Elaine Winifred Magnuson Wentworth, June 16, 1924 – March 3, 2017

"You will shine among them as stars in the sky." Philippians 2:15.

Elaine Winifred Magnuson Wentworth, 92, of Oneonta, artist, author, educator; beloved mother, grandmother and friend, passed away on Friday, March 3, 2017 at Bassett Healthcare in Cooperstown following a brief illness.

Elaine's Christian faith, her love of nature, music, history, literature and art, her gift of hospitality and homemaking, and her love and compassion for others were rooted in her family's life and legacy, and intertwined with Boston history. She was born on June 16, 1924, in Boston, MA; the daughter of Arthur and Ingeborg (Anderson) Magnuson, first generation Swedish Americans; granddaughter of Knut and Ottilia (Eriksson) Anderson, Swedish immigrants to Boston (19th c.), who settled in Dorchester and helped establish the Swedish Covenant Church in 1885 (Evangelical Covenant Church – ECC). Elaine was raised in the Mattapan section of Boston nearby her devoted grandparents who worked in the professional service of the Boston Brahmin as head cook and master tailor. Elaine's mother played piano accompaniment and her father sang tenor at Tremont Temple Baptist Church on Tremont Street in downtown Boston. Her mother and aunt played ukulele with the Aloha Hawaiians quartet on Arthur Godfrey's Boston public radio broadcasts.

Elaine was married for fifty-five years to Boston area resident and artist, Murray Jackson Wentworth who preceded her on March 22, 2008. She and Murray made their home together first in Walpole, MA and then Norwell, MA where for almost fifty years they were active and among the first members of the United Church of Christ, Congregational, founded in 1965 by twenty-three Norwell community residents. Elaine and Murray relocated in 2003 to Oneonta to be near their daughter and grandchildren.

Elaine considered Boston her hometown, but graduated from high school in 1942 in Denver, Colorado where she and family resided for eight years with stepfather Philip Stone Anderson (1891-1944), a native of Denver. Following graduation, she was employed in a wartime office and attended night art classes at Denver University and Colorado Springs Fine Arts Center. During the last year of the war she worked as a teletype radio-phone operator for the U.S. Army Signal Corp, Alaska Communications System, in Ketchikan, Alaska. Forever fascinated by visits to the Tsimshian Indian Village of Metlakatla on Annette Island, she years later wrote and illustrated their dramatic story in Mission to Metlakatla (published by Houghton Mifflin Co. in Boston in 1968, reprinted by I-Universe in 2013).

Elaine graduated in 1950 from the Boston Museum School of Fine Art where she studied printmaking and drawing with social realist and figurative expressionist Ture Bengtz - and where she had enjoyed summer painting classes throughout her childhood and teens. As a child she loved to sew and design fashionable attire for her paper doll creations and spent time in her grandfather's tailoring shop on Washington Street in downtown Boston. Not surprisingly, following graduation from art school she worked for Boston publications as a fashion illustrator and painted landscapes and cityscapes in her spare time. She met her late husband Murray, who shared her love of plein-air painting and together they created an enduring and shared professional life of painting, exhibiting, and teaching. Elaine taught at the Art Institute of Boston, art associations throughout New England, and private workshops. She is remembered fondly by many students of who became lifelong friends.

Elaine's watercolor and acrylic paintings are currently represented by the Guild of Boston Artists, Newbury Street, Boston. She strove to capture the elusive spirit and atmospheric conditions of both landscape and sea, based on a foundation of strong design concepts. Her paintings have garnered many awards and medals, including the Gold Medal of Honor at the 100th Anniversary Exhibition of the New England Watercolor Society (lifetime member) and can be found in the permanent collection of the Farnsworth Museum in Rockland, Maine, a region where she and her

late husband painted and conducted art workshops for several decades. She co-authored with her husband, Watercolor for All Seasons (North Light, 1984) and the couple exhibited for many years in their own gallery on Cape Cod, The Wentworth Gallery in Yarmouthport.

She was a member of the Society of Marine Painters and former president and member of the National League of American Penwomen, as both author and painter, a group honored on several occasions by Rosalyn Carter who hosted tea parties for members at the White House.

Elaine's watercolor illustrations for The Lighthouse Keeper's Daughter (published by Mystic Seaport Publishers) were represented by the National Museum of Women in the Arts in a national tour of original book illustrations called "Brave Little Girls," and can be found in the permanent collection of the Mazza Museum of International Art from Picture Books in Findlay, Ohio. Elaine shared her love of children's literature, art, and nature with young students with the South Shore Nature Center in Norwell, MA and in public schools as a visiting artist, both in Otsego County and the greater Boston area. She was one of the first "Zadettes," to be represented by Zade Educational Partners, Hingham, MA. She is also the author of Five for Freedom, (I-Universe Publishers, 2016), an historically based children's story about two brave young girls and the Jackson Homestead, a safe-haven on the Underground Railroad in Newton, Massachusetts. Elaine's daughter and late husband are direct descendants of Jackson Homestead owner and abolitionist, William Jackson (1783-1855).

After relocating to Oneonta, Elaine enjoyed teaching and exhibiting locally. She and her late husband appreciated the beauty of the Oneonta hills and took full advantage of the many opportunities to enjoy live music in the area. They were especially thankful to be involved in the day to day lives of their granddaughters. Elaine's spiritual life was challenged and nurtured through Bible studies and a home fellowship for seniors through Main Street Baptist Church, Oneonta.

Elaine was preceded on October 10, 2016 by her companion of six years, artist Niels Michaelsen of Oneonta, and survived by her daughter and son-in-law, Janet Wentworth (Norman) Erickson of Delhi, NY; her grandchildren, Christina Louise Erickson and Katherine Theodora Wentworth Erickson; her brother and nephews, Philip, Eric and Paul Anderson of California, her cousin Caryl (Walker) Spiliotis of New Hampshire.

Services will be held locally at the Main Street Baptist Church with Rev. Gary Bonebrake officiating, 333 Main Street, Oneonta, NY on Saturday, April 8, 2017 at 11:30 AM followed by a luncheon at the church. A second memorial service and internment of ashes will take place at the United Church of Christ, 460 Main Street, Norwell, MA on Sunday, April 30, 2017 at 2:00 with reception following. All are welcome to both services.

To light a candle or send online condolences please visit www.courtneyfh.com. Arrangements are with Courtney Funeral Home, Walton, NY.

Memorial contributions in Elaine's memory may be made to The Newton History Museum at the Jackson Homestead, 527 Washington Street, Newton MA, 02458.