Olivia E. Coolidge

COOLIDGE, Olivia E. Olivia E. Coolidge, author and educator, died on Sunday (December 10, 2006) in Essex. She was 98. She published her first book, Greek Myths, in 1949 and continued for the next several decades to write for young adults. Throughout her distinguished career, she published 27 books, mainly biographies and historical fiction, including Men of Athens, 1963, a Newbury Honor book. Her many biographies have been noted for their clarity and vividness as well as for the wide range of their subjects. Greek Myths and The Trojan War are still in print. Margaret Olivia Ensor Coolidge, daughter of the historian and journalist, Sir Robert Ensor, was born in London, England. She attended Somerville College at Oxford University and graduated with a BA in Classics and Philosophy in 1931 and an MA in 1940. She taught Greek, Latin, and English in Germany and England before coming to the United States where she taught at the low-Heywood School in CT and the Winsor School in Boston. In 1946, she married Archibald C. Coolidge of Lakeville, who preceded her in death. They were long time summer residents of New Hampshire. She is survived by her brother, Andrew Ensor of Washington, D.C.; her four stepchildren, Archibald C. Coolidge of Jr., of Iowa City, IA., Elizabeth C. Miller of Waltham, MA., Julian Coolidge of Simsbury, and Susan Battle of Hillsborough, NC; and by 15 grandchildren and 17 great-grandchildren. Funeral arrangements will be private and under the care of Robinson, Wright & Weymer Funeral Home, Centerbrook. In lieu of flowers, the family requests that contributions be made to the Squam Lakes Association, PO Box 204, Holderness, New Hampshire 03245.