Charlyn Lilyan Dudley Burton-Goldman passed away on Tuesday, November 27th at the age of 89. She had been living at Newbridge on the Charles in Dedham, MA.
Charlyn grew up with her father, mother and sister in various locations in New York, Newton, Brookline and Boston. She and her husband Henry Louis Burton moved to Dedham, MA. in the ‘50’s but she eventually called Coolidge Corner in Brookline, home. Sadly, Charlyn became a very young widow and mother at the age of 22. After graduating from Boston University as an undergrad in ‘71, she received her law degree from Suffolk University in 1975 at the age of 46. Officially, Charlyn was a real estate attorney, but unofficially, she was a political activist representing gay couples trying to buy homes together, lawyering for poor women in Walpole State Prison who hadn’t been given a fair deal and volunteered regularly at Rosie’s Place, a women’s shelter in Boston. She fought hard for Sen. Eugene McCarthy’s presidential campaign against the Vietnam War, marched on Washington and raised money for the Black Panther’s breakfast program. She was an amateur anthropologist, a lawyer, a social activist, a friend, a daughter, a sister, a wife (far too short) and a mother.
Charlyn is survived by her sister Joyce McDowell and brother-in-law, Ed McDowell of Kilauea, Hawaii, her daughter Pamela Burton, of Newton, MA. and her daughter Patricia Rigsby of Tampa, FL. A private service will be held in Truro on Cape Cod where her ashes will be scattered in the place she loved most in the world.
Donations may be made to Rosie’s Place in Charlyn’s name. www.rosiesplace.org.