CARLSON, Ivy Lederhos, age 100, passed away at North Hill, Pine Ridge Facility, in Needham, MA, on Tuesday, March 27, 2019. She was born in Boston, MA on June, 19, 1918. Ivy was the beloved wife of the late Frederick Roy Carlson, who was President of Mount Ida College in Newton, MA. and Flagler College in St Augustine, FL. She was the daughter of Susan Chapman and Adolph Lederhos growing up in Weston, MA at the Weston Dog Ranch a German Shepherd dog ranch on the North side of town. Ivy and Roy met at Weston High School, where she was known for her tap dancing and essays on English architecture (John Ruskin). She graduated from Simmons College in 1940 with a degree in business administration and owned her own antique store in Bridgton, Maine, “The Blue Moose,” for many years. Ivy assisted Roy in his activities at Mount Ida, starting one of the earliest non-segregated preschool reading summer camps, and decorating their 1703 farmhouse, “Boulder Farm,” in periodcorrect detail. She knew how to upholster and sew and recruited a group of lifelong friends who helped her in this work, making the house into a charming combination of livable comfort and vintage style. Both Ivy and Roy spent many summers in their home on Moose Pond in Denmark, Maine, which has now become a retreat of beauty and solace for extended family and friends. They pioneered the area and have made possible a fifth generation of continued ritual of going to the same lakeside retreat every summer. She knew how to have fun, how to enjoy life, how to laugh, and how to take charge. She always had a witty phrase or a funny directive about how to live your life. “I hope you are staying out of trouble” and “Save your money” were her constant refrains, two expressions perhaps gleaned from years spent during the Great Depression and WWII.
Ivy is survived by two sons, Frederick Roy Carlson, Jr., of Pacific Palisades, CA and William Dean Carlson, of Weston, MA and his wife, Hella Carlson. She also leaves four granddaughters, Elizabeth Green and her husband Joe, of Falls Church, VA; Christina Carlson and her husband Rafael Tello, of Arlington, MA; Kimberley Carlson and her husband, Tom Chang, of Mountain View, CA; and Caroline Balz and her husband Bill, of Weston, MA. Ivy had five great grandchildren: Mia and Ryan Green; Jasper Chang; and William and Charlies Balz.
Funeral services will be held at the Unitarian Universalist Society of Wellesley Hills, 309 Washington St., Wellesley Hills, MA 02481. Saturday, April 27, 2019, at 11 AM. In lieu of flowers, donations can be made to the Lakes Environmental Association in Bridgton, Maine. https://mainelakes.org/