Louise R. Bacon, 83, Was Journalist, Active Volunteer

Louise R. Bacon, formerly of Chilmark and New York city, died June 23 in Edmond, Okla. She was 83.

Louise was a beautiful wife, mother and friend - a gift to this world. She played the piano, did magnificent crewel work, was a great cook and threw fabulous parties. She found beauty in the fallen oak leaf and the magnificent, moss-covered branch. She was love and life, intelligence and beauty, kindness and insight. She was fun!

She was born August 7, 1922, in Provo, Utah. Her adoptive parents were Oliver Smith and Pauline Ryser Olsen.

She was graduated from public schools and attended Brigham Young University, from which she was graduated magna cum laude in 1944. While at Brigham Young, she attended a Stanford summer program in economics and banking. She received her master's degree in government from Radcliff College at Harvard University in 1947. She passed her orals for her doctorate, but postponed her thesis to work with professor William Yandell Elliott in the government department at Harvard University from 1947 to 1952. Louise liaised with Mr. Elliott's offices in Washington, D.C., covering his work as staff director for the House Foreign Affairs Committee and advisor to the State Department.

She met her future husband, Edward A. (Tod) Bacon, at Harvard. They were married at the home of his parents in Washington, D.C., and then made their home on Washington Square in New York city. From 1953 to 1963, Louise worked as a reporter and writer for Fortune magazine.

After a time, Louise stopped working to focus on family and to manage households in New York and on the Vineyard. In both locales, she was active in community service and volunteer organizations.

In New York, she served on boards that provided classroom assistance and tutoring in the public schools and did fundraising for New York Hospital. She was active and a past president of the City Gardens Club of New York city, supporting the club's initiatives to: design a nature science curriculum for urban schools; fund public school teachers to attend Audubon camps; and establish the National Gateway project and Jamaica Wildlife Preserve as a managed and dedicated space accessible to school children for nature studies. She was president of the 70th Street Tree Association, the first one in New York that raised awareness about maintaining the health, condition and well-being of trees, negotiating with the city to provide grates to protect the 36 trees on her block.

On the Vineyard, she was one of three spokesmen for the summer property owners with the selectmen of the town of Chilmark.

Louise is survived by her two daughters, Ann-Louise Cook and Lorraine Bacon Barclay, son in law Mart Barclay, two granddaughters, Samantha and Megan Barclay, and many, many friends.

A graveside service will be held Saturday, July 1, at 4 p.m. at Abel's Hill Cemetery in Chilmark.