| Notes |
- Wrote a number of books under the name Melissa Mather, including "Rough Road Home".
Married 1st Coughlin, 2nd Longin Ambros.
Hartland,VT Melissa Brown Ambros, 97, a longtime resident of Hartland, died peacefully in her sleep on December 12, 2014, at the Cedar Hill Healthcare Center in Windsor, after a life of many challenges and extraordinary achievements. Clara Melissa, as she was called as a child, was born on November 12, 1917 in Chicago, Illinois to Arlisle Mather Brown, an English teacher, and Alfred Bruce Brown, an electrical engineer. Melissa launched an exceptional academic career in Montclair, New Jersey, where she and her sister Mary and brothers Bruce and Ted enjoyed an idyllic childhood. She graduated from high school at age 15 and pursued a degree in English Literature at Oberlin College, from which she graduated Phi Beta Kappa in 1939. The following three months she toured England by bicycle, a solo trip that launched her lifelong passion both for making and for touring beautiful gardens.
...Returning from an inspection trip of Korea-bound troops, Lt. Colonel Coughlin died in a California plane crash in 1951. Melissa moved the family to a farm she had already purchased in Hartland, Vermont, where she hoped that Michael, her first born, a twin, would be safer while she explored treatment for a mystifying set of impairments, which much later would be called Autism. A friend of the family, Longin Ambros, came on leave from the Army whenever possible to help the family and to make repairs on the dilapidated house. In time, Melissa and Longin fell in love and were married in Windsor. Together they set about building a new life, designing and building a larger home for their growing family.
Using Mather, her mother's surname, Melissa launched her writing career in 1958 with the autobiography Rough Road Home, which traced the family's transformation from military dependents to independent dairy farmers embraced by a wide assortment of generous and caring neighbors in rural Vermont. Other books followed including One Summer In Between, Damian, and Emelie, as well as many short stories featured in magazines and television dramas.
...Melissa is survived by eight children: Patrick. B. Coughlin of Sunapee, NH; Christopher C. Coughlin and wife Huguette of Springfield, VT; Catherine M. Coughlin and husband Randall B. Weill of Cape Elizabeth, ME; Maria van Beuren of N. Haverhill, NH;Victor R. Ambros and wife Rosalind Lee of Hanover, NH and Holden, MA; Theodore R. Ambros and wife Andrea of Hartland, VT;Elizabeth M. Ambros of Hartland VT; Thomas M. Ambros and wife Karen of Schenectady, NY. Melissa recently lost her husband of over 60 years, Longin B. Ambros. She was also pre-deceased by her first husband, Robert L. Coughlin, her eldest son Michael Coughlin, her grandson Brendan B. Coughlin, her sister Mary Evans, and her brothers Theodore Brown and Bruce Brown. Melissa is remembered lovingly by 8 nieces and nephews, 12 grandchildren, and 4 great-grandchildren.
The rest of the obit is here: http://www.knightfuneralhomes.com/fh/obituaries/obituary.cfm?o_id=2860864&fh_id=12258
- Wrote a number of books under the name Melissa Mather, including "Rough Road Home".
Married 1st Coughlin, 2nd Longin Ambros.
Hartland,VT Melissa Brown Ambros, 97, a longtime resident of Hartland, died peacefully in her sleep on December 12, 2014, at the Cedar Hill Healthcare Center in Windsor, after a life of many challenges and extraordinary achievements. Clara Melissa, as she was called as a child, was born on November 12, 1917 in Chicago, Illinois to Arlisle Mather Brown, an English teacher, and Alfred Bruce Brown, an electrical engineer. Melissa launched an exceptional academic career in Montclair, New Jersey, where she and her sister Mary and brothers Bruce and Ted enjoyed an idyllic childhood. She graduated from high school at age 15 and pursued a degree in English Literature at Oberlin College, from which she graduated Phi Beta Kappa in 1939. The following three months she toured England by bicycle, a solo trip that launched her lifelong passion both for making and for touring beautiful gardens.
...Returning from an inspection trip of Korea-bound troops, Lt. Colonel Coughlin died in a California plane crash in 1951. Melissa moved the family to a farm she had already purchased in Hartland, Vermont, where she hoped that Michael, her first born, a twin, would be safer while she explored treatment for a mystifying set of impairments, which much later would be called Autism. A friend of the family, Longin Ambros, came on leave from the Army whenever possible to help the family and to make repairs on the dilapidated house. In time, Melissa and Longin fell in love and were married in Windsor. Together they set about building a new life, designing and building a larger home for their growing family.
Using Mather, her mother's surname, Melissa launched her writing career in 1958 with the autobiography Rough Road Home, which traced the family's transformation from military dependents to independent dairy farmers embraced by a wide assortment of generous and caring neighbors in rural Vermont. Other books followed including One Summer In Between, Damian, and Emelie, as well as many short stories featured in magazines and television dramas.
...Melissa is survived by eight children: Patrick. B. Coughlin of Sunapee, NH; Christopher C. Coughlin and wife Huguette of Springfield, VT; Catherine M. Coughlin and husband Randall B. Weill of Cape Elizabeth, ME; Maria van Beuren of N. Haverhill, NH;Victor R. Ambros and wife Rosalind Lee of Hanover, NH and Holden, MA; Theodore R. Ambros and wife Andrea of Hartland, VT;Elizabeth M. Ambros of Hartland VT; Thomas M. Ambros and wife Karen of Schenectady, NY. Melissa recently lost her husband of over 60 years, Longin B. Ambros. She was also pre-deceased by her first husband, Robert L. Coughlin, her eldest son Michael Coughlin, her grandson Brendan B. Coughlin, her sister Mary Evans, and her brothers Theodore Brown and Bruce Brown. Melissa is remembered lovingly by 8 nieces and nephews, 12 grandchildren, and 4 great-grandchildren.
The rest of the obit is here: http://www.knightfuneralhomes.com/fh/obituaries/obituary.cfm?o_id=2860864&fh_id=12258
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1917 - 2014 (97 years)
