eight months ago; she had previously resided in Vista, Calif., Attleboro and Oak Bluffs.
Mrs. Searle was a graduate of North Attleboro High School. She was employed as a baker for the Super Farmer Place in Plainville, where she worked for three years prior to retiring in 1997. She was a homemaker dedicated to her children and in later years was devoted also to her grandchildren.
She is survived by a son, Michael Searle of Halifax; two daughters, Kelley J. Ariosta and Leigh Ann Carby of Temecula, Calif.; twin brothers, Albert and Fredrick Miller, both of Colorado; a brother, Charles Miller of Tennessee; five sisters, Alice Cornell of Plainville, Marilyn Charette of Pawtucket, Janice Fontaine of Attleboro, Susan Moreau of Cranston, R.I., and Joanne Turinese of North Attleboro, six grandchildren and several nieces and nephews.
Funeral services were held Monday, March 22, in the Commonwealth Chapel of the Dyer-Lake Funeral Home in North Attleboro. Interment followed in the Massachusetts National cemetery, Bourne. Arrangements are by the Dyer-Lake Funeral Home, 161 Commonwealth avenue, Village of Attleboro Falls, North Attleboro.
Melville Chapin, Age 85
Was Active in Community Charities
"I was born Dec. 14, 1918. There were no guns fired that day, either in salute or anger. The armistice between the Allies and Germany had been signed one month earlier on Nov. 11. However, I probably screamed loud enough to be heard at many places akin to the whistling of the shells flying over the French in France," my grandfather, Melville Chapin, once wrote in an unconscious nod to the opening paragraph of David Copperfield.
As a beginning, if it's good enough for my grandfather and Dickens, it's good enough for me. All that remains to be written is the end; Melville Chapin died March 9, at the age of 85.
Mel, as he was known to his numerous friends, was a man of great dignity and elegance, even in death. He was a man who liked his tools, who carried around salves and balms with which to cure his family's cuts and scrapes, who drank gin and tonics, a man who polished his wife's shoes every Saturday, who liked to sit on a dock in Menemsha and eat raw clams out of their shells, a man who hated brussel sprouts and adored the color blue.
But he was also a man who raised $52 million for 200th anniversary fund for Phillips Academy, Andover, where during his life he wore many hats including student, president of the board of trustees, president and chairman of the bicentennial fund, trustee emeritus and chairman of planned giving. Mel was a man who, over the years, served as chairman of the Massachusetts Eye and Ear, chairman of the Yale alumni board, chairman of Yale's planned giving, president of the Yale Club of Boston, director of the former Bank of New England, director of Cambridge Bancorp, president of Cambridge Community Services, president of United Community Services and director of United Way of Massachusetts, just to name a few.
He was a recipient of the United Community Planning Corporation's Charles M. Rogerson Award, the Yale Medal, the Yale Bowl, Yale's Nathan Hale Award and the Andover Bowl.
My grandfather, a naturally humble man, was both proud and flattered to wear the many mantles offered him. His house was full of paperweights and various clocks from the assorted groups thanking him for the service he had done. They rested on desks, windowsills and bureaus, and were such a daily sight for my brother and me as children that I never registered them until his death. But he was pleased as punch each time he was recognized anew. The sheer breadth of his trusteeships became something of a joke among his friends. One particular friend of my grandparents even made a needlepoint hanging for him that read: "When to meetings I go, with the greatest of skill, I always contrive to keep perfectly still, 'cause if I show interest or seem a bit witty, wham! There I am on another committee."
Despite all his comings and goings at various organizations, however, Mel also had a full-time job as a lawyer. At the time of his death he was of counsel for Kirkpatrick & Lockhart, formerly Boston's Warner & Stackpole, where Mel had been a partner and chairman.
My grandfather, an Andover native, knew my grandmother, Elizabeth Ann Parker, all his life. They married
in September, 1940. A picture of them on a boat in Edgartown, which sits on my desk, shows my grandfather at 20, handsome as a movie star, grinning and holding my lovely grandmother's smiling face in his hand, as she somewhat shyly won't turn fully to face the camera. When I think of my grandparents, I think of this picture. Despite their differences in temperament, or perhaps because of them, they were always laughing together.
