A memorial service will be held Friday (May 24) at 2pm in the Storey Chapel at Mt. Auburn Cemetery, Cambridge, for Peggy Lamson of Cambridge, an essayist, playwright and biographer and wife of the late Professor Roy Lamson of MIT. She died May 11 at the age of 84.
Mrs. Lamson, who was well known in the MIT community, "loved MIT," as did her husband, said their daughter, Patricia Chute of Cambridge.
Roy Lamson taught at Williams College for many years before coming to MIT in 1957 as a professor of literature. He championed the arts and humanities at MIT, created Course 21, then called the Humanities and Science and Humanities and Technology programs, and was a founding member of the Council for the Arts. He retired in 1973 but remained active at the Institute. Many remember him for his interest in military history and as a talented clarinetist who greatly enjoyed playing with faculty jazz ensembles. He died in 1986.
Peggy (Friedlander) Lamson's career as a writer included biographies of Roger Baldwin, founder of the American Civil Liberties Union, and economist John Kenneth Galbraith-Roger Baldwin, a Portrait, published 1976, and Speaking of Galbraith, published in 1991.
She was born in Cincinnati and attended both Wheaton College and the University of Cincinnati, but "hated it," she once told a Boston Globe reporter. But her life was destined to be spent on college campuses with her husband.
While at Williams, she began writing teleplays. "It was the best medium," she told the Globe, "because my ideas seem to be about one hour." She also wrote a novel, The Charm Circle, based loosely on fraternity life at the college.
Her other books included The Glorious Failure: Black Congressman Robert Brown Elliott and the Reconstruction in South Carolina, which was her own favorite, according to her daughter; Few Are Chosen: American Women in Public Life Today, an examination of 10 women holding public office in 1968 in the early days of the women's movement; and In the Vanguard, a collection of profiles of women in public office published 10 years later.
She frequently contributed book reviews and essays to the Globe. These included a series on hitting, pitching and other aspects of baseball, published in the Globe's sports pages and reflecting her avid interest in the game.
Besides her daughter, she leaves a son, David H. Lamson of Duxbury; six grandchildren, and two great-grandchildren.
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Other obituaries
PETER D. GELLATLY
A funeral service will be held today (Wednesday. May 22) at 11am in the Church of St. John the Evangelist in Hingham for Peter D. Gellatly, 67, associate publisher of Technology Review, who died on May 18.
A graduate of Brown University, Mr. Gellatly had been associated with Technology Review since 1979. He had previously worked for both Newsweek and the Saturday Evening Post and had been an independent marketing consultant in the magazine publishing field.
He is survived by his wife Constance (Wigmore) Gellatly; two sons, Peter D. Jr. of Honolulu and David D. Gallatly of Chapel Hill, NC; three daughters, Lisa G. Terfehr of Stamford, CT, Wendy G. Love of Hull and Sarah G. O'Rourke of Rockland, six stepdaughters and 16 grandchildren.
Memorial contributions may be sent to the South Shore Visiting Nurse Association, 100 Bay State Road, Braintree 02184, or the American Cancer Society, 294 Pleasant St., Stoughton 02072.
BRENDA K. PARSONS
A Mass of Christian Burial was held in the MIT Chapel for Brenda K. Parsons, 44, of Cambridge, who died on May 9 following a long illness. Ms. Parsons was an administrative assistant in the Center for Space Research until she became ill. She had worked at MIT since 1979. She is survived by her mother, Mary Parsons, and a sister, Sherry E. Moore of Boston. Remembrances may be sent to the Massachusetts SPCA, 350 South Huntington Ave., Boston 02130.
A version of this article appeared in MIT Tech Talk on May 22, 1996.
