Obituary of Arline Ripley Greenleaf

Arline Ripley Greenleaf died at the age of 93 on Sunday, March 25, 2018, at her daughter’s home in Rockport, Maine. She was born in Boston in 1924 and had a happy childhood in Dedham and Hingham, Massachusetts, as, she recalls, “the lovingly spoiled only child of my wonderful parents,” Dorothy Ayres and Walter Joseph Ripley, Jr. Arline was a lover of words and a winner of spelling bees. She wrote many a wry and witty limerick. Over and over, she read Chaucer, Keats, Millay, E.B. White, Margaret Fishback, and Louisa May Alcott, leaving marginalia on every page. She cherished her 26 years of sharing literature with third- and fifth-graders at Milton Academy in Massachusetts and visited England many times to take courses in culture and literature. She adored big band tunes, coffee ice cream, Moxie, and a drink called a Punk Monk, but did not like chocolate and hated broccoli. She treasured memories of canoeing and swimming as a young girl at Camp Quinibeck in Ely, Vermont, and the many camp songs she shared as lullabies for her daughters they sang to her in her final hours. She often told stories of joining her father at the piano to sing tunes with her friends, and of days at Smith College. Entering at the age of 16 and graduating in 1945, she majored in English and had planned to study in Paris during her junior year but that plan was thwarted because, as she often explained, “Hitler got there first.” Arline had a great compassion for animals and in recent months dreamt of building shelters for them. She practiced kindness and gratitude every day as a matter of character and habit, always expressing thanks even as old age and creaky knees brought her great pain. In addition to guiding her many students, she was an informal counselor to many, both young and old, infusing those she encountered with a sense of the possible and helping them find their way in life. A night owl, Arline usually stayed up reading and was always available for telephone chats with anyone who couldn’t sleep. She brought out the best in everyone she met, just by being herself. Arline enjoyed telling stories of her three husbands. The first, Bancroft Bisbee, her Dedham High School sweetheart, died tragically in 1953 after serving in World War II as an Army medic with the 10th Mountain Division, known as the Ski Troops. With her second husband, John Sylvester McFarland, a French teacher and dorm master at Milton Academy, Arline enjoyed adventuring and the life of the mind. With Dr. Henry McClellan Greenleaf, she raised two daughters, Rebecca and Ann, in Milton and with magical summers in Duxbury, Massachusetts. She moved to Maine to be near both her daughters and grandsons and resided at Quarry Hill, where amazing deliveries from French and Brawn Marketplace allowed her to live independently for 14 years. But, she never felt like a Mainer and proudly displayed her Massachusetts license plate on her walker to remind people of where her home truly was. Arline had a great appreciation of music. She loved playing Chopin on the piano when she was young and for years attended Boston Symphony Orchestra concerts every Friday afternoon, in seat G5. She always insisted she couldn’t sing, yet, in reality, with her still, small voice, she was always perfectly in tune. She could perform old songs from memory, complete with all the verses, and even though she claimed that she had lost her faith, she loved singing hymns from her church days at the Episcopal and Congregational (where the boys were cuter) churches in Dedham, as a Sunday School teacher for the Christian Science Church during college, on the altar guild at St. Michael’s Episcopal Church in Milton, and later as a congregant at the Episcopal Church of St. John Baptist in Thomaston, Maine. She was particularly devoted to the performances of Down East Singers and served as that ensemble’s historian for many years, decorating her apartment with concert posters. She was a true appreciator of all the arts and all small things of beauty. Dandelions, seagulls, oyster shells and stones from lowly landscaping verges were always worthy of a pause and exclamation. Many will miss her dearly. She leaves behind her daughters: Rebecca and her husband Peter Clapp; Ann and her husband Anthony Antolini; her grandsons John and William Clapp, step-granddaughters Tina and Tessa Antolini, step-children Henry and Elizabeth Greenleaf, and her beloved cat, Pussywillow. A memorial service will be held on Saturday, April 21, at 3 p.m. at the Episcopal Church of St. John Baptist in Thomaston, Maine. A thing of beauty is a joy forever; Its loveliness increases; it will never Pass into nothingness; but still will keep A bower quiet for us, and a sleep Full of sweet dreams, and health, and quiet breathing. -John Keats (from Endymion) In lieu of flowers, memorial donations may be made to the Pope Memorial Humane Society, 25 Buttermilk Lane, Thomaston, ME 04861 or The Riley School, P.O. Box 159, Rockport, ME 04856.