Maureen K. Oates

Maureen K (Lynch) Oates died in her sleep in the early hours of July 3 ^rd , 2020.  She had been living with her daughter Kati Oates who could not awaken her that morning.  Maureen was 96, had recently been diagnosed with a duodenal tumor, and began hospice on July 2nd.

Maureen grew up on a small farm in San Diego, CA. She went to college at San Diego State and graduated as a biology major. She entered the Navy during WW II, and served in the WAVES as a medical lab tech at an aeronautical research station in the Mojave Desert. There she met her late husband, James (Jim) Martin Oates II of Watertown, MA.

Maureen and Jim had 6 children, 4 who survive her, including Jamie Oates and his wife Jeannette Faunce of Belmont, ME; Kati Oates of Bedford MA;  Larry Oates and his wife Joyce (Miller) of Benton City, WA, and Patrick Oates and his wife Melinda Ballou of Bedford MA. Grandchildren and great-children include: Leah Oates and her husband Pierre St. Jacques (and son Max); Rosesharon Oates (and son Che Lua Thomas); Matthew Oates (and daughters Iris and Josephine); Adrian Ballou and Liam Oates; Will and Kai Rainy; also including daughters-in-law Jerre Oates, Leah Rainy and Terese LeFrancois. Maureen was predeceased by sons Daniel Oates (Lincolnville, ME) and Kevin Oates (Gurley, AL). She had an expansive network of nieces and nephews, extended family, and dear friends.

The family was raised primarily in Watertown, Mass., where Maureen had her hands full with her brood, and for an extra challenge was a Den Mother for cub scouts. The kids ranged far and wide through the town (free range) and had their fair share of scuffles and cuts. Mom was a stickler for homework and made sure that all applied themselves to their studies. The Oates clan spent many summers in Scituate (the Irish Riviera), on the South Shore, where all thrived swimming in the waters of Cape Cod Bay and wandering in the tidepools looking for sea life.

As her children went through school, she also returned to her studies, and received her Master’s Degree in Science Education from Northeastern University in 1963, and a CAGS (teaching credential) from Harvard Graduate School of Education in 1968. She taught science at the high school level in Watertown and Concord, MA. Later, she worked for Harvard University, evaluating student teachers and programs locally and around the country.

From the late 1960s on, Maureen developed programs and curriculums for hands-on, in nature, environmental education for school-aged kids. She wrote grants to receive funding; administered the grants and taught in these programs. Examples of this are the Scituate Summer Science program, Project Lighthouse, East Boston Voluntary Integration Project, the Charles River Project (which also brought together racially diverse students from a range of Boston public schools), and Project WALSE (Water Air Land Sea Education).

During this same period Maureen was a leading member of the Watertown Conservation Commission. She was involved in helping in the creation of public and recreation spaces as part of the conversion of the Army’s Watertown Arsenal property. A plaque with her name, and other Commission members, is displayed at an entrance to Arsenal Park.

A lifelong environmental educator, Maureen worked for Boston’s Museum of Science for several years writing grants. Leaving the Museum of Science, she became Director of Education for Maine Audubon.  Later she wrote and edited the journal of The Museum Institute for Teaching Science (MITS, Inc.), now known as the Wade Institute for Science Education.

Maureen was a member of the First Parish in Bedford, Unitarian Universalist, where late in life she created a unique six-part curriculum for 5th and 6th graders called Earth Circles. Working with other environmentalists, Religious Educators, and the Green Sanctuary and Climate Justice Committees within the church this curriculum was developed: Water, Water Everywhere; Visits with Nature; Soil and Seeds; The Fruitful Garden; Acquiring Energy; and Climate Change. Written material and video clips demonstrate various projects and experiments appropriate for children.  This program is used by UU congregations around the country. It is also appropriate for schools or other curriculum support and is available online: https://www.uubedford.org/religious-education/earth-circles-curriculum-for-public-use/ .

Check it out!  Earth Circles is Maureen's cherished legacy, finalized during her nineties.

Maureen was also a lifelong learner, an award-winning artist who dared multiple media, and a contributor to exhibits in multiple galleries. She gardened avidly through her eighties (enjoying watching others work in their gardens as she slowed down), appreciated music, loved to sing and played piano. She sometimes had a serious demeanor, had strong-willed opinions, faced many challenging family circumstances, and yet there remained a twinkle in her eye.  Among her favorite places by the water were Scituate, MA and Owl’s Head, Maine. She favored root beer floats and ice cream, ice cream anytime, even in recent days.

Maureen was  a force to be reckoned with, ever the strong willed educator, wanting everyone to see what she saw and be aware of the environment, whether to appreciate the beauty all around, or to protect and keep clean the environment for the present and the future.

She went to her minister’s office often, ever aware of her own mortality (“I’m not going to live forever, you know!”), with a list of things that were on her heart and mind, and always intent on “making some progress” and "getting something done!”  Maureen was a persistent doer.

The words of George Bernard Shaw provide an apt summary of her life: “I want to be thoroughly used up when I die, for the harder I work, the more I live. I rejoice in life for its own sake. Life is no ‘brief candle’ to me. It is sort of a splendid torch which I have a hold of for the moment, and I want to make it burn as brightly as possible before handing it over to future generations.”

Maureen has now passed the torch to us and we are thankful for her life.

Contributions to celebrate her life if you are moved to give, include donations to First Parish Bedford MA www.uubedford.org (note: Earth Circles to support her curriculum); to the Audubon Society (www.audubonsociety.org), or to other environmental or climate change causes, about which she was passionate throughout her life.

The family is planning a post-Covid memorial service for Maureen Oates to be held on Saturday, July 1, 2023, at noon at First Parish Bedford Unitarian Universalist, 75 The Great Road, Bedford, MA 01730.  The event will be in person. We will have a Zoom link for those who cannot be physically present that we will post shortly.  Since Maureen’s passing was in the early days of COVID, gathering in large groups was not possible.  So, now we plan to gather in person with her expansive community of family and friends. We would like to invite you to be with us to celebrate her life and accomplishments.
There will be a reception following the celebration in the Common Room of the church. Maureen’s Artwork will be displayed in the Church Gallery upstairs.