Barbara (Bowles) Coolidge

COOLIDGE - Barbara (Bowles), of Walpole, formerly of Westwood and Brookline, died Feb. 11th, 2014, in her 87th year. Barbara was the eldest child of Chester Bowles and Julia Fisk. She was raised in New York City and in Essex, CT, and attended The Brearley School in Manhattan and Bennington College. She left college to marry Hamilton Coolidge of Brookline, and raise four children. B later completed her college degree in History at Simmons College. She was active in the League of Women Voters of Brookline, and worked as a librarian at the Park School in Brookline. She loved playing piano and sang for many years in several choral groups, including the Dedham Choral Society. She volunteered at the Boston Museum of Fine Arts where she worked for several years in the archives, and assisted with the annual "Arts in Bloom" exhibit. An enthusiastic gardener, she and her husband supported environmental and conservation causes, and in retirement they travelled widely with friends. Summers were spent with family and friends on Squam Lake, NH.  Along with her life-long engagement with the arts and culture, B took an interest in social issues and a number of charitable causes. She was a deeply caring and warm person, a consummate listener and a loyal friend. She was devoted to her extended family. She knitted for all her children and grandchildren, loved good books, music, and chocolate in all its forms.

She leaves Hamilton, her beloved husband of 65 years, her brother Chester Bowles, Jr., her half-sister Cynthia Bowles Aguilar, her half brothers Samuel Bowles and John F. Winchester, as well as her children: John Coolidge and his wife, Anne Richards of Hopkinton, Linda Coolidge and her husband Lawrence Berndt of Cornish, NH, Hope Coolidge and her husband Mark Brown of Sherborn, and Malcolm Coolidge of Doha, Qatar; her grandchildren, Nathan, Emily, Julia, Clayton, and Laura, and many nieces and nephews. She was pre-deceased by her half-sister Sarah Bowles.

Family and friends are invited to attend a Celebration of the Life of Barbara Bowles Coolidge on Saturday morning May 31st at 11:30am in the Story Chapel at Mount Auburn Cemetery, 580 Mount Auburn St., Cambridge.

In lieu of flowers, donations may be made to the Dedham Choral Society, PO Box 1338, Dedham MA 02027 or the Berkshire Choral Festival, 245 N. Undermountain Rd. Sheffield, MA 01257. The family plans a memorial celebration in the Spring.

Holden-Dunn-Lawler
www.hdlfuneralhome.net