Hedy Landry, Educator And World Traveler, 67

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Hedy Landry, an educator and traveler, died on Wednesday, October 19,
2005, at Wayside Hospice in Wayland, Massachusetts, from lymphoma, at
the age of 67.

Hedy (Aberlin) Landry wouldn't let anyone spend Christmas alone, her
friends and family said. Around the candle-lit dinner table, an
unfamiliar face would easily be integrated into the Landry family.

"She took every encounter with a person to understand what they really
wanted in life," her daughter Erica Landry Scheik, of Watertown, said.

Born in Montreal, Quebec, Canada, Mrs. Landry spent her childhood in
Grayslake, Illinois. Her parents had emigrated from Switzerland and
immersed their daughter in Swiss culture, from cheese fondue to
traditional music. She graduated from Grayslake High School in 1955.

She had an intrinsic interest in philanthropy and later pursued a
degree in political science at Monmouth College in Monmouth, Illinois,
her family said. After graduating in 1959, she attended the University
of Massachusetts at Amherst in 1960 and studied government.

At UMass-Amherst, while she was a teacher's assistant, Mrs. Landry met
Richard James Landry, and the couple married in 1961. After having
three children, the couple traveled the world, sampling many cultures.
In 1968, the family lived for a year in Taipei, Taiwan, where Mrs.
Landry was an assistant to the Turkish ambassador. In 1970, the family
settled in Scituate, while Mr. Landry joined the UMass-Boston faculty,
specializing in ancient Chinese political thought.

In 1973, Mrs. Landry was widowed and faced with the challenge of
raising three young girls on her own. She became a children's editor at
the former Atlantic, Little Brown publishing company in Boston,
Massachusetts. Even though she wasn't the outdoors type, she camped,
skied, and hiked with her friends and family, often becoming so
engrossed in their enjoyment she would disregard her own, her longtime
friend, Diane Paul of Cambridge, Massachusetts, said.

In the '80s, Mrs. Landry became national program director for
Elderhostel in Boston, an international nonprofit that coordinates
study programs for senior citizens. Her work allowed her to travel,
something she had valued all her life, her daughter said. She was
particularly drawn to Asia and Russia, exploring the vastly different
cultures for work or pleasure, her family said.

Mrs. Landry would often spend holidays across continents, celebrating
Christmas in locales from Sicily to India. When she garnered an
opportunity to teach in China, she left Elderhostel and taught English
literature in Shijiazhuang. For the following two years, Mrs. Landry
taught in Qufu, Shandong Province.

Mrs. Landry witnessed the protests in Tiananmen Square and was deeply
affected, her daughter said. She struggled with the politics of China
at the time, her daughter said. However, this event inspired Mrs.
Landry to help Chinese citizens immigrate to the United States. She
would wait with them for hours in lines outside embassies, never
doubting her commitment to a potential friend, her daughter said.

"Having lived in Taiwan, I think she had a natural interest in the
culture and an affinity for the people," her daughter said.

When Mrs. Landry returned to the United States, she moved to
Cincinnati, where she taught English literature to nursing students at
the College of Mount St. Joseph. During her time in Ohio, Mrs. Landry
became involved with the Episcopal Church and worked with disadvantaged
children. She took the children under her wing and introduced them to
museums and took them to the opera.

"She was the sort of person who took in stray cats," Paul said.

In 2003, Mrs. Landry returned to Massachusetts, residing in
Middleborough, Massachusetts. She tended to her robustly abundant
garden and manicured her cosmos and moonflowers. She read philosophy in
the company of her cat and reviewed the mementos of her travels, her
daughter said.

Besides her daughter, Mrs. Landry leaves two other daughters, Alyssa
Landry of Paris, France, and Heidi Landry-Chan of Sursee, Switzerland;
and two grandchildren.

Boston Globe