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A broken heart hasn’t stopped Margery Dearborn, Worcester’s history watchdog

Margery Dearborn has lived to be 100 years old, and thanks to a medical advancement at UMass Memorial Medical Center, she may live even longer.

Dearborn has left her mark on Worcester history after raising her family in Worcester, helping to found a nonprofit organization that aims to preserve the city’s architecture, and recently promoting a life-saving procedure at UMass.

A decade ago, Dearborn would have needed open-heart surgery to address a health issue that developed the previous year, but her age would have prevented that. In April, a few days after her 100th birthday, she instead underwent a minimally invasive procedure at UMass called Transcatheter Aortic Valve Replacement, or TAVR, which allowed her to return home within days to host a cheese tasting with friends, according to a statement from UMass Memorial Health.

“I love every minute (of life),” Dearborn told a MassLive reporter who visited her earlier this month at the Willows in Worcester, the centenarian’s short white hair bathed in the morning sun as she sat upright in a worn, padded armchair, oxygen flowing gently through a nasal cannula over her smiling face. “I have two great-grandchildren who live in California: 2 years old and 3 years old. I want to live long enough for them to remember me, and I want to live long enough to see what kind of people they’re going to be.”

Who is Margery Dearborn?

Dearborn was born in Boston to the MacNeil family, but grew up in Newton. She was the second of six children and the only surviving sibling. After graduating from Newton High School in 1941, she attended Smith College in Northampton, graduating in 1944.

During World War II, Dearborn volunteered at the Northampton Veterans Affairs Medical Center, formerly known as the Northampton Veterans Administration Hospital. After graduating, she attended the Harvard University Graduate School of Design for architecture.

Dearborn was one of the first women to attend Radcliffe College.

“People would say (to me), so you went to Radcliffe,” Dearborn recalled. “(And I would say), no, I went to Harvard.”

That’s because during World War II, Harvard University temporarily allowed Radcliffe students—formerly “the Harvard Annex,” where women went because Harvard didn’t admit women—to enroll in all courses at Harvard College. This gave female students access to Harvard classrooms for the first time.

Her fiancé at the time, James Corcoran Donnelly Jr., who had served as a lieutenant in the Navy in World War II, returned after the war and the two were married in August 1945. (After her husband died in 1971, Dearborn married Otto Vincent Gustafson, who died in February 1989. Dearborn married her third husband, Richard Wright Dearborn, who died in December 2018.)

Dearborn attended Harvard for a year before becoming pregnant and choosing to stay home. Donnelly went on to Harvard Law School, and by the time he graduated, Dearborn was pregnant with their second child.

The family moved to Worcester in 1952 after Donnelly, who had worked in the attorney general’s office in Boston, received an offer to join a law firm in Worcester as a partner.

Dearborn — sitting in her chair, walker at the ready — recalled being pregnant with her fourth child when they moved to Worcester. As she spoke, a digital photo frame on a table beside her slowly changed photos, chronicling decades of her family history.

As her children grew up, Dearborn volunteered for many organizations, she said. Inspired by her mother, who had done volunteer, civic and community work in Newton, Dearborn volunteered as a Cub Scout den leader, Girl Scout leader and president of the Parent-Teacher Association (PTA).

The founding of the Worcester Heritage Society

In the 1960s, as urban renewal began to alter public infrastructure, Dearborn recalled how two Greek Revival-style homes at the end of Lincoln Street were razed. One was converted into a parking lot, and the other made way for Interstate 290.

Dearborn recalls feeling shocked by the issue, as both houses were examples of good architecture. By tearing down older homes, Worcester “began to lose our history,” Dearborn said. “We would look like any other city or town in the United States.”

With the help of John Herron, who at the time managed the Worcester Historical Museum in Lincoln Square, the two put together a slide show and a program of photographs of the Antiquarian Society and the historical museum of buildings that had been demolished in Worcester.

This program was “a protest” to save the city’s homes and architecture to preserve its history, Dearborn said. She hosted a public meeting at her Rutland Terrace home at the time.

