Louis Carter Coolidge

Other Events and Attributes:

• History: According to his obituary, "He grew up in Petersham in the 1950's and 1960's. He was raised on the Carter Hill Farm. There he gained his life-long love of the outdoors and the environment. He also learned the virtues of hard work and determination, which formed the core of his New England Yankee spirit. He was a 1970 graduate of Mahar Regional High School in Orange where he was active in school politics, athletics, and the outstanding music program there in the late 1960's. Coolidge earned a bachelor of arts degree in history from Carleton College in Northfield, Minn., in 1974. From 1979 to 1983 he lived in Boston where he earned his law degree from Suffolk University Law School. Immediately following graduation from law school, he went to work at the Massachusetts State House where he served as Special Council to the Special Committee on Comparable Work, a select senate committee looking at issues of equal pay for equal work that were being explored in the 1980's. It was during his time in Boston that he met his future wife, Christina. They were married in 1985. Coolidge left the State House and began the full-time practice of law in Fitchburg. He moved to New Salem and opened a law office in Orange. In 1989, the Coolidge's adopted their three children from Costa Rica. After a time, he gave up his primary law practice to focus on family and public service, although he did continue providing legal counsel on a pro bono basis. He served two terms as selectman in New Salem, from 1986-1988 and again from 2002 to the present. He was a member of the New Salem School Committee from 1990 to the present and was a past chair of that committee. He was also a member of the Erving Elementary Union 28 School Committee, which he chaired for ten years in the 1990's. Coolidge was on the boards of directors of the Franklin County Regional Housing Authority and the Regionalization Study Committee, and he was the New Salem representative to the Franklin County Rural Transit Authority. He was passionate in his commitment to mental health services and served as a board member of Clinical and Support Options Inc. in Greenfield and the United ARC of Franklin and Hampshire Counties. He and his family were actively involved with the Special Olympics. He was a percussionist known to musical audiences throughout central Massachusetts. He was a member of the Orange Community Band, the Petersham Brass Band, the Ashby Band, the Narragansett Community Band, and several other musical groups. He was well known for his entertaining use of unusual percussion instruments and humorous props in the back of the band. He was also an amateur actor having appeared in plays in high school and then again in summer musicals at the Theater at the Mount in Gardner."

John married Christina Nell Lambert [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Other Events and Attributes:

• History: Horace graduated from Petersham High School in June. According to his obituary, "He was attending Northeastern University when he entered the service during World War II. He served in the United States Army Air Corps and earned a certificate in topographical cartography from Franklin Technical Institute before deploying to Europe. He joined the 9th Engineer Command and served in England, France, Belgium, Luxembourg, and Germany. Upon returning from the service he returned to Northeastern University and earned a degree in Mechanical Engineering, graduating with honors in 1951. He was a member of Tau Beta Pi and Pi Tau Sigma Honor Societies for excellence in engineering. Mr. Coolidge was employed at the Rodney Hunt Company for 35 years as a Mechanical Engineer, he retired in 1987. He was a charter member of the Petersham American Legion Post 415, a member of the First Congregational Parish Unitarian Church, a member of the American Society of Mechanical Engineers and a Licensed Professional Engineer. Mr. Coolidge's service to his church included work on the Parish, Finance, Canvas, and Buildings and Grounds committees. He worked on many projects including ministerial searches, and the annual Levee. He was active on numerous town committees including the finance committee, planning board, town hall building committee and was a corporator of the Petersham Memorial Library.?
• Census: 1930, Petersham, Worcester County, Massachusetts; He was recorded, age 5, while living with his parents.
• Census: 1940, Petersham, Worcester County, Massachusetts; He was recorded, age 15, while living with his parents.
• Military: 12 Mar 1943 to 18 Nov 1945; He was in the Army Air Corp.
• Residence: 1996, Petersham, Worcester County, Massachusetts
• Residence: 23 Jan 2004, Petersham, Worcester County, Massachusetts
• Residence: 2010, Petersham, Worcester County, Massachusetts

Notes:

Name:

Horace married Doris Hildergard Nelson on 17 Jul 1948 in Petersham, Worcester County, Massachusetts. Doris (daughter of John Carlson Nelson and Ebba H. Neyland) was born on 15 Apr 1928 in Worcester, Worcester County, Massachusetts; died on 7 Apr 2012 in Worcester, Worcester County, Massachusetts; was buried in East Street Cemetery, Petersham, Worcester County, Massachusetts. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Other Events and Attributes:

