Susan Lowell Wales Dineen; led multifaith choir in Lynn

SUSAN DINEEN

Susan Lowell Wales Dineen loved to sing, and as director of Bats in the Belfry, a multifaith choir in Lynn, she had an opportunity to share her passion.

"We're just a group of people who love to be together," Mrs. Dineen told the Globe in 1991. "We bring to each other our love of music and a real belief in ecumenism."

Mrs. Dineen, a longtime theater and music teacher, died at her home in Nahant on Aug. 13. She was 76 and had been suffering from central nervous system lymphoma since the early 1990s.

Under Mrs. Dineen's directorship, the choir included more than 30 singers from 20 churches in the Lynn area. The choir was also committed to helping improve the status of women and conducted meetings on social issues pertaining to women.

"It was quite remarkable," her husband, John, said. "It gave her great pleasure to bring together people who had never sung anywhere and get music out of them. If it had not been for her, they probably would not have experienced it."

Mrs. Dineen said in 1991 that what the group shared and provided to others was "truly a gift."

"My feeling is that we are a group who are very blessed to be together," Mrs. Dineen said.

Mrs. Dineen was raised in Westwood, on Sunrise Farm, the daughter of Ralph and Charlotte Lowell. Her father was a prominent philanthropist and businessman known as "Mr. Boston," who, among other endeavors, founded WGBH radio.

Mrs. Dineen attended The Winsor School in Boston and Vassar College. She received a master's in education from Cambridge College. In 1952, Mrs. Dineen married Theodore Herbert Nye Wales, and the couple had three sons.

The marriage ended in divorce in 1978.

In the late 1960s, Mrs. Dineen began teaching music and theater to elementary school pupils. She taught at Pine Hill School in Westwood and the Sanford School in Hockessin, Del., but spent the majority of her career as a teacher at Dedham Country Day School, said her son, Ralph Wales of Providence.

During her time in Dedham, she wrote original plays and scores for her students to perform.

"She was a very, very powerful, charismatic teacher who I think had a dramatic impact on many children's lives," Wales said.

He said his mother maintained relationships with many students years after they took her classes.

In 1983, Mrs. Dineen quit teaching and moved to Nahant, where she married John Dineen in 1986. The couple frequently visited their home on Kezar Lake in Maine and traveled regularly to Dingle, Ireland, where Dineen is part owner of a hotel.

In addition to leading Bats in the Belfry, Mrs. Dineen also directed the choir at Nahant Village Church.

Mrs. Dineen, whom her husband described as a "naturalist," also had a passion for horticulture and was a founding member of Fox Hill Garden Club in Westwood.

"She was a different person," her husband said. "She was a powerful woman, a force."

In addition to her husband and son Ralph, Mrs. Dineen leaves two other sons, Ted Wales of Lexington and Andrew Wales of Newton; three brothers, John Lowell of Nahant, Ralph Lowell of Edgartown, and Jim Lowell of Wrentham; two sisters, Emlen Wheeler of Westwood and Lucy Grimm of Nahant; and five grandchildren.

A service has been held.