Calla and her sister Elisabeth, the daughters of Bradford Jones and Helen Shannon Jones, grew up on Marblehead Neck and graduated from Marblehead High School. Calla then attended Boston's Academie Moderne and in her youth worked as a professional model. Her work in painting and portraiture was a lifelong passion that continued to her final year. Besides being an active artist she was also an occasional poet who spent many of the last years of her life living among friends in Gozo, Malta. Her pastels and watercolors have been exhibited there as well as in her hometown of Marblehead.
Calla was married to the late Bruce Hood, also of Marblehead, and had three children, Mark Stedman Hood, the late William "Billy" Hood, and Tamsen Drew Hood. For many years Calla Hood lived on Summer Street in Old Town while raising her two youngest children. She spent some of her later years living happily in New Hampshire, the native home of her mother’s family, where she met and married retired teacher John Knipe. New Hampshire's “Live Free or Die “spirit suited her own. It was in fact her elder cousin,Walker Wiggins, who introduced that motto while a State Legislator there. He once said to us he was disappointed that the original quote from that state’s revolutionary war general John Stark was considered too long to be fully adopted. It seems appropriate now to recall Gen. John Stark said in full: “Live Free or Die - death is not the worst of enemies!”
Calla’s last months passed all too swiftly. Her good spirits continued to the last. Her laughter and generosity shall be remembered by all who held her dear. Though we all feel she left us too soon, she assured us that she had enjoyed a great life.
Carolyn is survived by her sister, Elisabeth Lowe Alles, two children, the before mentioned Tamsen and Mark, two grandchildren, Hannah Elizabeth Hood and Matthew Stedman Hood, as well as three nephews, one niece and seven great nieces and nephews. Calla was much loved and will be much missed.
Her remains will be interred in her family burial plot in Manchester, New Hampshire alongside her mother and grandfather. A private burial will be held there this summer. A small portion of her ashes will also be left on the islands of Malta and Nantucket, according to her wishes.
An open gathering of remembrance will be held at the Eustis & Cornell Funeral Home, 142 Elm Street in Marblehead, on the morning of Saturday, March 16, from 10AM to 12PM. In lieu of flowers, please make a donation to your local Animal Shelter.
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