Anna K. Tepper

WESTBOROUGH, MASS.—Anna Katherine (Josselyn) Tepper, 97, a longtime Northampton, Mass. resident and teacher, died Wednesday, May 14, 2008, at the Beaumont Nursing Home in Westborough.

"Kaye," as she was known, was born July 9, 1910, in Buffalo, N.Y., to the late Charles and Lina (Rykert) Josselyn. She grew up in Ludlow.

Throughout her long life, she cherished spending summers at her grandparents’ home on Echo Lake in Tyson. Following graduation from Black River Academy in Ludlow, she studied at the University of Vermont, earned a bachelor’s degree from Keene State College in New Hampshire and later a master’s degree in education from the University of Massachusetts at Amherst.

She lived most of her adult life in Northampton. There she raised her family and enjoyed a long and happy teaching career, first as a third-grade teacher and later as a music specialist in Northampton’s elementary schools.

Music and playing the piano were important parts of her life and she often entertained residents in area nursing homes. A life-long member of the Florence Congregational Church, she sang in the choir and directed the children’s choir. In later years, while living at Southgate in Shrewsbury, she accompanied the Southgate Follies.

She also loved travel, painting, reading, and knitting, but it was her large family that gave her the most joy. She was a breast cancer survivor of 38 years.

She was predeceased by her husband, Donald T. Tepper Sr. in 1991, on their 57^th wedding anniversary; and by her brother, James Josselyn of Rutland.

Survivors include her four children: two sons. Donald T. Tepper Jr. and his wife, Marcia, and James J. Tepper and his wife, Alice, all of Westborough; two daughters, Rosalind, wife of Dennis Waskiewicz of Ludlow; and Katherine Ann, wife of Peter M. Nowlan of Randolph; nine grandchildren, Mark Tepper; Eric Tepper and his wife, Alesia, Kristen, wife of Fred Collins, Charles Tepper and his wife, LizAnn, Stephen Tepper and his wife, Michele, Jeffrey Nowlan, Kimberly Nowlan, John Waskiewicz, and James Waskiewicz; eight great-grandchildren. and many nieces and nephews.

Calling hours will be held at the Rand-Harper-Pickering Westborough Funeral Home in Westborough, Mass. A memorial service will be held July 26 at 11 a.m. at the Tyson Congregational Church in Tyson, where she was baptized as a child and worshipped every summer.

In lieu of flowers, memorial donations may be made to Tyson Congregational Church, c/o Margo Marrone, 529 Dublin Road, Ludlow, Vt. 05149; or to the Susan G. Komen Foundation for the Cure, www.komen.org.

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