Donald J. Anthony

Great Barrington – Don Anthony was a gifted musician, chef and potter who lived a life of simplicity and charity. He was 23 when he died at his Great Barrington home on July 2, 2018.

He was a licensed phlebotomist and massage therapist and attended Berkshire Community College for a degree in nursing. Don will long be remembered by family and friends as a remarkable and independent young man who forged a life dedicated to healing others, deep friendships, and making a difference in the world one person at a time.

Donald Joseph Anthony was born in Brighton on March 1, 1995, the only child of Eric and Patricia (Greenler) Anthony. He was raised in Brighton and was an alumnus of the Hyde School in Windsor, Connecticut and Brighton High School.

He was active with the Middlesex County 4-H Fife and Drum Corps, the oldest junior fife and drum corps in Massachusetts, and became the drum sergeant in his final year. As a youth Don had a strong interest in science and earned first prize at Westgate Christian School Science Fair for making, with homemade parts, a crystal radio set modeled on the type used during the early 20th century.

Don sang in the PALS Chorus and performed with the Boston Symphony Orchestra at Symphony Hall and at Tanglewood. In addition to his love for music he enjoyed rope climbing, biking and skiing. He was a voracious reader and a talented poet and together with his family was proud to be related to Susan B. Anthony, of Adams, who was a pioneer in the Women's Suffrage Movement.

In addition to his parents, Don leaves his grandmother, Barbara Anthony of Walnut Creek, California; his grandfather, John J. Greenler of Peabody; his uncles and aunts, Dan and Lisa Greenler, Carl Greenler, Sean and Kathy (Greenler) Sexton, Stuart Anthony, and Brian and Rima Anthony and many cousins and friends.

Family and friends will honor and remember Don's life by gathering for calling hours in The Joyce Funeral Home, 245 Main Street (Rte. 20), Waltham, on Friday, July 13th from 4 to 8 p.m. and again at 10 a.m. on Saturday morning before leaving in procession to Hope International Church, 21 Bruce Road, Waltham where his funeral service will be held at 11 a.m. A luncheon at the church will immediately follow and burial will be at a later date.

Memorial donations may be made to the Epilepsy Foundation, 335 Main Street, Wilmington, MA 01887 or online at www.epilepsynewengland.org
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. . . Robert Frost said that "Poetry is when an emotion has found its thought and the thought has found the words" . . . and in that spirit:

"I'll lend you for a little time a child of mine," He said.
"For you to love the while he lives and mourn for when he's dead.
It may be six or seven years, or twenty-two or three,
But will you, 'til I call him back, take care of him for Me?
He'll bring his charms to gladden you, and should his stay be brief,
You'll have his lovely memories as solace for your grief.

"I cannot promise he will stay, since all from earth return.
But there are lessons taught down there I want this child to learn.
I've looked the wide world over in My search for teachers true,
And from the throngs that crowd life's lanes I have selected you.
Now will you give him all your love, nor think the labor vain,
Nor hate Me when I come to call to take him back again?"

I fancied that I heard them say, "Dear Lord, Thy will be done!
For all the joy Thy child shall bring, the risk of grief we'll run.
We'll shelter him with tenderness, we'll love him while we may,
And for happiness we've known, forever grateful stay:
But should the angels call for him much sooner than we've planned,
We'll brave the bitter grief that comes and try to understand.

---Anonymous