Ida “Edie” Elizabeth Richards Chamberlin

Ida “Edie” Elizabeth Richards Chamberlin passed away peacefully on June 8, 2024 assisted by the Hallowell Singers, daughters and grandchildren singing with angels “hovering ‘round.” Born July 12, 1932 in Englewood, NJ, she was pre-deceased by her parents Dickinson Woodruff Richards, Jr., MD and Constance Burrell Riley Richards, her former husband Robert West Chamberlin Jr.,  MD , and most recently her dear sister Gertrude Richards Russell in November 2023 and her husband Isaac. Edie loved animals as a child and rode her first horse at their childhood home in Saddle River, NJ. She was a graduate of Smith College in 1954 and met her husband Bob while he was a medical student at Harvard Medical School. They married and moved regularly for Bob’s medical training and military service, growing their family along the way in Boston, Baltimore, Fort Bragg, NC, Lexington, Kentucky, Ann Arbor, Michigan, and finally Rochester, NY where she worked as a secretary while Bob was a pediatrician at the University of Rochester, all the while spending summers at her beloved Lake Sunapee in NH. Edie moved to Brattleboro, VT after launching 4 daughters from age 8 to 16 as a single parent and completing her masters in psychology and addiction counseling in 1988 at Antioch University. There, she reunited with her childhood love of horses and found Spence, Beau and Jasmine (“Jazzy”) to light up her life. Edie was a regular at the Green Mountain Horse Association and West River Stables where she won many ribbons and inspired young riders. Many thanks to Debbie Hardy, Michelle Taylor and Gerda’s Equine Rescue for helping find a home for her beloved Jazzy when she gave up riding herself, at age 89. Edie had a keen intellect, passions for history and Rachel Maddow, and a knack for shunning the conventions and societal norms for women all of which resulted in her own beloved style of life. 

Edie is survived by her 2 sisters Connie Michelsen of Grantham, NH and Ann Ward of Essex, MA; 4 daughters: Annie Chamberlin and her husband Charlie Morrison of Chapel Hill, NC, Martha Cass of Sherborne, England, Susan Chamberlin and her husband Albert Buzz Scherr of Portsmouth, NH, Mary Chamberlin and her husband Jonathan Jesup of Hanover, NH; Grandchildren Conny Morrison and her husband Chris Nelson, Josh Morrison and his partner Rodrigo Castro Comejo, Georgia John and Eliza Cass, Olivia Diorio and her husband Ryan Lavoie, Isabella Chamberlin, Sarah and Brett Hershey, Alexis Jesup and her fiancé Max Hoffman, and 2 great grandchildren Theodore and Charlotte Hershey. 

Edie had many devoted care givers over the years and she was ever grateful for the love and care provided by Rachael Shaw, Jeanette Staley, Janet Bailey, Ruth Nangeroni, Sara Ryan, Brattleboro Area Hospice, Bradley House staff and Bayada Hospice.

A memorial stone will be placed in her honor at Green Mountain Horse Association in Woodstock, VT and an open house celebration of life will occur at the home of Sarah and Brett Hershey, 119 S Goddard Hill Rd, Westminster, VT, 11 am- 2 pm,  August 18, 2024. A private family ceremony will follow at 4 pm.