NATICK: After a brief illness, Erin Harrington VanSpeybroeck, 80, died on November 28th of complications from leukemia. A longtime resident of Natick and, earlier, Belmont, Erin was raised in San Francisco where she attended the Katherine Delmar Burke School, emerging as an impassioned advocate for women’s educational institutions. She would go on to graduate from Wellesley College, where she majored in history and made many lifelong friends. Wellesley remained a personal and professional touchstone for Erin throughout her life.
While at Wellesley, Erin’s roommate set her up on a blind date with Wichita native Leon VanSpeybroeck, then a student at MIT. They married in 1959, choosing to remain in the Boston area to raise their family while Leon pursued a career as an astrophysicist. Along with caring for three children and participating in their activities, Erin became engaged in a wide array of town issues, deploying her organizational and leadership skills to support liberal political candidates, gun control, and groups committed to democracy and the arts. She held leadership positions in the local branch of the League of Women Voters, the Junior League, the Claypit Summer Arts Program, the Belmont Music School, and numerous boards or committees charged with tackling contentious issues or working towards community betterment.
When her older children entered their teenage years, Erin returned to work. Ultimately, she landed her dream job in the Wellesley College Registrar’s office, where she held a variety of positions over a 20-year career. At the Registrar’s office, Erin especially enjoyed interacting with the Wellesley faculty and students. In the early 1990s, Erin and Leon built a home in Natick on the shores of Lake Cochituate; the two enjoyed plying its waters in their canoe and swimming off their dock. Friendships with her neighbors would be a great source of delight for Erin throughout the rest of her life.
After retiring in 2001, Erin would return to the Wellesley campus often to take water aerobics and audit classes in the Art, History and Music Departments. Retirement meant more time for Erin to pursue her love of choral music, musicals, and operettas. Over the years, she sang in the MIT Choral Society, the Wellesley Choral Society, the Berkshire Chorale, the Arlington-Belmont Chorale, and several small acapella groups that performed around the Bay State. She acted in musicals and theatrical productions mounted by the Belmont Dramatic Club, but her heart belonged to Gilbert and Sullivan and she performed in dozens of shows under the auspices of several regional companies, most frequently the Sudbury Savoyards.
With her large vocal range, Erin was a versatile member of the troupe; she could sing tenor while menacing her sword as a Pirate (from Penzance) or manage the soprano part while dancing in petticoats as a sister/cousin/aunt in Pinafore. She also enjoyed working behind the scenes, sewing costumes and applying stage makeup. Gilbert and Sullivan songs often provided the basis for affectionate parodies and tributes she prepared to mark major events in friends and colleagues’ lives.
Erin volunteered at the Frederick Law Olmstead National Historic Site from 2003 until her death, receiving several awards for her service. Her enthusiasm for democracy led her to work the polls during local elections. An avid traveler, Erin visited countries all over the world; she pored over each fresh edition of the Road Scholar catalogue looking for new destinations to tour. Erin also nurtured important friendships, maintaining a full calendar of book group meetings, lunch dates, reunions and, of course, the “Wellesley Winos” gang from the Class of ’58. With her prodigious memory and knack for story-telling, Erin served as an unofficial historian and human search engine for many, including her family.
Erin was preceded in death by her husband, Leon VanSpeybroeck, her brother, Kevin D. Harrington, and her parents, David and Mary Louise Harrington. She leaves behind three children, their spouses and four grandchildren-- Elaine Van S. Carmichael (Lane Kendig) of Sturgeon Bay, WI; David D. VanSpeybroeck (Jennifer Hanson and daughters Maddy and Nina VanSpeybroeck) of Lake Oswego, OR, and; Alex VanSpeybroeck (Carla German and offspring Henry and Chloe VanSpeybroeck) of Glendale, CA—along with many dear friends from a long life well-lived.
The family will hold a memorial service celebrating Erin’s life in early 2017. In lieu of flowers, Erin would appreciate donations in her memory to Wellesley College or Doctors Without Borders/Médecins Sans Frontières.