Former Harvard Post editor, poet
Ann Levison. (Courtesy photo)
Ann Levison, the guiding force at the old Harvard Post for more than two decades, died peacefully early Tuesday morning, April 15, at home on East Bare Hill Road. She was 78. A creative and prolific writer, she compiled a book of her poetry in the last weeks of her life. She was a staunch proponent of small-town journalism and an early supporter, valued advisor, and tireless critic of the Harvard Press, which tries mightily to live up to her standards.
Ann Ruth (Simons) Levison was born in Boston on May 15, 1929, the elder child of Sarah (Sallye) and Louis Simons. She grew up in Quincy with her younger brother Steve and attended the Quincy public schools, graduating from North Quincy High School. After two years at Cambridge Junior College, Ann graduated from Syracuse University and then from Boston University with a master’s degree in experimental psychology. After college she went to work in the photo interpretation lab at the Boston University Physical Research Laboratory, where she met Walter Levison. They were married in 1959 and moved to Harvard in December 1961.
Ann’s early work life included a brief stint at Jordan Marsh in Boston, where she sold artificial-flower and feather hair ornaments. She was fired from that job for going up the down escalator on her lunch break. She fared better at the old Harvard Post, where she started as a feature writer in 1976, three years after founders Ed Miller and Kathleen Cushman began publishing the paper. Her first articles were about foraging for wild foods and about gardening, both of which were lifelong interests.
Ann took on the position of co-editor of the Post in early 1980, first sharing the job with her colleagues and friends Amy MacDonald and Robin Hosmer, and later with Barbara Kemp, and then Andrea Fincke. In January 1989, she became the Post’s sole editor and continued her efforts to make it the best small-town newspaper possible. She was an exacting editor, and at the same time she encouraged and mentored countless fledgling writers, including many students at Bromfield. She could not abide a wimpy editorial, a bad lead sentence, or a poorly written, impersonal obituary. Although she was always serious about good journalism, the Post was often a wacky place to work, especially in the early days when the overtired staff would frequently labor well past midnight on production days. During her tenure as editor, the Post won several awards from the New England Press Association, including first place in its division for its editorial page in 1985, and first place for a human interest feature story she wrote in 1997.
When she retired from the Post in May 2001, Ann finally had time for the creative writing she loved. She worked on her poetry for hours, and with her good friend Kathryn Leibowitz, she put together a book of her poetry titled Solstice, which will be published soon.
Although the Post took up most of her time, Ann had another life as well. She was intensely proud of her two daughters, Libby and Jenny, and loved being with Walter until his death in 1999. Aside from her family, her great passion was reading, and she and Walter were leaders in Great Books for many years; she first joined Great Books in 1962. More recently, she was the leader of the Brown Bag Book Club, which still meets at the library. In the late 1970s, Ann and Walter were host parents for AFS, and she continued to work for that organization afterward. She was the swim instructor for the Harvard-Roxbury Day Camp, which brought inner-city children to town in the summer. Ann was a strong supporter of the Girl Scouts, and recalled her childhood summers at scout camp in New Hampshire with great fondness. She was also active in the Village Nursery School when her daughters were young and, more recently, in the Harvard Woman’s Club.
Ann and Walter traveled all over the world, but her favorite place was Paris. She also loved visiting close friends in Sweden: her AFS daughter Anna-Karin Bohlin and Anna-Karin’s family.
Ann is survived by her daughters, Libby and Jenny, and Jenny’s partner Josh Waletzky, and by her brother and sister-in-law, Steve and Julie Simons of Hollis, N. H.; her sister-in-law Sylvia Levison; her nieces and nephews Geof Simons, Judy Snow, Ken Simons, Leigh Simons, Harold Levison, Marsha Brumberg, and Marilyn Marconi and their families; as well as a dozen grandnieces and -nephews and their families.
Funeral services were to be held Thursday in Harvard, with a memorial service at a later date. Family and friends are invited to visit with the family at Ann’s home at 175 East Bare Hill Road Thursday, April 17, from 4 to 8 p.m., Friday, April 18, from 4 to 8 p.m., and Saturday, April 19, from 1 to 6 p.m. Instead of flowers, contributions in Ann’s name may be made to the Harvard Public Library Trust, 4 Pond Road, Harvard MA, 01451 or to Satellife, 30 California Street, Watertown, MA, 02472.
