Olivia E. Coolidge

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