Lili E. Wadsworth

            Lili Estol Wadsworth, 100, a beloved mother, humanitarian, and perpetual student, died March 17, 2022 at Danbury Hospital. She is remembered in Woodbury for leading the effort to preserve Main Street as a historic district in 1959. 
            Lili Beatriz Estol was born March 12, 1922 in Montevideo, Uruguay, the only daughter of the Julio Cesar Estol MD and Janet Ancell. During World War II, Lili met a handsome navy lieutenant from the destroyer U.S.S. Winslow docked in Montevideo. She married George Wadsworth MBA Harvard, January 6, 1944.  
Lili was deeply committed to her adopted country, and from 1950-1966 she donated time and resources to serve the league of Women Voters, the Alliance Francaise, the PTA, The Mattatuck Museum, the Waterbury Hospital, the Junior League, etc. She also volunteered with new immigrants, helping them get established in Waterbury.
            In 1969, Lili moved to Boston. She achieved everything she dreamed of when she worked and studied at Harvard University until 1988. Beginning at the Fogg Museum of Art, and the Carpenter Center for the Visual Arts, Lili became a cultural and intellectual leader as Departmental Administrator for a new Harvard department titled, The Committee on Latin American and Iberian Studies. She was credited for assisting Professor John H. Parry in the translation of an important history: New Iberian World: A documentary History of the Discover and Settlement of Latin America in the Early 17th Century. She was recognized as an honorary member at the Harvard faculty club. Lili hosted Jorge Luis Borges, Gabriel Marquez, and Carlos Fuentes, among many other intellectuals and politicians. For her service and devotion His Majesty King Juan Carlos of Spain appointed her in The Order of Queen Isabella the Catholic.
          She was welcomed by many friends when she returned to Heritage Village, Southbury in 1996 and Pomperaug Woods in 2001. Lili’s children gathered to celebrate her 100th birthday five days before she died. She is survived by: Janet (John) Ganson; William (Jane Clarke) Wadsworth; Isabel Wadsworth; and George (Patrice) Wadsworth; nine grandchildren; and six great grandchildren!
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