Shirley Marryat Marden of Wellesley and Brewster, MA, passed away at home peacefully on Tuesday, November 7, 2023 at the age of 96.

Born May 8, 1927 in Somerville, MA, she was the daughter of the late Mona Morash Marryat and the late Albert Marryat, both originally from Nova Scotia, Canada. Raised in Somerville, Massachusetts, Shirley graduated with honors from Somerville High School and Katharine Gibbs.

While at her first job with the Atwell Company, Shirley met her future husband, Keith, staying connected until Keith returned from his U.S. Navy service. In 1959, Shirley and Keith moved to Wellesley to raise their family. Shirley found great satisfaction in supporting Keith with his family business, Captain Marden’s Seafood. She was an active member of the Wellesley community volunteering for many groups in town. Shirley was especially fond of her membership in the House and Garden Club, Gains Investment Club, Wellesley Country Club and Eastward Ho! She had a wide circle of friends and a passion for entertaining. She loved to look at the ocean from her home in Brewster but nothing made her happier than when she was surrounded by family and friends. Everyone that knew and loved “HoHo” also knew all about her beloved grandchildren, as well as her pride and love for her own children.

Shirley leaves her husband of 70 years, Keith; son Kim (Valerie) of Dover; daughter, Nancy (Peter) of Dover; grandchildren, Devon, Hillary and Ryan Goodall, all of Boston, Roy Marden and Caroline Marden of Boston, Andrew Marden and Emma Marden of Dover; brother, Earl Marryat (Bonnie) of Barnstable; and nephews, Richard Marden, Alan and Glenn Marryat.

A Memorial Service will be held on Wednesday, November 15th, at 2 pm at the Wellesley Hills Congregational Church. In lieu of flowers, donations may be made in Shirley’s memory to the Church for the music ministry. For online guestbook, visit George F. Doherty & Sons of Wellesley (781 235 4100).

Let the Wellesley community know of your remembrances at theswellesleyreport@gmail.com

Martha Frances Cunningham (nee Wadden), 85, of Wellesley, was peacefully called to rest on August 17, 2023. Martha was born on November 13, 1937, in Cambridge and was the beloved daughter of the late Albert and Helen Wadden.

Martha is survived by her four loving children, Wayne and Robin Cunningham of Natick, MA; Deborah and James Ordway of Standish, ME; Terrence and Megan Cunningham of Alexandria, VA; Christopher and Terese Cunningham of Holliston, MA, as well as ten immediate and step-grandchildren. Martha also has several great-grandchildren. She was preceded in death by her cherished grandson.

Martha was a warm and compassionate woman who loved spending time in Maine. She was an active member of various organizations, including the Philanthropic Education Organization (PEO) and several quilting clubs. Martha won many awards for her beautiful quilts. She found great joy in these hobbies, which allowed her to connect with others and express her creativity.

To honor Martha’s life, there will be a small family service. The details of the ceremony will be shared privately with the family.

In lieu of flowers, contributions can be made to the Alzheimer's Association or Care Dimensions, 75 Sylvan St. Danvers, MA 01923.

Martha Cunningham will be deeply missed by her family and friends. Her memory will forever be treasured, and her legacy will continue to inspire those who knew her.

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Richard S. McGhee, Jr., a longtime Wellesley resident and founding co-chair of the World of Wellesley organization, passed away on July 29 at the age of 92. He is survived by his wife, Charlotte, and his two children.

Mr. McGhee was a veteran of the U.S. Marine Corps during the Korean War, and was active in the civil rights movement in Detroit in the 1950s and 1960s.  He came east as an organizer for Americans for Democratic Action, and worked with federal and state organizations on diversity, equity and inclusion programs.

You can read his complete obituary online.

In Wellesley, Mr. McGhee was a longtime board member of the Wellesley Cable Access Corp., and hosted a program called The Learning Tree on which he interviewed guests. Mr. McGhee stepped down from his role at World of Wellesley in 2012 and was the subject of a Wellesley Townsman interview.

In 2020, he spoke about the history of World of Wellesley on the occasion of its 30th anniversary, as seen below.

We share our condolences with Mr. McGhee’s family and friends.

We welcome your obituaries and remembrances to post on Swellesley: theswellesleyreport@gmail.com

The Wellesley Department of Public Works is mourning the loss of Paul DePhillips, who died on July 9 after a year-plus battle with cancer. He had been the assistant superintendent of the Park & Tree Division.

