ETNA, NH — Amelia Noyes Baughman (Mela) died on January 19, 2020, at home in Etna. She was diagnosed with ALS in the summer of 2014.

She was born July 7, 1934, in New London, CT, the first of three children of Morgan and Barbara Noyes. Mela grew up in Groton, CT, graduated from Robert E. Fitch High School in 1952 and from Connecticut College in 1956. Her first job was as an assistant to the Director of Public Relations at Mitchell College in New London. In 1959, she moved to Boston and worked in the office of Information Services at Harvard Medical School. It was there that she met Richard (Dick) DeWeese Baughman, a senior medical student at Harvard. After his graduation in June of 1960, Mela and Dick were married at the Connecticut College chapel on August 27, 1960. Following a honeymoon in Nantucket, they moved to Hanover, NH, where Dick was beginning a rotating internship at Mary Hitchcock Memorial Hospital. Mela worked in Public Relations at the hospital until Scott was born in 1962. Melissa was born in 1963 and Eric in 1965.

Dick and Mela bought an antique Cape and red barn in Etna, NH, in 1965. The house, drawn down from Moose Mountain by oxen in 1850 became a focus of lifelong interest for both of them. Since the property had once been a working farm, they had lovely old stone foundations on which to site perennial gardens. The extensive stonewalls inspired them to select Robert Frost’s “Mending Wall” as a name for the property.

Working with the house and garden inspired Mela to embark on a new career. She took courses and apprenticed in interior design. In 1979, she joined with designer Elizabeth Smith to form Interiors Northeast. They worked together for a time and then Mela took over the business and conducted it out of an office in her home until 2014. In addition to her clientele in the Upper Valley, Mela worked with clients in other parts of New England including the Boston area.

Mela’s talent to create beauty was most broadly displayed through her magnificent terrace and vegetable gardens. Enjoyed from early spring through late fall, they were the backdrop for weddings, anniversaries, school and family reunions, numerous special events, and the regular dinners on the deck. She welcomed sharing her gardens for formal tours, photo shoots, and even several magazine articles; however she spread the most joy to the countless people who were simply driving by.

Another passion of Mela’s was understanding people. She was introduced to The Myers Briggs Personality Type Indicator (MBTI) by her neighbor and close friend Eccles Pridgen. Her two younger children, Melissa and Eric, also shared her interest and became qualified to administer and interpret the MBTI. Mela and Melissa, a psychotherapist, traveled together to several conferences sponsored by the Association for Psychological Type.

One of Mela and Dick’s greatest joys was having all three children return with their families to the Etna property and form a Baughman compound. In addition to her husband, she is survived by all eleven of the family compound – Scott and his wife, Lisa Ransom, and their three children Madeline, Morgan and Chester, Melissa and her daughter Livy, Eric and his wife, Victoria, and two sons Charlie and Will.

Mela is also survived by her brother, Christopher Morgan Noyes, and his wife, Petie, who reside in Maine and Willa Noyes Breese Barrett and her significant other, Christopher Blaschak, who live in Etna. Willa and her daughters Willa and Kara moved to Etna Village in 1976. Besides working with Mela in the design business, Willa was a major caregiver to her sister during her final years. Mela is also survived by a number of additional family members including her cousin Lydia St. Louis with whom she grew up.

There will be no calling hours. The funeral service will be at the First Baptist Church in Etna at 2pm on Saturday, January 25, with a reception to follow in Trumbull Hall. Ashes will be buried at the Noyes family plot in Mystic, CT, and scattered over the garden at Mending Wall.

The family is most grateful for the integrated care she received from her primary care physicians and the many providers of the ALS Program at DHMC.

In lieu of flowers, contributions in her memory may be made to the ALS Association Northern New England Chapter, 10 Ferry Road, Suite 309, Concord, NH 03301 or to the Visiting Nurse and Hospice for VT and NH, P. O. Box 976, White River Junction, VT 05001-0976 in recognition of the care these organizations provided for her.

“We shall not cease from exploration. And the end of our exploring will be to arrive where we started and know the place for the first time.” (from T.S. Eliot’s “The Waste Land”)

Of the things to which Mela was introduced in college, this has been the most strong and meaningful guideline. The saying illustrates that although we are naive in the early years, we gain insight about ourselves and others over time and look back with new understanding.