Yoma A Ingraham

Yoma Anne Hall Ingraham died in Durham, NH, on Sunday, Dec. 1, 2024, after many years of living with Alzheimer’s Disease. She is survived by her husband William Ingraham of Durham and two sons and their families: Peter and Karen Ingraham and children Mabel and Gus of Concord, NH; and Jason and Julie Ingraham and children Cecelia, William, Georgia and Elise of Johns Creek, GA. Yoma is also survived by three brothers and their families: Christopher and Susan Hall of Wilbraham, MA, William and Maureen Hall and Timothy and Valerie Hall of Fairhope, AL.

Yoma was born September 9th, 1941 in Yonkers, NY, daughter of Yoma Elizabeth Hall (nee Woolcock) of Rangoon, Burma (now Yangon, Myanmar) and Falmouth, Cornwall, England and Robert Hall of Ridgewood, NJ.

Yoma spent her growing-up years in Rowayton and Darien, Connecticut where they lived on the Five Mile River. She attended the Thomas School where she played field hockey. Growing up as a girl with three younger brothers was not for the faint of heart, but Yoma soon gained mastery of the one-line quip and the last word. She and her brothers had many happy times at the beach where swimming and building sand castles were the plan of the day. Yoma came from a long line of seafaring people and, while she was not herself a sailor, she loved being near the sea and maintained her memories of growing up on Long Island Sound well into her later years.

Yoma’s parents were champions of charity and community – her father worked with supporters of the Civil Rights Movement and served on his local board of education. They led by example and helped Yoma develop a strong sense of her empathy which became a cherished characteristic for the rest of her life.

She became an avid reader and teacher of young children. After graduating from the Eliot Pearson Department of Child Study of Tufts University in 1965, Yoma established the Head Start program in the Orchard Park Day Care Center in Roxbury, MA, that year. Yoma went on to teach second grade in Stonington, CT, and Westerly, RI, and then preschool programs in Charleston, SC, and Philadelphia, PA. Returning to Massachusetts in 1972, she later helped run a preschool and early childhood education program in Bedford, MA.

She dedicated the next few decades to extending her teaching career into raising a family: she spent most of her boys' young lives imparting her curiosity, love of learning, and sense of humor. She loved the arts and directed some of her creative energy to family craft projects and museum trips; she and Bill encouraged their boys’ love of the outdoors via hiking trips, skiing in the winter, and endless trips to the beach.

As Pete and Jason got older, Yoma returned to working outside the home. In 1991 she graduated from the Women in Transition program at Middlesex Community College in Bedford, MA, and took a position with Houghton Mifflin editing children’s textbooks. Yoma went on to be a children’s book specialist in independent bookstores, first at the Concord Bookshop in Concord, MA, and then Porter Square books in Somerville, MA. She loved her time at the bookstores, and her experience there made her an expert in selecting books and gifts for her six grandchildren.

Yoma was active in the First Parish Unitarian Universalist Church in Bedford. She edited the church newsletter, served on the Religious Education Committee, and co-led teen programs with her husband Bill.

In her later years, Yoma could be seen snapping her fingers and singing along with the old songs. She loved colorful clothes and became known as the “colorful sock lady.” Perhaps more important to her was her love for the subtle colors of beach stones and the colors of winter, the tawny shades of winter grasses and leaves that remain on woody shrubs and oaks during winter.

A celebration of life will be held at 11 a.m. on January 18, 2025 at RiverWoods in Durham, NH. Memorial gifts may be sent to: Families First, Portsmouth, NH: getcommunityhealth.org or to the Alzheimer's Association, alz.org