After his death, I sat down and reread some of grandfather's writings. In his later years, he had typed up several books of memoirs. In one these, entitled Growing Up in the '20s, I rediscovered several things about him: a passion as a child for the Sears Roebuck catalogue, which could magically produce a shiny bugle for $4.99 and smashing red wagon for $7.99; his delight in his boyhood camp, Camp Chewonkee, which I think he dedicated half the memoir to writing about, and his love of Edgartown, which he describes as "heaven."
But my most important discovery was his voice, which was still there, captured in those pages. Aside from the keen loss of the physical self, the loss of someone's voice is the most devastating aspect of death. Like mental images, the timbre of the voice, the exact phrasing of someone's words, begin to fade before they are lost to you forever. But as long as I could read my grandfather describing himself as a child as "rather round in condition," or making references to a "hurty brush," his voice was in my head, in me.
Editors' note: The Island has been a summer retreat for several generations on both Mr. and Mrs. Chapin's sides of the family. Mr. and Mrs. Chapin were married
at St. Andrew's Church and honeymooned on the Island. Mr. Chapin was active in the Edgartown Reading Room, serving for a time as its president. He served for many years on the legal committee of the Edgartown Yacht Club, and was an avid sailor.
In addition to his wife of 63 years, Elizabeth Parker Chapin, he is survived by a daughter, Elizabeth M. Grummon of Mattapoisett; a son, Allan M. of New York city, and seven grandchildren (one of whom, Liza Klausmann, submitted this essay).
Interment will be private. Plans are being made for a memorial service on the Island. A memorial service will be held April 24 at 3 p.m. in Cochran Chapel at Philadelphia.
In lieu of flowers, contributions may be made to the Foundation of the Massachusetts Eye and Ear Infirmary Inc., Development Office, 243 Charles street, Boston, MA 02114; Yale University Class of 1940, Yale Office of Development Memorial Program, P.O. Box 2038, New Haven, CT; or the Melville Chapin Memorial Fund, Phillips Academy, 180 Main street, Andover, MA 01810.
Leon C. Riddick, 87
Was Baptist Church Leader
Dr. Leon Clanton Riddick died on March 9 at his home in Charlotte, N.C., with his family at his side.
He was born Nov. 30, 1916 in Powellsville, N.C., the eldest child of Dennis Edward Riddick and Cottie Ward Riddick. He entered Shaw University in September, 1934 and was graduated from the school of liberal arts and religious studies with a bachelor of arts and a bachelor of divinity degree in 1943. He was ordained into the gospel ministry in December, 1934. During his tenure at Shaw University, he was an outstanding student leader and was elected to Who's Who Among College Students. He married
Minnie Willow Gaines, his wife of 60 years, on August 27, 1944.
Between 1943 and 1947, he pastored the Mt. Nebo Baptist Church in Lake Lure, N.C.; New Christian Chapel Baptist Church in Rose Hill, N.C., and Adoram Baptist Church in Wallace, N.C. During this time, Dr. Riddick was the director of the department of christian education and training for the General Baptist State Convention of North Carolina.
In 1947 he moved to Summit, N.J., where he pastored the Fountain Baptist Church until 1964. During those years he served as president of the Summit, Trinity Branch NAACP; trustee for the Overlook Hospital Chaplains Service; charter member of the Summit Association of Gerontology; president of the General Baptist State Convention of New Jersey; president of the Summit Ministerial Association; vice president of the New Jersey Council of Churches; State Vice President of the National Baptist Convention U.S.A. Inc.; member of the executive board, Lott Carey Foreign Mission Convention; and vice president for development and public Relations at Shaw University, 1964-65.
In February 1965, he was called to pastor the Mount Carmel Baptist Church in Charlotte, N.C., where he served until retirement in 1990. In addition to the many contributions made at Mount Carmel, Dr. Riddick also provided leadership in the Charlotte community on many boards and committees. Dr. Riddick was a frequent guest speaker at the Union Chapel in Oak Bluffs during his many summers at the family home here in the Highlands.
He received many honorary degrees and awards during his lifetime. He was a member of the Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity.
Dr. Riddick's memorial service was held in Charlotte on March 13 at the Mount Carmel Baptist Church.
