BARBARA TURNER CLANCY

1934 - 2019

CLANCY, Barbara Turner Age 84, of Brookline, Massachusetts, died at home in hospice care on April 19, 2019, after a brief but difficult battle with pancreatic cancer. She was the beloved wife of the late Sean Clancy, who passed away in 2008. They had been married since 1963. She is survived by her son Nicholas, a master carpenter, entrepreneur and guitarist and his wife, Nicole Marie Benoit, who live in New Orleans, Louisiana. Barbara was born in Evansville, Indiana, on April 23, 1934, to Alfred Lambert and Ethel Mae Jackson. She graduated from the University of Illinois with a Bachelors of Fine Arts 1956. She moved to Boston in 1959, where she attended Boston University, graduating with a Masters of Fine Arts in 1961. She started her career at Houghton-Mifflin as a graphic designer, working both before and after the birth of Nicholas in 1966. A gifted artist herself, she began teaching art in the Boston Public Schools in the 1970's during the busing crisis, first at the Patrick F. Gavin in South Boston and then at the Woodrow Wilson in Dorchester. She later transferred to Madison Park Vocational School where she taught commercial graphic arts until her retirement in 2003. She won numerous honors during her tenure teaching, including a career capstone achievement the year of her retirement. The Massachusetts College of Art chose her to receive an Excellence in Education award for leadership using technology to raise the visibility of the art program in the high school community. Barbara inspired hundreds of students to pursue their artistic ambitions during her time at Madison Park. She was known as a teacher who loved to motivate her students to fulfill their potential and who had extremely high standards, especially when critiquing their portfolios to prepare them for both college and the workforce. In their free time, Barbara and Sean enjoyed traveling extensively through Europe and Canada, collecting antiques and attending auctions. She especially loved items with a turtle motif and indigenous art from the Pacific Northwest. She was also a well-known antique dealer in the Greater Boston area and was one of the founding owners of The Antique Company in Brookline Village. Barbara was a longtime patron of the Brookline Arts Center and a season ticket holder with several performing arts organizations. She was an active member of two national women's organizations, The Northeasterns and the Delta Kappa Gamma Education Society. She loved spending time with family and friends engaging in spirited conversation over good meals. The family will announce a memorial gathering to Celebrate Barbara's Life next month. Should friends desire, memorial contributions can be made to Care Dimensions Hospice at https://give.caredimensions.org or Care Dimensions, 75 Sylvan Street B-102, Danvers, MA 01923.