• History: According to her obituary, "As a very young child, Mrs. Coolidge's parents separated, and she grew up in Worcester with her mother and grandmother on Balder Road in the heart of Worcester's Swedish district. Her grandmother had emigrated from Sweden, and Mrs. Coolidge was raised in a loving household full of Swedish language and culture. Her mother remarried and they moved to Petersham when she was age 7. She was adopted by her new father, John Carroll Nelson of Petersham whom she loved and called father the rest of her life. Mrs. Coolidge was graduated from Petersham High School with the Class of 1946. She was an excellent student and a gifted pianist. She was admitted to the New England Conservatory of Music in 1946 where she studied piano and counterpoint with Warren Storey Smith. She also worked in the school's administration office where she supported several faculty members and conductors including the late Arthur Fiedler. In 1948, Mrs. Coolidge married the late Horace O. Coolidge, Jr. also of Petersham. They lived in Concord where she worked at a local life insurance company while her husband completed his college studies at Northeastern University. In 1951, they moved to Carter Hill Farm in Petersham where they spent the next several years rebuilding the farm house and starting a family. Mrs. Coolidge went on to become a highly regarded teacher's aide in the Petersham Center School focusing on special needs children. She was an avid reader who never stopped learning. She was a strong, independent woman who enjoyed gardening, walking in the woods, and caring for her family and friends. Even after the death of her husband in 2010, she continued to live independently on her hilltop farm. Late in her life she learned that her biological father had remarried and that she had two half-sisters living nearby. One of her half-sisters found her and made the first connection. Her life was blessed to have had the love and friendship from her two half-sisters for the last decade of her life. Mrs. Coolidge was a devoted member of her church where she served on many committees throughout her entire life. As a young woman she was instrumental in developing a religious education program at the church. She was a trustee of the Petersham Memorial Library, and was very knowledgeable about both family and local history, serving as a member of the Beverly Historical Society and as a member and volunteer docent of the Petersham Historical Society."
• Census: 1940, Petersham, Worcester County, Massachusetts; She was recorded while living with her parents.; : 11
• Residence: 1996, Petersham, Worcester County, Massachusetts

Other Events and Attributes:

• Census: 1900, Wellesley, Norfolk County, Massachusetts; He was recorded while living with his parents.; : 2
• Census: 1910, Wellesley, Norfolk County, Massachusetts; He was recorded while living with his parents.; : 13; Address:
  24 Bellair Avenue
• Education: 1916, Waterville, Kennebec County, Maine; He was studying Colby College
• Draft Registration: 3 Jun 1918, Wellesley, Norfolk County, Massachusetts; He registered for the draft; : 21; Address:
  4 Buch Road
• Census: 1920, Petersham, Worcester County, Massachusetts; He was a farmer on his own farm.; : 23; Address:
  Templeton Road
• Census: 1930, Petersham, Worcester County, Massachusetts; He is listed as a farmer.; : 33; Address:
  Phillipston Road
• Census: 1940, Petersham, Worcester County, Massachusetts; He is listed as a farmer.; : 43; Address:
  Phillipston Road
• Draft Registration: 1942, Petersham, Worcester County, Massachusetts; He registered for the draft; : 46
• Obituary: 6 Aug 1955
• Last Full Review: 7 Feb 2021

Horace married Ruth Miranda Amsden on 15 Jun 1918 in Wellesley, Norfolk County, Massachusetts. Ruth (daughter of Albert Vaughn Amsden and Lydia Augusta Gould) was born on 5 Jul 1896 in Petersham, Worcester County, Massachusetts; died on 23 Jun 1988 in Rutland, Worcester County, Massachusetts; was buried in East Street Cemetery, Petersham, Worcester County, Massachusetts. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Other Events and Attributes:

• Census: 1900, Petersham, Worcester County, Massachusetts; She was recorded while living with her father and two sisters.; : 3; Address:
  South East Street
• Census: 1910, Petersham, Worcester County, Massachusetts; She was recorded as a border, along with her two sisters, with Frederick and Effie Barnes.; : 14
• Graduation: 1914, Petersham, Worcester County, Massachusetts; Ruth graduated from Petersham High School.
• Graduation: 1918, Boston, Suffolk County, Massachusetts; She graduated from Simmons College with a MA in Chemistry.
• Census: 1920, Petersham, Worcester County, Massachusetts; : 23; Address:
  Templeton Road
• Census: 1930, Petersham, Worcester County, Massachusetts; : 33; Address:
  Phillipston Road
• Census: 1940, Petersham, Worcester County, Massachusetts; : 43; Address:
  Phillipston Road
• Residence: 1988, Rutland, Worcester County, Massachusetts
• Last Full Review: 7 Feb 2021

Other Events and Attributes:

• Census: 1940, Petersham, Worcester County, Massachusetts; He was listed as the district representative for the electric light company.; : 42

John married Ebba H. Neyland on Yes, date unknown. Ebba was born about 1907 in Massachusetts. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Other Events and Attributes:

• Census: 1940, Petersham, Worcester County, Massachusetts; : 33