Obituary of Marydel Rosenfield

Marydel (Del) Coolidge Rosenfield passed away peacefully at home on November 21, 2016 in the Parker Ridge Community, Blue Hill, Maine. She was in the loving care of friends and her special caregivers from Parker Ridge, Beacon Hospice and her private duty team. Del was prepared for her passing with the clear hope of reuniting in spirit with her beloved husband, Zach, and other loved ones that had passed before her. She was 91. Marydel (Del) Coolidge Rosenfield was born on March 23, 1925, to Philip Tripp and Eva Powers Washburn Coolidge in her paternal grandfather’s home in Watertown, Massachusetts. Shortly thereafter, she was taken to her parent’s home in Bangor. In 1916, Del’s father had come to Bangor to establish an office for consulting forestry and surveying. He was a graduate of the Yale School of Forestry and was one of the Nation’s leading early foresters. In 1963, Del’s father authored “The History of the Maine Woods.” Del attended the Bangor Public Schools and graduated from Bangor High School in 1943. She started Radcliffe College in the summer of 1943, having won a scholarship from the Radcliffe Club of Maine, and graduated with an English Literature degree in 1947. Del’s mother, who died before she was three, had been the Physical Education Director at Radcliffe prior to meeting her father. Her Mother’s best friend, Mary Winslow, who had introduced her mother to her father, was an older cousin of her father. Mary Winslow willingly left her very active life in Cambridge, MA, to move to Bangor to help raise Del. During Del’s last year of college, she became part of the Teacher Training Program at the Shady Hill School in Cambridge. She had met her future husband, Zachary Rosenfield, who had just graduated from Columbia University. A graduate of the Ethical Fieldston School in Riverdale NY, he arranged for an interview for Del with the head of the Fieldston Lower School. She was hired as a teacher of the Third Grade on the condition that she marry Zach. As Del laughingly would say, “This was no hardship!” They were married in December 1948. The next year Del and Zach took a three-month tour of Europe, visiting friends in England, Denmark, Switzerland, Italy, and France, observing the rebuilding of Europe and attending soccer games everywhere they went. After their return, Zach went to M.I.T. where he earned a Masters’ Degree in Architecture in 1950. While they were raising their children, Del attended the Bank Street College of Education in NYC and earned a Masters’ Degree in Science in 1973. Meanwhile, Zach had joined his father’s architectural firm, specializing in hospital and health care facilities architecture worldwide. While the children were young, he traveled a great deal and Del stayed home with the children. As the children grew older, she embarked into a new career, as a representative of classical musicians, attending booking conferences all over the United States and lining up engagements for soloists, chamber ensembles, and a few conductors from Europe and the Americas. Once Del began to advertise in the annual Musical America Directory, she heard from many musicians seeking representation including pianist Masanobu Ikemiya. Del and Zach had both learned to sail at summer camps when they were teenagers and sailing became an activity they enjoyed together all their married life of 65 years. This is what, in Del’s words “they came to Maine to do”. She said she would never forget winning the race, with Rusty Duym, in their Hinkley 38-foot “Moxie” out to Mt. Desert Rock and back! Del and Zach were members of the Deer Isle/Sunset Congregational Church. They particularly enjoyed singing in the Church Choir. Del continued to sing in the Choir until she sold their beloved home on Oak Point, Deer Isle, in early 2015 and moved to the Parker Ridge Community. In the winter of 2014/2015, with the help and facilitation of a close friend, Del was able to prepare her father’s extensive journals, photographs, letters, surveys and other documents to donate to the Forest History Society – the designated National Archive for Forestry and Forest History. This was a watershed moment for Del in that she learned a great deal about her parents and gleaned a deep appreciation of her family’s heritage. She felt as though this endeavor filled in her own life’s narrative. Del was very happy to be living in the Parker Ridge Community and made it her home quite readily. She embraced each day with a zest few younger people could even imagine. An avid reader, a great friend with all things creative and of the Arts, Del loved life, her family and her friends. She lived her life doing many things for others and always being up for an adventure! She made us all smile and was gracious to everyone even in her hospital stays and her final days at home in hospice. Del was predeceased by her husband Zach (2013). Del is survived by her children Josh Rosenfield (Helen Kelly) of Coxsackie, NY; Johanna Rosenfield (Michael Luft) of Montclair, NJ; and Paul Rosenfield of NYC. Del also leaves grandchildren Kat Rosenfield Anderson (Brad) and Noah Rosenfield, as well as a sister-in-law Leni Rosenfield DeCamp and her three daughters Susan, Kyle and Amy. A Memorial Service was held at the Parker Ridge Community on December 3rd, as requested by Del as led by Rev. Amy Vaughn and Del’s dear friend, Nancy O. Geehan. There will be a Memorial Service and Celebration of Del’s Life in mid-July 2017 on Deer Isle, Maine. A public announcement of this Memorial Celebration will be made at a later date in local newspapers. In lieu of flowers and other condolences, the family has asked that donations be sent to the Deer Isle/Sunset Congregational Church Choir, attention Rev. Amy Vaughn or to the Parker Ridge Community Activities Program, attention Alma Mote.