Mary Wendell

78 years old, passed away peacefully Sunday, February 19, 2006 at Langdon Place of Dover, NH with her daughter and her son-in-law at her side. She had resided there for the past year and a half. Before moving to New Hampshire in 2002 to be with her daughter, she lived in Cambridge, Massachusetts for over twenty-five years. She was born on January 4, 1928 to Helene Francis Manley and Albert Reynolds Beal in Poughkeepsie, New York. She graduated from Sidwell Friends School in Washington, D.C. and from Radcliffe College in Cambridge, Massachusetts. During her childhood, she and her family summered in Rockport, Massachusetts and enjoyed sailing and racing Star boats with the Sandy Bay Yacht Club. During the late 1940s, when her stepfather Joseph W. Darling, was a U.S. Army major stationed in Berlin, Germany, she was a pretty and vibrant young "Belle of the Ball" in the post-war Embassy era and was admired for her flaming copper-colored hair. She married David Taylor Wendell in 1955 and had two daughters, Karen and Erica. The family lived in Cambridge and then Concord, Massachusetts and continued to summer in Rockport, then Annisquam, Massachusetts. After her daughters were grown, she moved back to Harvard Square and was active with the MIT Folk Dance Club as well as the Folk Arts Center of New England. She enjoyed the New England Folk Festival each year and loved Balkan, Bulgarian and Hungarian music and folk dancing. She was also a member of the Appalachian Mountain Club and did volunteer work at Peabody Museum at Harvard University. One of her favorite projects was cataloging the fieldwork of her daughter Karen who participated on an archaeological dig associated with the museum. Mary was a woman of great internal strength and fortitude and lived her life on her own terms with grace, humor, courage and wit. She always met life's challenges head-on and was an inspiration to her family as well as to all who knew her. Even in her later years with the difficulties of Parkinson's Disease, she was known for her sense of humor and engaging personality. She is survived by her daughter Karen Wendell and her son-in-law Doyle Skeels of Dover, her brother Albert R. Beal and his wife Anne of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, her nephews Albert Beal and Bryan Beal and his wife Audrey of Philadelphia, her nieces Nell Beal of Annapolis, Maryland, and Helene Beal of Philadelphia, and her half-sister Vena Darling of Washington, D.C. She is also survived by her nephew George Wendell and his wife Laura and their children Ned and Hannah of Miami, Florida, her nephew Christopher Wendell and his wife Regina and their children Michael and Alexis of Eden, Utah, her niece Emily Fagan and her husband Mark of Scottsdale, Arizona, her nephew Alex Wendell of Santa Monica, California, her niece Edith Wendell and her children Anissa and Nydia of Arlington, Massachusetts, her sister-in-law Anne Atheling of Watertown, Massachusetts and her brother-in-law Roger Wendell and his wife Pamela of Titusville, Florida and Belfast, Maine. She was predeceased by her daughter Erica in 2000, her friend from childhood Harriet Hoffman Miller in 2005 and her former husband David Wendell in 1998. A Memorial Service will be held Saturday, March 4 at 11:00 a.m. at the J. Verne Wood Funeral Home, 84 Broad Street, PORTSMOUTH, NH, followed by a reception at the offices of David Wendell Associates. Burial will be at Mt. Auburn Cemetery in Cambridge, Massachusetts next to her daughter Erica. Arrangements by J. Verne Wood Funeral Home, Buckminster Chapel, Portsmouth, NH.