BARBARA LOIS PONTECORVO

1933 - 2017

PONTECORVO, Barbara Lois (Nesson) 84, recently of Asheville, NC, died peacefully on June 29, 2017. She was born in Belmont, daughter of the late Dr. John and May (Karnofsky) Nesson. She was the sister of the late Sandra (Nesson) Kivowitz. Barbara was the dear wife of 49 years of the late Paul J. Pontecorvo, a beloved mother and grandmother, and a cherished friend to many. She lived in Wayland for 60 years. Barbara graduated from Brookline High School and Radcliffe College. She attended Columbia University's Teacher's College, and received the Ed.M. degree from Boston University. She was a remedial reading specialist, and a first-and second-grade classroom teacher, including 25 years in the Sudbury Schools, where she touched the lives of countless children. She was a respected and beloved teacher, and many of her students stayed in contact with her as adults. Her publications include articles in the professional magazines Early Years and Teaching K-8. Throughout her life, Barbara was active in causes for peace, the environment and social justice, including the Wayland Fair Housing Committee, the Wayland Nuclear Freeze Group and the Education and Leadership for a Nonviolent Age (ELNA) Global Age Project. She was a founder of the Sudbury-Wayland Earth Decade Committee (now Sustainable Sudbury), maintained a regular newspaper column on "Ecotips," and worked to establish plastics recycling in Wayland. She raised funds to send "Luke's Lights" solar lamps to children around the world and was a donor and Development Committee member for the Boston Women's Fund. Barbara loved art, theater, and especially music. She was an active member of the Boston Recorder Society; she also got tremendous pleasure from playing the bass drum in the Maynard Community Band. She was a voracious reader, and participated in several Wayland book groups. She loved the beach and the mountains, and walking in the woods and fields near the Sudbury River in Wayland. Above all, Barbara was an extraordinary person with an open mind and heart, whose warmth, generosity, and enthusiasm for life affected all who knew her. She leaves behind her sons: David Pontecorvo (Lisa) of Albany, CA; Gregory Pontecorvo (Jane) of Seattle, WA; and Frank Southecorvo (Robin) of Asheville, NC; and four grandchildren: Saunders Southecorvo, Benjamin Lewis Pontecorvo, Elana Jacobs-Pontecorvo, and David Lewis Pontecorvo. She will be missed and lovingly remembered by countless friends, colleagues and family in the United States, Italy and England. A celebration of Barbara's life will be held in or around Wayland at a later date. Contributions, in memory of Barbara L. Pontecorvo, may be made to the Boston Women's Fund, 14 Beacon Street, Suite 805, Boston, MA 02108; El Porvenir: Community Assistance for Nicaragua, 80 Garden Center, Suite 135 Broomfield, CO 80020; or to the cause of your choice.

View the online memorial for Barbara Lois (Nesson) PONTECORVO