Barbara Pullen Morgenthaler, 92, an almost 80-year resident of Wellesley, MA died on August 27, 2026 after a brief illness while visiting Nova Scotia.
Barbara was born on February 26, 1934, in Wellesley, and was a proud 1952 graduate of Wellesley High School. She received a B.A. degree from Smith College in 1956, majoring in zoology. She married the love of her life, MIT electrical engineering professor Frederic R. Morgenthaler, in 1958 and they had 57 very happy years together.
Barbara, or “Gaggy” as she was known to nearly everyone, was a thoughtful, generous and loving mother, grandmother, great-grandmother and friend, perennially interested in other people’s lives. Even in her 90s, she loved to meet new people while still keeping up with all her old friends.
She was a very skilled needlewoman, creating works of art in knitting and needlepoint including a collection of over 100 three-dimensional Christmas tree ornaments that she stitched on extra fine mesh canvas and gave annually to her grandchildren over a period of 30 years. She was one of the stitchers on the 1976 “Freedom Trail Tapestry” (her panel was Fanueil Hall) that was gifted to the Massachusetts State House in Boston during the Bicentennial. She was an avid card and cribbage player who was famous for not letting her daughters or grandchildren beat her, even when they were very young. She loved to walk, even into her nineties, and was often observed on the Brook Path in Wellesley, or raking her own leaves. She was also an enthusiastic member of Bitsy Graham’s exercise class at the Wellesley recreation department for almost 30 years.
She is survived by her two daughters: Ann Rappaport of Wayland, MA and Janet Krolman of Alberta and Nova Scotia, Canada; two sons-in-law: Carey Rappaport and Arthur Krolman; four grandchildren: Sarah Rappaport (Spencer Gellman) of Wellesley, MA; Brian Rappaport (Anuththari Gamage) of Somerville, MA; Douglas Krolman (Lauren Moretto) of San Francisco, CA and Tess Krolman of Calgary, Alberta; and she eagerly welcomed a great-grandson, Sebastian Gellman, in late July. In lieu of flowers, donations may be made in memory of Barbara to the Wellesley Council on Aging (https://www.wellesleyfriendscoa.org/donate) or to the Queens General Hospital Foundation in Nova Scotia (https://www.qghfoundation.ca)
