Therese Forsyth Hare

SALISBURY — Therese Forsyth Hare, 68, died July 17, 2021, peacefully surrounded by her family at Smilow Cancer Hospital in New Haven.

Terry was born April 27, 1953, in New York City to William H. Forsyth and Agnes M. (Mitchell) Forsyth. The Forsyths and McClintocks have lived on Prospect Mountain Road in Salisbury for 70 years, and Salisbury was Terry’s favorite place to be.

She was educated at The Chapin School, Rosemary Hall, Westminster Choir College, Ithaca College, where she received a B.M.E., and Central Michigan University, where she received an M.A. in choral conducting.

After Ithaca College, she lived with her husband, John, in Bethlehem, Pa., Grand Rapids, Mich., and New Haven. In Pennsylvania, she taught cello privately; she was the Instrumental Director at Moravian Academy; and she played with the Reading Symphony Orchestra, the Pennsylvania Sinfonia, and the Lehigh Valley Chamber Orchestra, among others. She co-founded the Bethlehem A Capella Singers. In Michigan, she taught cello privately and at Grand Rapids Community College, and she was the Instructor of Viola da Gamba at Calvin College. She played with the Westshore Symphony Orchestra, the Ash Grove String Quartet, and the Terzina Piano Trio, among others. She also sang with the Bach Chorale. She directed the choir of Eastern Avenue Christian Reformed Church, where she was also a deacon. In New Haven, she played bass and treble viol with various ensembles, sang with the Yale Collegium, and directed the choir of St. John’s Episcopal Church, where she was a member of the pastoral care team. She also founded and directed the St. John’s Youth Choir. 

Terry was a person who spread joy to those around her. She saw the good in the people she was with, and drew the good out of them. She was a person of deep Christian faith, and she showed this in the love she gave to her family and to people that she met, sharing deeply in their joy and suffering. She had an exuberance for life that she delighted in sharing with others; she brought light and joy to what could otherwise have been mundane experiences, routinely spinning straw into gold.  She had a way of welcoming and disarming everybody, making connections with new people, and turning duties into adventures. Life will not be the same without her in it. She will be deeply missed.

She is survived by her husband, John; her son Thomas, and her son Andrew and his wife, Lindsy, and their child, Rory; her brother, Bill, and his wife, Lesleigh; and her sister, Caroline; her cousins, Mary and Lucy and their families; and her many nephews and nieces, Lydia, Verena, Henry “Hank”, Chris, Rebecca, David, Gilbert, Edward “Teddy” and their families.

The funeral was at St. John’s Episcopal Church in New Haven on July 31. Celentano Funeral Home had charge of the arrangements. 

Memorial gifts should be given to Rivendell Institute, 291 Edwards St., New Haven, CT  06511 (www.rivendellinstitute.org).