David H. Wallace, 82, passed away at his Wellesley home on Nov. 25. According to his obituary, this Harvard and MIT grad worked at Lincoln Labs developing food technologies for NASA and worked on genomics research while at New England Biolabs.

He was known to bike all the way from Wellesley to Ipswich to get to work, and to walk all over Wellesley. His contributions to Wellesley included co-founding the Farmers’ Market, and volunteering at the Recycling & Disposal Facility and Wellesley Free Library.

I had the pleasure of meeting longtime Wellesley resident Stan Pratt, who died this week, while serving on the Wellesley Historical Society board. Stan always approached me before meetings to introduce (or re-introduce) himself and share a few pleasantries.

I was pretty steeped in reporting on the world of venture-backed technology companies at the time, and I could see that Stan had a sharp financial mind from his comments during our board meetings. But I didn’t have a full appreciation for his role in the venture and private equity fields until the Society honored him and his family back in 2014. That’s when the history started to roll out.

According to Stanley Edward Pratt’s obituary, he was inducted into the Private Equity Hall of Fame for his venture capital efforts. He published a trade publication called Venture Economics Journal, and published several books about the industry as well.

A veteran of the Korean War, his career included jobs at companies like W.E. Hutton & Co., as well as several startups. He co-founded Abbott Capital management, and not by chance, his family for generations has owned one of Wellesley’s truly special homes on Abbott Road that has been opened to the public for Historical Society and other events over the years.

Stan Pratt leaves his wife Maryanne “Burkey” Pratt, his children, and grandchildren.

A memorial service will be held on Friday, Jan. 10, 2020 at 10am at the Wellesley Hills Congregational Church with luncheon to follow at Wellesley Country Club.

We pass along our condolences to family and friends.

With Wellesley seemingly becoming a more transient community (get the kids into the school system, move on once they’re out), it’s hard to imagine a time down the road where you will read many obituaries that include a line like this: “Daughter of Italian immigrants, Dora lived in the same Wellesley home her entire life…”

Dora (Dischino) Carter passed away on Nov. 18, surrounded by family, and services were held earlier this week. Her husband, Paul Carter, passed away in May.

The Wellesley native’s remembrance refers to past Wellesley businesses that many of us newer-comers wouldn’t otherwise know of. She ran a “hairdressing shop” called The Duet, and her father owned a restaurant in town called “Hole in the Wall” that the entire family worked at. Hard to envision a business called “Hole in the Wall” here today, or any of the salons in town being called a hairdressing shop.

The Carters continued to make their presence felt in town long after these businesses closed.  Wellesley resident Julie Koeninger tells us that the Carters were the kind of neighbors you want, relaying stories about Paul picking up leaves and shoveling snow for newcomers, and Dora hosting kids, grandkids and great grandkids on Monday nights, baking up a storm along the way.

We pass along our condolences to family and friends.

Wellesley this past month lost one of its stalwart town contributors: Sue Wright.

The former Town Meeting, Advisory Committee, Planning Board and Community Preservation Committee member passed away at the age of 72. Wright dug into town government following a career in nursing.

Fittingly, a leaflet distributed at a memorial service for Wright featured a “Citizens Speak” section, just as so many town meetings do.

Mary Bowers, a Wellesley resident, commented on our Facebook page: “She was a remarkable woman, friend and it was such a wonderful tribute from our residents at the service last Saturday. A huge loss for Wellesley!”

We extend our condolences to her family and friends.

Read more about Sue Wright’s life in this obituary.

We were saddened to read this week that Annie (McNamara) Evans, who grew up in Wellesley, had passed away at the age of 29 this past week of complications from Acute Myeloid Leukemia. Among her accomplishments: She played hockey for a championship Wellesley High team, worked for an oyster company with Wellesley roots, and got married, and lived in Boston.

While we didn’t know Annie well, we had been in touch with her 2 years ago as she was readying to share her story at a Dana-Farber gala. The hopeful young woman described herself as “super lucky” for finding a bone marrow match with one of her sisters.

You can read more about Annie’s life here.

A Mass of Christian Burial will be celebrated at St. John the Evangelist Church on Monday, Nov. 11 at 10:00am. A visitation will take place at George F. Doherty & Sons Funeral Home, 477 Washington St. (Rt.16), Wellesley from 2pm to 7pm on Sunday, Nov. 10.

In lieu of flowers, gifts may be made in memory of Annie to support: Dr. Robert Soiffer’s AML Research Fund at Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, P.O. Box 849168, Boston, MA 02284.

We share our condolences with family and friends.