The following obituary for my great-grandmother was in my grandmother's, Grace Ware (Holbrook) Haskell, scrapbook. The date 2/9/29 is written in pen at the top of the clipping. Name of the paper is unknown. Grace Cabot Holbrook's gravestone in Prospect Hill Cemetery can be seen
here on the
Find A Grave website.
MRS. GRACE CABOT HOLBROOK DIES.
Daughter of Late Norman F. and Lucy Brooks Cabot Was Widow of Widely Known Civil Engineer.
Mrs. Grace Cabot Holbrook, daughter of Norman F. and Lucy Brooks Cabot, whose death took place Saturday, Feb. 9, at Naulahka, was born in Brattleboro June 25, 1861. Her education began in the private schools of Brattleboro, followed by three years (1878-1881) at St. Agnes' School. Albany, N.Y., where she made an intensive study of music.
She married, April 12, 1887, Frederick Holbrook, son of Col. F. F. and Anna Nourse Holbrook of Boston, and grandson of Gov. Frederick Holbrook, in whose family here his boyhood was spent. Mr. Holbrook's civil engineering activities took them at first to Pocatello, Idaho, at that time an Indian reservation, but they soon returned east and lived iin suburbs of New York and Boston, until they made the city of Boston their residence n 1910.
After the death of Mr. Holbrook in Paris in 1920, Mrs. Holbrook made her home at Naulahka, which under her influence became a place of generous and gracious hospitality. Her musical afternoons with Perabo and Mahn were notable events of the summer season. Her love of children brought the children of relatives and friends to Naulahka, as to a spacious playground all their own. Students from other countries, to whose education she was contributing, found with her a home, for the dominant characteristic of Mrs. Holbrook was an unselfish interest in the lives of others. It is not too much to say of her that she never failed in personal sympathy and practical help to any one in need, or any cause presented to her as tending to promote human well-being.
Mrs. Holbrook's oldest daughter, Lucy Brooks, died Jan. 28, 1909, at 21 years of age. Her surviving children are a son, Frederick Cabot Holbrook, who lives here with his wife and two children, and a daughter, Grace Ware, now Mrs. Merrill Haskell of Portland, Me., who has a young son. She also leaves a sister, Miss Mary R. Cabot, of Brattleboro, and a brother, William Brooks Cabot of Boston.
Largely attended funeral services were held at 3 o'clock on Tuesday, at St. Michael's Episcopal church, Rev. Harry R. Pool, rector, officiating. The choir rendered music, with Lucien Howe of Boston at the organ. The honorary bearers were Charles A. Harris, Harry P. Webster, J. Gray Estey and E. C. Cockayne of Wollaston, Mass. Burial took place in the Cabot family lot in Prospect Hill cemetery.
Those who attended the funeral from out of town were Mrs. Holbrook's daughter and husband, Mr. and Mrs. Merrill Haskell of Portland, Me.; Percy Holbrook of New York; Mr. and Mrs. William Brooks Cabot, J. Randolph Coolidge, Mr. and Mrs. Richard C. Ware, Richards M. Bradley, A. L. Pattie and Mrs. Hugh Hatfield, of Boston; Miss Alice Waite and Miss Louise Waite of Wellesley, Mass.; Mr. and Mrs. Henry M. Lane and Mr. and Mrs. John Kirkland Clark of New York; Rev. Chalmers Holbrook of Millbrook, N. Y.; Mrs Francis Goodhue of Germantown, Pa.; Mrs. Richard L. Cary of Baltimore, Md.; Dr. A. M. Hurlbutt of Stamford, Conn.; Mrs. Edward Armstrong of Princeton, N. J.; Mr and Mrs. William R. Moody of Northfield, Mass.
© 2010, copyright William C. Haskell
