Enjoyed a full and active life and known for her warmth and optimism
WAKEFIELD — Alwyn Florence (Taggart) Van Cor, age 100, a longtime Wakefield resident, concluded an admirable and active life and passed away peacefully on October 17, 2022.
She was born at home on October 2, 1922, in Malden and was the daughter of Frederick James Taggart and Margaret Maunder Curtis Taggart. She was the wife of the late Wallace Irving Van Cor.
She was raised in Melrose and was a 1941 graduate of Melrose High School. Following graduation, she attended the Pierce Secretarial School in Boston, and subsequently began her significant career as an executive secretary in Boston.
Mrs. Van Cor joined the Boston stock brokerage of Whiting, Weeks, and Stubs in the 1940’s, which later became F.S. Moseley and Company. That company continued to expand during her tenure there to finally become Moseley, Hallgarten, Estabrook, and Weeden, Inc. Mrs. Van Cor retired from the firm in 1981. Following her retirement, she continued with secretarial assignments in the Wakefield area for several years.
In 1957, she married Wallace Irving Van Cor, a World War II Silver Star recipient, of Melrose. That year she and her husband moved into their Wakefield residence, where she remained throughout her life until January of 2018, when she relocated to Brightview in Wakefield. She resided comfortably there until her recent death. She was predeceased by her beloved husband in 2006.
A member of the First Parish Congregational Church in Wakefield since 1958, she served on numerous committees and as a past Deaconess. Mrs. Van Cor was a past President of the Kosmos Club of Wakefield, past President of the Wakefield YMCA Auxiliary, and was a member of the Kappa Delta PSI of Melrose, the Wakefield Garden Club, and the Massachusetts Federation of Women’s Clubs. She was active in several bridge clubs.
Mrs. Van Cor enjoyed a full and active life, and in her youth pursued a vigorous game of tennis and a leisurely game of golf. She and her husband enjoyed downhill skiing on the mountains of Maine, New Hampshire, and Vermont. The couple also enjoyed frequently riding their Raleigh bicycles, and memorable times walking with their dog “BoBo” on the sandy beaches Drakes Island, Goose Rocks, and the Marginal Way in Ogunquit, Maine.
She was predeceased by her brother, Dermott Scott Taggart of Cape Elizabeth, Maine, her sister Barbara Taggart Spain of Rochester, N.Y., and her brother Donald Owen Scott Taggart of East Orleans on Cape Cod. She was predeceased by a nephew, and is survived by many beloved nieces and nephews, great nieces and nephews, and great-great nieces and nephews.
All relatives and friends are invited to a service of thankful celebration for a remarkable life, scheduled at the First Parish Congregational Church, 1 Church St. Wakefield on Tuesday, October 25 at 1 a.m. with a luncheon following immediately in the Parish Hall. Burial will be private at Lakeside Cemetery in Wakefield.
Mrs. Van Cor was recognized by all for her warmth, enthusiasm, optimism, and graciousness, and will be greatly missed by her many friends, relatives, neighbors, and all who were fortunate to have known her. “A gracious woman retaineth honor…” Proverbs 11:16
Services are in the care of the McDonald Funeral Home, Wakefield.
