Clare (MacPherson) Peters of Needham, formerly of Wellesley, died peacefully in her sleep at the age of 103 on March 31, 2021. Beloved wife of the late Carey M. Peters and devoted mother of Mark Peters and his wife Pauline of Cambridge and of David W. Peters and his wife Mary Lou of Windsor, CT, she is also survived by her grandson Zachary Peters and her granddaughter, Sr. Sophia Peters,FSE, her step-grandson Lukyn Phipps predeceased her. Four great grandchildren and three step-great grandchildren also survive her.
Clare was born in Quincy, on March 16, 1918, to Antonia (Picard) and William MacPherson. Only a few weeks after her birth, her father died in the Spanish flu epidemic. Raised by her mother, she grew up in Braintree in a large, happily mixed clan of Picards and MacPhersons. She attended Simmons College in the class of 1939 and graduated that year with a bachelor of science degree. She married in 1942 and then spent the war years in Washington, DC, where Carey, a doctor, was stationed in the Army at what was then the Walter Reed General Hospital. After the war, they returned to Boston, where Carey opened a medical practice. They lived first in Newton, where she and Carey raised their family, and then, as empty-nesters, they moved to Wellesley, which remained their home for the next forty years. They also maintained a home in Canaan, NH, which served them and their children as a base from which to explore the White Mountains and, in their later years, as a summer retirement home.
Clare was a gregarious and engaging woman whose obvious happiness, openness and curiosity attracted large circles of friends which she retained for years in remarkable numbers, some from her college days, others from Newton and yet others from Wellesley and Canaan. But her friendships were global in their reach. She and Carey traveled extensively, and she gathered new friends wherever they spent time—in the UK, on the Continent and in some corners of Africa. Yet her most constant love was her family, every member of every generation. Her optimistic happiness, her laughter, her affectionate presence and encouragement, and the stories that she drew from her impeccable memory of a life that was extraordinarily varied and interesting will be missed by everyone who had the good fortune to know her.
A Mass of Christian burial will be celebrated for Clare at 10 A.M., Saturday, April 17, 2021, at St. Paul’s Church, 502 Washington Street, Wellesley. Burial will be private. Expressions of sympathy may be made in Clare’s name to the Hospice of the Good Shepherd, 160 Wells Ave., Newton, MA 02459; to the Franciscan Sisters of the Eucharist, 405 Allen Ave., Meriden, CT 06451; or to the Home for Little Wanderers, 10 Guest St. Boston, MA 02135.