Peabody – Mary Constance (Baxter) Pardee, the beloved wife of the late Lt. Col. Harry W. Pardee Jr. (USAF, ret.), died Sunday March 20, 2011 at Brooksby Village, Peabody, after a prolonged illness. She was 87. Mrs. Pardee passed away peacefully, surrounded by a large family of children and grandchildren.
She was born in 1923 in Manchester, N.H., the daughter of Joseph Henricks Baxter and Mary Muriel (McInnis) Baxter.
Mrs. Pardee leaves five children, Michael. J. Pardee, husband of Mary Alice Pardee of Rockport; Sally A. Chapdelaine of Rockport; Stephen H. Pardee, husband of Patricia Pardee of Gloucester; John A. Pardee, husband of Laurie Pardee of Westborough; and Harry W. Pardee III, husband of Anne Pardee of Rockport. She also leaves 16 grandchildren and 17 great-grandchildren.
Mr. and Mrs. Pardee raised their family in many locations in the U.S. and abroad during his 22-year military career that included service as a fighter pilot in WWII. After living in Sudbury for many years, where Mrs. Pardee worked part-time as an educational consultant and in real estate sales, the family moved to a 200-year-old former dairy farm on Smith Street in Westborough, residing there for more than 30 years. Later, Mr. and Mrs. Pardee moved to Rockport, then to Brooksby Village in Peabody.
A creative person, Mrs. Pardee was a member of the Sudbury and Westborough players clubs, and did acting at the Red Barn summer stock theater in Westborough. Her enduring interest in the well-being of others led her to become a licensed certified social worker. She worked in the psychiatric unit of the UMass Medical Center in Worcester, and dedicated much time to charitable causes. Her education included studies at the University of Maryland and later at Clark University in Worcester.
A service will be held Saturday March 26, at 11 a.m., in the chapel at Liberty Place at Brooksby Village in Peabody, 100 Brooksby Village Dr., which is off Route 114. In lieu of flowers, donations may be made to the Arthritis Foundation, c/o Juvenile Arthritis Research, 29 Crafts St., Suite 450, Newton MA 02458 or to the New England Chapter of the National Multiple Sclerosis Society, 101A First Ave., Suite 6, Waltham, MA 02451.
