Deborah Shepard Petri, 91, of Worcester, died Tuesday, September 20, 2016 at Notre Dame
Long Term Care.
She was born in Indianapolis, IN to the late Eleanor West Shepard and Perry
Melville Shepard and grew up in Geneva, NY. She graduated from Miss Hall’s School in
Pittsfield where she learned to appreciate music becoming the Secretary of the Glee Club and
began a life long love of skiing and tennis. She attended Smith College.
She married Hector Dennison Petri in Geneva in 1948 and moved to Framingham in 1950 where
they lived until 2007.
Debbie loved family and regularly entertained relatives and friends at her home always creating
laughter and warmth for those around her. She volunteered for many activities that expressed
her love of the outdoors, church, and education. Debbie spent decades volunteering for the New
England Wildflower Society, Garden in the Woods. She was a regular at St. Mark’s Church in
Southborough and actively involved with their Bargain Box, a second hand clothes store. As a
young mother she volunteered at the Framingham Public School Libraries.
Debbie was the Head Librarian at The Rivers School of Weston from 1968 to 1988 and was
instrumental in rebuilding the library after a total loss due to fire. In 1989, Debbie was elected to
the Board of Trustees of the Rivers School. During her tenure she was Chair of the Faculty
Affairs Committee and a member of the Development and Admissions Committee. She retired
in 1995 from the Board and continued on as an Honorary Trustee of the Corporation.
From the time she married Hector, she was always his “bowman”. They spent their honeymoon
at a lakeside wilderness cabin in Downeast Maine. Every year they would return to Lower
Sysladobsis Lake with their children and grandchildren. Debbie would make wonderful picnics
for her family before setting off for a day’s adventure of fishing, swimming, canoeing, and
portaging. Always fishing while canoeing, she ultimately learned to tie her own flies. She loved
the call of the loons over the pristine lake and its echo off Dark Cove Mountain.
When not being a librarian or when the weather was too cold for the Maine wilderness, Debbie
and Hector could be found sailing with lifelong friends along the Maine coast, the Caribbean, or
Europe. Debbie was an adventurous traveler and encouraged her children to do the same.
Her warmth and open arms will be missed by all her family and friends.
She is survived by her children, Anne Seline and her husband Harvey of Bedminster, NJ; James
Petri and his wife Alison of Bolton; Nicholas Petri and his wife Robin of Framingham; Ogden
Petri and his partner Mark Boisvert of Northborough; her grandchildren, Hannah Petri and her
partner John Phillips of St. Louis, MO; Samuel Petri and his wife Abigail of Jackson,
WY; Carolyn Meatto and her husband Christopher of South Salem, NY; Nicholas Petri, Jr. and
his wife Kerri of Boston; Margaret Petri and her partner Matt Wolfson of Singapore; her step-grandchildren, Jennifer Kincaid and her husband Ian of Hardwick, NJ; Jessica LaSusa and her
husband Michael of Chester, NJ; and her 5 step great grandchildren: Ashley, Emily, Jessica,
Carter and Thaddeus.
She is predeceased by her husband Hector Dennison Petri and her brother Frederick West
Shepard.
A memorial service will be held at 11:00 a.m., November 4, 2016 at St. Mark’s Episcopal
Church, 27 Main Street, Southborough, MA. Burial will be private at the Newton Cemetery.
Memorial contributions may be sent in her memory to: New England Wildflower Society,
Garden in the Woods, 180 Hemenway Road, Framingham, MA 01701 or the The Rivers School,
333 Winter Street, Weston, MA 02493.
Arrangements are under the direction of the Morris Funeral Home, 40 Main St., Southborough.
To send words of condolence, please visit morrisfuneralparlor.com.