Margaret "Mimi" Larter

DUNSTABLE - Margaret "Mimi" Olney Larter, 99, a longtime Dunstable resident who owned a prominent dairy farm in town, was an active leader in many local civic and community organizations and the co-founder of a textile company in her native Lowell, died Sunday, Jan. 4, at her home. She was the wife of Edward Alan Larter, who died in 1957.

She was born in Lowell on July 24, 1904, daughter of Louis A. and Bertha Holden Olney. She attended Lowell High School, the Bancroft School and graduated from Smith College in 1928.

After her marriage to Mr. Larter on Aug. 23, 1930, they settled in Chelmsford. She and her husband founded the Wannalancit Textile Co. in Lowell. Mrs. Larter was treasurer of the family-run business for six decades, and the company made parachute material for the military during World War II. After the mill closed, the buildings became home of the original Lowell Textile Museum.

In 1939, the Larters purchased the well-known Dolan Estate in Dunstable and established the Elmhaven Dairy Farm, which was home to award-winning Guernsey cattle.

Mrs. Larter was active in numerous area charities and also donated 300 acres of land as open space to the town of Dunstable and the Dunstable/Tyngsboro Historical Society.

She was the former director of the International Institute of Lowell, and was president for many years of the Smith College Club. She was also on the board of directors of Lowell General Hospital, and treasurer of the board of trustees at New England College, where she received an honorary doctorate in 1970. She also was a member of the Vesper Country Club in Tyngsboro, the Paint and Powder Club of Lowell and the Groton Garden Club.

She also enjoyed spending winters at Hillsboro Beach, Fla., and many summers at the family home at Lake George, N.Y. She attended the Eliot Presbyterian Church, and the Dunstable Congregational Church.

Mrs. Larter was the mother of three children, a daughter, Suzanne Lingeman, who resides in Wellesley with her husband, Dr. Byron Lingeman; and two sons, who are deceased, the late Edward A. Larter Jr. of Dunstable and Franklin, N.H., and the late Robert O. Larter of Dunstable.

In addition to her daughter and son-in-law, other survivors include, a daughter-in-law, Judith K. Larter of Dunstable; four grandchildren, Jennifer L. Coughlin and her husband Brian of Cazenovia, N.Y., Alan Larter of Franklin, N.H., Anne I. Davis and her husband Charles of Endinburgh, Scotland, and Sarah Lingeman of Dunstable; four great-grandchildren, Elsa and Edward Coughlin, Spencer and Christopher Davis; a brother, Richard H. Olney and his wife Marjorie of Dunstable; the Olneys' children, Stephen Olney and his wife of Chelmsford, and Catherine Irzyk and her husband of Alameda, Calif. She also leaves other nieces and nephews, including, Patricia Buchanan of Concord, Jeffrey Lowery of Cotuit, Linda Mullins of Boxford, Lucinda Shaw of Baltimore, and Peter Eveleth, who resides in Florida.

Mrs. Larter was the aunt of the late William Olney and Janet Muehl, and sister of the late Edna Shaw.