DPW Director David Cohen shared the sad news about DePhillips, who died at the age of 55, during the last Select Board and Board of Public Works meetings. Cohen credited DePhillips that the great strides Wellesley’s DPW has made in transitioning to electric-powered equipment to cut down on noise and carbon emissions. DePhillips worked through much of his sickness.

A Service of Celebration will be held on July 29 at 11am at the Wellesley Hills Congregational Church, located at 207 Washington St. Following the service, there will be a reception at Exhibit ‘A’ Brewery, located at 81 Morton St., Framingham.

We welcome your obituaries and remembrances to post on Swellesley: theswellesleyreport@gmail.com

Marguerite Helen Velte Hasbrouck — some family and friends knew her as Marguerite Helen, others as Mugs — died June 4, 2023, at the nursing home in Newton where she had been in hospice care since August 2021.

Marguerite was born in Lahore, Punjab (today Pakistan), where her father was a professor at Forman Christian College. When she was three years old, her parents brought her back to the U.S. in search of better treatment for tuberculosis and osteomyelitis in her legs. A year later, she was told she should give up hope of walking unaided. “That’s what you think”, she told the doctor, sticking out her tongue at him. She cast off her leg braces and crutches, became a strong walker, swimmer, and paddler, and continued to delight in defying anyone who underestimated her strength, endurance — or wit.

Due to her illness, she didn’t start formal schooling until eighth grade, but graduated from high school at sixteen and went on to earn a degree in comparative government and religion at Barnard College.

Marguerite moved to Wellesley in 1959 and lived in Wellesley Fells and much later at the Phillips Park apartments. Her three children – “each very different, and each of whom I helped to be their different selves”, she would say proudly – all graduated from Wellesley High School.

As co-chair of the Bates School PTA, Marguerite co-founded the Bates Pumpkin Festival, which became an annual town institution that has continued for more than fifty years. After getting involved in Wellesley town politics through the League of Women Voters, she served as an elected member of the Town Meeting and the School Committee and an appointed member of the Advisory Committee.

Marguerite worked at a variety of administrative, editorial, and legal jobs including at Wellesley College, where her role included representing the college to the Wellesley Chamber of Commerce. In 1987, as administrator of the Arlington Street Church in Boston, she testified at a Congressional hearing on break-ins at churches that offered sanctuary to refugees from U.S. wars in Central America. She spent the last decade before her retirement as a paralegal at the Nature Conservancy, where she took special joy in being able to help protect the place she felt most at home, Lake George in the Adirondacks. She most wanted to be thought of as a writer and a musician. She studied the piano and organ, sang in choirs and choruses, and served on the board of the Old West Organ Society.

Marguerite was a member of the Wellesley Friends Meeting (Quakers) and a regular attender for almost thirty years of the Friends Meeting at the Mass. Correctional Institution at Norfolk, which she had helped organize in response to a request from one of the incarcerated men. She was one of the founders of the Mass. Criminal Justice Policy Coalition, facilitated Alternatives to Violence Project workshops at prisons throughout New England, and received a lifetime achievement award from the Mass. Department of Correction for her volunteer work.

Marguerite was active in Quaker witness for peace and social justice, including as clerk of several committees of the Wellesley Friends Meeting and the New England Yearly Meeting of Friends, as a contributor to “Peacework” magazine and a volunteer at the New England office of the American Friends Service Committee (AFSC), and as a member of the national board of directors of the AFSC.

As a legal worker, Marguerite served on the board of the Mass. Chapter of the National Lawyers Guild (NLG) and worked as a volunteer with the NLG Military Law Task Force and the GI Rights Hotline.

Marguerite is survived by her partner of more than 30 years, James C. Casteris of P.O. Box 783, Winterport, ME 04496, and his family, son Robert D. Hasbrouck of Boxborough, daughter Dorothy J. H. McDonald and son-in-law Bob McDonald of Sudbury, son Edward J. Hasbrouck and daughter-in-law Ruth Radetsky of San Francisco, grandson Kyle A. H. McDonald of Concord, NH, and sister Lois Carstens of West Brandywine, PA, in addition to cousins, nieces, nephews, and many friends.

Marguerite willed her body to medical teaching and research through the Tufts Anatomical Gift Program. A memorial meeting in the manner of Friends (Quakers) will be held under the care of the Wellesley Friends Meeting at a date to be determined, in person in Wellesley and online.

Donations in Marguerite’s memory may be made to the AFSC.

We welcome your obituaries and remembrances to post on Swellesley: theswellesleyreport@gmail.com