Adele MacVeagh Clurman Bourne, teacher, poet, playwright, and social justice activist, died on January 11, at HopeHealth Hulitar Hospice Center in Providence, RI, from head injury complications suffered after a fall. She was 88.
Born March 22, 1936 in Bedford, NY, Adele was the daughter of Charlton F. and Adele (Merrill) MacVeagh. Charlton, assistant chairman of the 1940 Republican National Committee, served on Franklin D. Roosevelt’s War Production Board from 1942-1946. Her uncle Lincoln MacVeagh served as ambassador to Spain and Greece from 1933-1953. Her grandfather Charles P. MacVeagh served as ambassador to Japan from 1925-1928.
In 1945 Adele’s father took a job in St. Louis leading Mallinckrodt Chemical Works and moved the family to Webster Groves, MO. There she had her first theatrical role in a third grade play. Webster Groves founded her activist career as well, where as a junior highschooler she worked alongside her mother and other members of the Emmanuel Episcopal Church to desegregate Webster Groves schools.
She met her first husband, Haverford student Rodney Hart Clurman, as a literature and drama student at Bryn Mawr College. They married in 1957 in Harrisville, NH, where her family had refurbished an old farmstead. “The Farm” was a refuge Adele would return to throughout her life. They settled in Washington DC, where she marched at the Lincoln Memorial for Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.’s “I Have A Dream” speech. Divorced in 1967, Adele moved her and their three children back to Bedford, where she took her first teaching job at the Rippowam School. She earned her MA in Education at Columbia University and rose to lead the Ripp theater department with verve and imagination.
After her 1974 wedding to John Setliffe Bourne, they moved the family to Moorestown, NJ. Settling professionally at the Allentown School District, she became the director of the Gifted and Talented program, a job she held for 25 years. Adele continued her work for peace and justice as a member of Moorestown Friends Meeting, always the first to join a protest, spearhead a letter writing campaign, or care for a family in need. After her retirement from teaching, Adele turned full-time to writing poetry. She and John joined Delaware Valley Poets and soon became favorites on the Philadelphia area poetry slam circuit, publishing her first volume of poems, “A Grocery List,” in 2010.
Upon John’s death in 2012, Adele moved to Providence and published a second volume of her poems, “Tide Roaring In.” She found meaningful community with members and attendees of Providence Friends Meeting, her neighbors at Wayland Manor, and her friends at Wingate on the East Side.
Adele is survived by daughter Margaretta S. Clurman and her husband Dr. Mark Patrick of Warren, RI and Truro, MA; and her son Andrew W. Clurman and his wife Claire H. Clurman of Boulder and Edwards, CO; by grandchildren Skyler F. Patrick, Alexander C. Patrick, Lena S. Patrick, Katherine M. Clurman, Emmalyn S. Lysaght and her husband Richard H. Lysaght, Nathaniel H. Clurman, William Freeman and his wife Courtney D. Freeman; and great-grandchildren Reagan Freeman and Vincent Freemen. Adele is also survived by her twin brother Charlton MacVeagh, Jr. and his wife Diana of Marlborough, NH, her sister Priscilla MacVeagh of Gabriola, BC, and an extended family of nieces, nephews, and cousins. She was predeceased by her daughter Diana Katherine Clurman, her first husband Rodney H. Clurman, and her second husband John S. Bourne.
A celebration of Adele’s life will be held on March 22, 10 am, at Providence Friends Meeting House, 99 Morris Avenue, Providence, RI, 02906. In lieu of flowers, contributions in her name may be made to the American Friends Service Committee or Crossroads RI.
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