Deborah Vose Cary

Deborah Vose Cary, adoring wife of Richard E. Cary, passed away on Friday, November 16, 2012. She was born to Stafford Johnson and Catherine Tyler Johnson on October 1, 1932, and lived most of her youth in Cambridge, MA. Debby summered all her life and eventually moved year ‘round to Tuftonboro, NH. Her grandfather, head of the Math Department at MIT, originally bought land in Tuftonboro on Lake Winnepesaukee in 1907 and built a summer camp. Additional camps were added over time and one was replaced by a winterized home, designed by her architect husband, Dick, in 1988, to which they retired. Debby attended the Shady Hill and Buckingham Schools in Cambridge, and spent three years at Oberlin College where she met Dick. They moved to Minneapolis and attended the University of Minnesota, where Debby graduated with a degree in Psychology, Magna Cum Laude in 1955. She later obtained a Masters in Education from Lesley College. Debby married Dick in 1954 in Cambridge, and they raised their three children from their home base in Winchester, MA. Debby worked as a school psychologist in several of the metropolitan Boston public school systems over time, and was very committed to children with special needs. She served on the Board of Directors of the Middlesex County Mental Health Association. Travel was a significant part of Debby’s life and, in addition to many trips to Europe, North Africa, Asia and the Middle East, she lived abroad for extended periods. She and Dick moved with their very young children to Switzerland for a year. Later they served as Peace Corps volunteers for two years in Tunisia as a family. Debby was then asked to start a new school in Kuwait for learning disabled children. She spent one year at the school and a second year working with a museum of traditional Bedouin weaving. Following the time in Kuwait, she and Dick retired to Tuftonboro. Debby was then able to dedicate more time to her weaving and she was very accomplished in her craft. She worked through the Boston Design Center on commissioned projects, and sold many of her works through the shops of the League of New Hampshire Craftsmen. Her specialties were dyeing her own wool and then creating rugs, jackets, scarves and pillows. She was a juried member of the League of New Hampshire Craftsmen and juried new applicants along with teaching many workshops. She was on the Board of the Weavers’ Guild of Boston and was active in the New Hampshire Weavers’ Guild. Debby was also on the Board of the Governor Wentworth Art Association. Playing the recorder was another love of Debby’s and she participated in small musical groups over many years. Debby was an active member of the Unitarian Universalist Fellowship of the Eastern Slopes. She loved the community and the bonds she found there. In addition to her husband, Debby leaves her sister and brother-in-law, Anne B. and Jack Minkoff; her daughters, Alison Cary Almquist and Leslie E. Cary; her son and daughter-in-law, John O. and Helen E. Cary, as well as grandchildren R. Philip Almquist, Carolyn C. Almquist, Jamison R. Cary, Meghan E. Cary, and many other beloved family members and friends.