Serena Sue Hilsinger

Serena Sue Hilsinger was born to Ruth and Julius Yasgur, March 3, 1937. She died, gently, in her Rockport home February 13, 2026. She was comfortable at home with her spouse for over 55 years, Lois Brynes, and hospice supporters.

Serena loved many things in her life and on Planet Earth. She loved Lois, who often said about Serena…'She was like a bottle of fine French wine…She just got better with age.

She also loved being a professor at Clark University, for almost four decades. She loved teaching and prepping for classes. She loved teaching Virginia Woolf and Clark's earliest Feminist course: 'Fiction by Women Writers."

She loved writing. She published three novels (in the US out of Gambit, in the UK, Hamish-Hamilton). She also created many lengthy narrative poems. One, "Triptych of Gossips," was set to amazing music by one of our dearest friends, Composer Linda Dusman.

Most of all, for the past 25 years, she loved EVERYTHING about living in Rockport. It was our long-time dream come true. When Serena retired early, and we bought a lovely home and settled here. She loved the daily "village feel" of the town. She loved all aspects of Nature. She loved the ocean…from the microbes to the glorious spin drift. She loved watching the many birds coming to our 12 feeders. She loved the almost daily visits from deer in our backyard.

Serena slo loved reading…until her last year she read one new book every day. When Toad Hall closed, we drove to Jabberwocky in Newburyport three time each week to buy new books.

Serena loved our trips to Paris. For decades, we lived two months every summer in the Marais. We never tired of walking, art, wine and eating!

Serena loved music. Rockport Music and the glorious Shalin Liu concert hall made living in Rockport even more wonderful than it is just in itself.

Serena also loved Cape Ann artwork. Over the decades we found and purchased many magnificent ocean paintings by local artists. We used to joke: when we could no longer managed to get down by the sea to just watch…we could at least look at the glorious paintings. In the last weeks of her life, Serna was positioned in our living room (in a hospital bed) from which she could just look at each and all the paintings. She enjoyed that!

We live less than a mile from Halibut Point. This was THE place for our daily walks…which Serena loved. A few years ago, we decided that when we were both cremated, our ashes would go out in a boat off Halibut Point…. when the tide was going out. Campbell Funeral Home is making that happen.

Serena will not be missed in the usual sense. Her presence is palpably present. She is beloved. IF you wish to leave a remembrance; please consider Rockport Music.

Funeral Services for Serena are private. Information, directions, condolences at www.campbellfuneral.com.