Born May 12, 1920, in Springfield, Massachusetts, Helen Antoinette Moog was the daughter of Wilson T. Moog and Helen C. (Moodey) Moog. She was an older sister to Barbara and enjoyed a large extended family of aunts and uncles. The family resided in Northampton, Massachusetts, where Mimi attended Burnham School and graduated with a bachelor’s degree in art history from Smith College in 1941.Mimi’s childhood was filled with travels and adventures to the family cottage in North Perry, Maine, the White Mountains of New Hampshire and summer camp on Cape Cod. As a two year old, Mimi traveled with her parents and lived in Europe while her father was on sabbatical. At age 12, she again traveled to live in Europe with her family. She was one of the first students to be taught finger painting at the Shaw School of Finger Painting in Rome, Italy.

On Valentine’s Day, Feb. 14, 1942, Mimi married John S. Cary and the couple resided in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Shortly after arriving in Cambridge, John was drafted into the Army Air Corps and deployed in North Africa and Italy for the war’s duration. During this trying time Mimi contributed to the war effort working on a New Hampshire farm and then at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology Radiation Laboratory that was involved with the development of vastly superior radar and jamming devices. Upon John’s return they resided in Cambridge until 1950 when the young couple and their first born son, Peter moved to Pelham, Massachusetts, where they created their lifetime homestead and welcomed two more children, Anne and Stephen.

Mimi was a true renaissance woman. Fluent in French, she was a lover of literature, poetry, classical music and the natural world, a collector of antiques and stamps and the keeper of family history. She was a formidable tennis player, avid swimmer and downhill skier and a perennial world traveler. Her volunteer work was legendary and included a service of 20,000 hours at Cooley Dickinson Hospital.

A believer in lifelong learning, Mimi sought additional degrees, knowledge and accreditation’s including a Massachusetts Teaching Certificate at the University of Massachusetts and studies at Harvard and Holyoke Community College. Her employment focused on the fields of teaching and social services. She held teaching positions with private and public kindergartens and the Amherst Regional School District as a special educator and high school substitute. She also assumed the responsibilities of recreational director at the Lathrop Home and social worker at both the Hampshire County Nursing Home and Amherst Nursing Home.

Mimi was passionate about her beloved Pelham home and family. Continuing the family legacy are her children, Peter and his wife Sally of Millers Falls, Massachusetts, Anne and her husband Paul of Huntington, Vermont, and Stephen and his wife Sandie of White River Junction; sister and brother-in-law Barbara and Jack Finlay of Sudbury, Massachusetts; five grandchildren; one great-grandchild; and nieces and nephews.

Mimi’s family would like to extend their heartfelt gratitude to her care givers from Home Staff, Springfield, Massachusetts, and Valley Terrace, White River Junction, her co-workers, her friends and Pelham neighbors – all of whom contributed to a long life, richly lived. In lieu of flowers, donations in Mimi’s memory can be made to the Cooley Dickinson Auxiliary, the Pelham Library or the Dakin Animal Shelter. The burial will be held privately and a celebration of Mimi’s life will be held on December 7, 2014 at 1:30 pm at Hills Chapel, Smith College. 

Service details, Social networking, Memorial Guestbook and Slideshow are available here.