June Louise (Cousens) Storey, of North Reading, Mass., passed away on Thursday, Nov. 21, surrounded by her loving family.
June was born in Woburn, Mass. on Oct. 17, 1936, to William Nevelle Cousens and Louise Mildred Bradshaw. She grew up in Waltham and Wellesley with her beloved grandmother, Emma Anderson Cousens (“Nanny”), who was her legal guardian from the time she was 2.
June lived in Waltham until she was 12 along with her five cousin-brothers, Nicholas, Michael, Timothy, Christopher, and Geoffrey. She and Nanny moved to Wellesley and lived with her aunt, Olive Eleanor Isabella Cousens Holmes and her husband, Henry Wyman Holmes Jr., and her cousin-sister, Anne Wyman Holmes. She attended Wellesley schools and Northeastern University until 1958 when she married Chester William Storey of Everett, Mass.
June is the devoted mother of Deanna Lee Storey, of Arlington, Wendy Ann Fitzpatrick and her late husband, Kevin Fitzpatrick, of Nottingham, N.H., and Valerie Jean Storey, of Nashua, N.H. Her three girls were the loves of her life.
In 1976, June began a 33-year career at Harvard University and was the director of events for alumni affairs and development. She was known for her unique perspective and ability to transform a space to create experiences tailored to individuals as well as institution-wide celebrations like the Harvard University 350th. She always said she had the privilege of seeing the world through the varied lenses of the many people she met in her role at Harvard, from students to world leaders and everyone in-between. Her real joy came from nurturing and teaching the people she worked with, and she invested much time and boundless energy in mentoring those who worked alongside her.
June was an avid sports fan throughout her life. She played field hockey and tennis, and she was a league candlepin bowler for many years. She loved to follow all the local Boston teams and never missed a game on TV. She loved animals, especially dogs, and she always had a treat at the ready should one cross her path. Some of her fondest memories were those of the summers she spent with her Peabody family cousins on their farm in New Brunswick, Canada where she continued to visit well into her 80s.
Never one to sit still for long, June worked at L.L. Bean in Burlington, Mass. for 10 years post-retirement and thoroughly enjoyed her time with coworkers, customers, and the friends she made there. She loved her home in North Reading, where she lived for over 60 years. She was passionate about her gardens and loved to sit on the back porch and watch the deer and other wildlife that came to visit her daily. She had many lifelong friends and neighbors who she adored in North Reading and most recently served on the North Reading Transportation Committee to help seniors with transportation to and from medical appointments.
June lived every day to its fullest no matter the circumstances and she greeted each day with just three simple words, “I love life.”