He leaves to cherish memories of his life his wife, Micki; his daughter, Cheryl Lynn Cross, and her husband, Lawrence Cross, of Florida; three grandchildren, Elynn Jordon, Robert (Cory) Spencer and Maria Cross Barnhart; four great-grandchildren; two sisters, Velma Riddick Watson of Washington, D.C., and Grace Riddick Yates of New York city; nieces, nephews, cousins, and a host of other relatives, friends and spiritual children.
Those who wish may make contributions in his memory to The Leon C. Riddick Scholarship Fund, Mount Carmel Baptist Church, 3201 Tuckaseegee Road, Charlotte, NC 28208.
Louise M. Duart, 78
Was Kind and Loving Person
Louise M. (Thalin) Duart, 78, of Falmouth, formerly of Martha's Vineyard, passed away at Falmouth Hospital on March 31 She was the wife of the late Russell D. Lunn Jr. and the late Henry F. Duart.
Louise was born and raised in Worcester. She graduated from Worcester High School in 1943 and the married
Russell in 1946. After they were married
, they moved to Martha's Vineyard. Russell died in 1962 after a long illness and she remarried
in 1963. She lived on the Island until 1981, and then moved to Falmouth. She moved to Florida for three years, but missed the change of seasons and moved back to Falmouth.
She was a housekeeper at the emergency room at Martha's Vineyard Hospital and head housekeeper at Royal Megansett Nursing Home in North Falmouth. In the late 1980s, she retired. She enjoyed playing bingo at the Falmouth Knights of Columbus, watching golf, needlepoint, making crafts, and bowling in the local women's bowling league.
Visiting hours will be from 4 to 7 p.m. on Saturday, April 3, in the Chapman, Cole and Gleason funeral home, 475 Main street, and from 4 to 7 p.m. on Monday, April 5, in the Chapman, Cole and Gleason Funeral Home, Edgartown-Vineyard Haven Road in Oak Bluffs. Burial will be on Tuesday at 11:30 a.m. at New Westside cemetery in Edgartown.
She is survived by four children; two daughters, Victoria Duart of Teaticket, and Crystal Lunn of East Falmouth, and two sons, Jeffrey Lunn of East Falmouth, and Russell Lunn of Falmouth; seven grandchildren and one great-grandchild. She is also survived by her sister, Marion Brown of Long Island.
Donations in her memory may be made to the American Heart Association, 2 White's Path, South Yarmouth, MA 02664.
Isabel Mann Lenssen, 90
Was Summer Resident
Isabel Mann Lenssen of San Luis Obispo, Calif. and a former summer resident of Edgartown, died peacefully Jan. 26 of this year. She was 90.
She was born in Highland Park, Ill. in 1913 and attended Roycemore School in Evanston and the Art Institute of Chicago. Following graduation, Mrs. Lenssen worked for both her aunt, as an interior decorator, and her architect father before moving to New York city.
During the war, she volunteered for service as a SPAR in the U.S. Coast Guard and was stationed at Norfolk, Va. where she met her husband, Arthur Lenssen Jr. Mr. Lenssen grew up spending his summers on the Vineyard where the Lenssen family were members of the Edgartown Yacht Club. Arthur Jr. was one of the club's great sailors racing sneakboxes and virtually anything else that sailed. In 1945, he brought his fiancee, Isabel Mann, to the Island for the first time to meet his parents who lived on the end of Planting Field Way where the family owned several houses all built by Arthur Lenssen Sr.
Her next visit to the Island was in 1946 as a bride. The following summer her daughter, Isabel, was born.
Mrs. Lenssen spent every summer on the Vineyard until 1967 when she and Mr. Lenssen were separated. She also lived in Coconut Grove, Fla. where young Isabel was in school; Montserrat where she became interested in advancing Sea Island Cotton; and finally in Winter Park before moving to California. In California she was a docent at museums, taught children's art classes, played bridge and enjoyed Elderhostels.
Mrs. Lenssen is survived by her daughter, Isabel Browning Lenssen of Berkeley, Calif.; two grandsons, Alexander Lenssen Shinn of Virgin Gorda and Jonathan Mayhew Shinn of Maryville; and two sisters, Margaret Williams of Scottsdale, Ariz. and Priscilla Graham of San Luis Obispo, Calif.
