Mrs. Greta Landles Wright passed peacefully on March 14th, 2026.

She was the beloved wife of Andrew Wright (deceased), mother of Mairi Mashburn and Fiona Ostermayer, grandmother of Nicholas Hall, Catriona Mashburn, Calum Mashburn, and Ian Ostermayer, and mother-in-law of David Mashburn and Paul Ostermayer. Greta was also a beloved teacher and colleague at the Josiah Haynes Elementary School in Sudbury.

Greta was born in the small border town of Hawick, Scotland July 12, 1936 to Edith and Andrew Landles. She was a child of the second world war, an experience that impacted her deeply due to food rationing, hiding under the staircase during air raids, and not seeing her father, who was stationed in India for the duration of that conflict.

Greta's extended Landles family were well-known and influential in Hawick, with several of them serving on the town's council. Greta excelled in the Hawick schools, and was at the top of her class. She became the first person in her family to attend college, studying at Edinburgh University.

Not long after she started university, she met Andrew Wright. They married in 1957, shortly after Andrew graduated. The following year, Greta graduated and Andrew began his Ph.D. in microbiology at Edinburgh University, which he completed in 1960. Andrew then took a research position at Hunnewell in Minnesota, and, soon after he had finished his degree, they left their families and friends behind, and set sail for the United States, where they knew exactly one person.

Greta and Andrew remained in Minnesota for a few years, and in 1963 they expanded their family with the birth of their first daughter, Fiona. Soon after Fiona joined them, the family moved east to Boston, where Andrew had taken a position at M.I.T. The family took up residence in Newton, Massachusetts, and in 1965, Andrew and Greta welcomed their second daughter, Mairi.

Although they started out with only one friend in the United States, it turned out that Andrew and Greta could elevate the undertaking of building a community of friends for life, to an artform. They met and befriended numerous British ex-pats in the Boston area. Andrew, a talented athlete, helped to found the Boston Rugby Club and soon became its captain. Greta attended his games, and soon formed strong friendships with many of the other rugby wives.

Soon after they arrived in Massachusetts, Andrew and Greta joined the Royal Scottish Country Dance Society of Boston. There they spent many happy Friday evenings dancing, and growing their community of friends. Andrew had taken a professorship at Tufts University and his students and colleagues came from around the globe. Among this growing group of friends, Greta soon became known for her charm, her intelligence, her elegance, her fashion sense, and her dazzling dinner parties. She was a gourmet cook, and her dining room was constantly hosting guests from near and far, who unanimously sang her praises.

In the early 1970's Greta decided to go back for a Master's degree in special education. She began teaching at the Josiah Haynes elementary school, yet another environment from which she reaped lasting friendships with colleagues and with her principal. She was loved by her students, many of whom stayed in touch with her years after they had left school. Greta's principal wrote glowing performance reviews of her, in which he heaped her with such praise that she and Andrew joked it was "almost embarrassing". For many years after retiring, Greta attended a regular Friday breakfast with her former colleagues, now beloved friends.

When they first arrived in Massachusetts, the family moved to Newton, initially renting, and eventually purchasing their first home in Newton Lower Falls, where the girls attended the local elementary school. Andrew and Greta loved dogs and it was in this house that their first pet, Heidi, joined the family. She was the first of 5 dogs that Andrew and Greta would love and nurture together.

In this first home also, was born a tradition that was a keystone in their community-building strategy, and became one of the most highly anticipated events of the year among their friends – Andrew and Greta's New Year's Eve party. This party showcased Greta's mastery in bringing disparate groups of people together. It was attended by work friends, dancing friends, British friends, and rugby friends. Every year, Greta would create clever puzzle games, leaving clues at various points around the house. She would put players in groups that were mixtures of all the friends, and give out prizes to the winners. Her fabulous culinary skills were always on display, and the evening would end with a boisterous round of Scottish country dancing. The friends would leave, happy, and no longer disparate, but one connected group.

Over the years, Andrew and Greta moved two more times, first to West Newton, then in 1989, to a home in Lincoln, Massachusetts, where they lived for 34 years. As they had in their previous homes, they continued to nurture their community by hosting visitors, dinner and party guests, and many family visits from the girls and their husbands and children.

Greta retired from teaching in the mid 1990's and began spending her time painting, writing, and volunteering, particularly with the elderly community. Andrew retired in the early 2000's and he and Greta then spent a good deal of time traveling. Trips abroad included Italy, France, Israel, Portugal, and a European river cruise. As she got older, Greta started to develop some orthopedic issues that required surgery. Life began to slow down for her and for Andrew, but they enjoyed being together in their house, lunches on the deck with the gorgeous view of the small neighborhood pond, and walking with their two dogs, Domino and MacDuff, every day.

Greta lived a life that was focused on her own family, on the family of friends that she built, and on the students that she nurtured. Greta was intelligent, cultured, insightful, and deeply caring. Once someone was a friend of Greta's, they were a friend for life. From her and Andrew's humble beginnings in the U.S. with just one friend, their legacy is the community they grew into a found family of local and international friends.

The greatest relationship in Greta's life though was the one she shared with Andrew. Theirs was truly a great love for the ages. Andrew, who became a well-known and respected scientist, always said that he owed everything to Greta and was devoted to her until the end. We, who knew and loved them, are glad that they are now together. We can imagine them hand in hand, roaming through the wild mountain thyme of the Scottish hills under a clear blue sky. Will ye go, lassie, go?

A celebration of life service will be held for Greta on Friday, May 8, 2026 at the Colonial Inn in Concord MA, starting at 11:30.

Greta's family is asking that in lieu of flowers, donations be made to The Andrew and Greta Wright Fellowship. You can make your gift online by clicking here .  Choose "Other" under designation, and write in "Andrew and Greta Wright Fund". Or send a check payable to "Trustees of Tufts College" with a note to direct the gift to the "Andrew and Greta Wright Fund" to Tufts University, P.O. Box 3306, Boston, MA 02241-3306.

Arrangements have been entrusted to Dee Funeral Home & Cremation Service of Concord.