“Let’s ask everybody who’s interested, everybody in the city,” Dearborn recalled. “A couple of (city) council members were there, and then we had about 60 people there. They were all interested in saving some of the older architecture in the city.”

Margery Dearborn, 100, was an activist for Worcester’s historic buildings. She and five other members founded the Worcester Preservation Society (now known as Preservation Worcester).

Six people—four men and two women—were chosen to lead the committee to help preserve the history: Dearborn, Monnie Rockwell, Sherb Rockwell, Louise Rynders, Buzz Knowlton and Chuck Mercer. Knowlton was the first president of the Worcester Heritage Society.

Dearborn said the committee was inspired by the Providence Historical Society, which focuses on preserving the architecture of College Hill in Rhode Island.

In 1969, Dearborn and the other committee members went to the State House, where the Worcester Heritage Society, now known as Preservation Worcester, was officially declared a nonprofit organization.

“I felt, and still feel, very proud to have my signature on that application,” Dearborn said.

While the team lost many battles to protect certain pieces of architecture and history, they also won many. The society continues to promote and protect endangered historic landmarks that shape Worcester’s history.

In 2022, Preservation Worcester purchased the Salisbury Mansion on Highland Street, which, according to Deborah Packard, Preservation Worcester’s executive director for the past 20 years, “is one of the most important properties in the city.” The organization is in the process of restoring it.

Although she is no longer a volunteer, Dearborn still takes a keen interest in what is happening in Worcester and is proud of the cultural advancements in the city, from art exhibits to education at area high schools and colleges.

Packard praised Dearborn for her work and support of the organization, saying that over the years, Dearborn has been a “cheerleader and a major supporter of our organization,” regularly attending the organization’s events and meetings as well as making financial donations. One of her largest donations was used to purchase the Salisbury Mansion.

Margery Dearborn at the annual Preservation Worcester gathering in May 2024.

The TAVR procedure

For a while, Dearborn couldn’t show her support. Last fall, she quickly became short of breath, and while she thought it was just her age, her breathing became increasingly difficult. “I couldn’t even walk across the room without stopping two or three times to catch my breath.”

After undergoing tests with her primary care doctor, Dearborn was told she had aortic valve stenosis, an abnormal narrowing of the aortic valve in her heart that restricts blood flow from the left ventricle to the aorta and the rest of the body, according to the Better Health Channel.

A decade ago, Dearborn would have had to undergo major open-heart surgery to correct the problem, said Dr. Jennifer Walker, a cardiac surgeon and surgical director of the Structural Heart Program at UMass Memorial Medical Center on Memorial Campus. With the help of medical advances, Dearborn underwent a procedure called TAVR in April. Previously limited to high- and moderate-risk patients, TAVR has recently become available to all patients. That includes Dearborn, who now has “the opportunity to get relief from her life-limiting symptoms,” she said.

TAVR was “specifically developed (for those) who really fall into a category where the risk of open-heart surgery … outweighs the benefits of the procedure,” Walker said.

“While 13 to 15 years ago it was experimental and only offered to people who were too sick to have surgery, over the years it has evolved into such a successful procedure that we now offer it to low-risk patients,” Walker said.

Dearborn, who was under conscious sedation, “had her procedure with three small punctures in the groin, and went home the next day feeling much better with a new heart valve and minimal limitations,” Walker said.

Today, Dearborn hopes to return to her normal routine. She feels “completely at ease” and as long as she carries her oxygen pack, she can forget she ever had any problems. “I feel exactly the same way I felt two or three years ago.”

Walker says the procedure is special because it offers people like Dearborn, who suffer from life-limiting symptoms, new opportunities to experience and enjoy the lives they lead.

The proceeding has not affected Dearborn’s participation in the historical society, Walker said. Following the proceeding, Dearborn attended Preservation Worcester’s annual meeting in May and a celebration in June celebrating Walker’s 20th anniversary with Preservation Worcester, Walker said.

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