Adventures in the old, white station wagon
Published June 3, 2020
LYNNFIELD — Gladys M. Carter (MacDougall) of Lynnfield and Barrington, New Hampshire, formerly of Marco Island, Florida, passed away on May 23, 2020 of complications of the COVID-19 virus.
Gladys was the daughter of Loney and Bertha (Kempton) MacDougall and the sister of Dorothy Stevens. She was the beloved wife of the late John F. Carter, with whom she shared 64 happy years of marriage. She was the loving mother of Faith Honer-Coakley of Lynnfield; Carol Bartlett of Lynnfield; Paula J. Davis of Georgia; and the late Joy F. Smith of New York. She was the cherished grandmother of John Carl, Rebecca, Lisa, Emily, John Francis, Sarah, Christopher and Karen and great-grandmother to 18.
Gladys moved to Lynnfield as a girl and graduated from Wakefield High School. Her father was the manager of the Walker Orchard, now Glen Meadow. As a teenager, she worked at the farm stand selling cider and apples at Gerry Cider Mill. Following his return from a Navy deployment to the Pacific during World War II on the USS Grasp, she married her sweetheart, John.
Gladys and John raised their four girls at their Ledge Road home. There were many family adventures in the old, white station wagon to Nova Scotia, Florida, Niagra Falls, Virginia Beach, camping in New Hampshire and boating out of Essex.
As the girls became more independent, Gladys increasingly pursued her love of art and painting under the tutelage of Phil Perkins, Helen Van Wyk, Robert Benham and Mildred Horton. She enjoyed working in both oils and acrylics to paint landscapes, seascapes and still life. Her special love was florals, particularly freshly picked bouquets from her own garden, enhanced by placement in heirloom vases. She has widely displayed her work in Art Guild shows, local banks, hospitals and libraries, both locally and on Marco Island, Florida. She could never pass a lovely garden of flowers without feeling the inspiration to capture those flowers on canvas.
When her girls went off to college, Gladys became the activities director for the Historic Danforth House and the Arnold House of Stoneham, while still finding time to pursue her love of painting. In 1978, she and her husband purchased the Lynnfield West Peabody Shoppers’ News, embarking on a new career in the newspaper publishing business. The paper grew rapidly under their leadership and they started a weekly newspaper in Wakefield as well. In the same time frame, Gladys was appointed to the Lynnfield Historical Commission, where she saw it as her mission to make copies of important Lynnfield photographs to preserve for the future. Several historically minded “townies” like Archie Hayward and Warren Falls came to the paper to have her copy their photographs for the Commission.
The Lynnfield Publishing Company was sold in 1986 and the Carters began spending winters on Marco Island, where they made many wonderful friends boating, golfing and playing bridge. They would summer in Barrington, New Hampshire at Mendum’s Lake, where precious memories were made with family and friends. They returned to Lynnfield in 2009 to be closer to their children and grandchildren. John passed away in 2011, but Gladys enjoyed her later years spending time with her children, grandchildren and great-children, visiting her lake house and working in the gardens whenever she could. She was greatly loved by all her family and friends who will celebrate her life properly when public events resume.
Arrangements were in the care of the McDonald Funeral Home, Wakefield.
