Paula Lawson, 49, Wesleyan administrator
In her roles, as wife, mother, sister, friend, associate provost of Wesleyan University in Middletown, Conn., and synagogue leader, Paula (Sossen) Lawson strove for perfection. Family and friends said she often achieved it.
Her goals were high, and she applied as much energy to her work at Wesleyan, where she had been since 1996, as she did to climbing mountains, hosting dinner parties, and human relationships.
Her identical twin sister, Nina S. Sossen of Pelham, recalling Mrs. Lawson's love for the outdoors as a teenager, said she was determined to hike to the highest point in each state, a goal that was ultimately taken up by her husband, Rich, and son, Jack. Mrs. Lawson also set a goal to go to all the sites of past Olympic games and participate in a sport at an Olympic venue.
"While spending her junior year of college in England, Paula was able to go to the site of the 1976 winter Olympic games in Innsbruck, Austria, and ride on the Olympic bobsled track," Nina said. "She also skated at the Olympic arena in Lake Placid, N.Y. These were lifelong goals she was still working on when she died."
Mrs. Lawson died of a heart attack at her Middletown home Sept.21. She was 49.
At Wesleyan University, Mrs. Lawson used her diplomatic skills and her knowledge of higher education to keep things running smoothly. "Paula Lawson was a model academic administrator and a delightful co-worker," Joseph W. Bruno, Wesleyan vice president for academic affairs and provost said in an e-mail.
"She cared deeply about Wesleyan and the success of our faculty and students, and one could always count on her professionalism, her team spirit and on the sincerity and wisdom of her advice and counsel."
Faculty members appreciated her dedication. "Paula had gone from being an administrator to being the administrator," said Claire B. Potter, a Wesleyan professor. "It's people like Paula who get things done. They get us hired and paid, they get our research accounts set up, they straighten out something confusing with the registrar's office."
"Paula was an amazing person," said her sister. "She just wanted to make the world better for others."
Born in Boston, Mrs. Lawson was raised in Canton and Sherborn. She was an early achiever, her sister said. "Paula took up the piano at 5 and then added the flute and piccolo. By high school, she was playing the saxophone, but then looking for more challenge, she decided to play the bassoon as well, even learning to make her own reeds."
One of her sister's "biggest accomplishments," she said, was winning the Mr. Rodgers coloring contest when she was 6 and getting to meet the host of the show in Boston.
The twins were especially close, their only other sibling, David H. Sossen of Sherborn, said. "As children when they were asleep you could hear them speaking to each other in a secret language no one else could understand."
Mrs. Lawson graduated from Dover-Sherborn Regional High School in 1977.
While earning a bachelor's degree in psychology from Carleton College in Northfield, Minn., she studied for a year at the University of Lancaster in England. College mates from Carleton said that while Mrs. Lawson was the epitome of efficiency in school matters in later life, her funny stories, sense of humor, and hearty laugh would throw them into gales of laughter in the dorm.
"It is rare to have a friend who has known you at your least competent, most overwhelmed and dopiest, but still cares," said Beth Hudson-Hankins of Mansfield Center, Conn., one of Mrs. Lawson's Carleton friends. "Paula was passionate about her family, the wilderness, mountains, political gossip, the Olympic games, presidential trivia, and anything that referred to places she had visited."
She was, in fact, "a trivia master," Mrs. Lawson's twin said, who knew the names of the seven original Mercury astronauts, in order of their flights, including middle names and the starting lineup of the 1967 Red Sox.
After Carleton, Mrs. Lawson worked for a year as a researcher at Children's Hospital in Boston and earned a master's degree in education from Harvard University. Then, for several years, she worked as coordinator of academic student services at Northeastern University, her sister said.
When she decided to work toward a doctoral degree in education administration, she enrolled at the University of Michigan. There, she met Richard A. Lawson Jr. They married in 1992.
Though Mrs. Lawson did not complete her doctorate, she fulfilled her dream this spring by completing a demanding program at the University of Massachusetts at Amherst to earn her master's degree in business administration.
At Congregation Adath Israel synagogue in Middletown, Conn., Mrs. Lawson was an active and enthusiastic member. "Paula loved Adath Israel and wanted to share it with everyone," said Eliot Meadow, a fellow board member at the synagogue. "As president of Adath Israel, we had a unique relationship," he said, "I told her what to do. Then, she'd decide if I was right or not. I'd send her a memo, and she'd send it back with corrections. I'd give her an idea, and she'd improve on it. I think she had this effect on all of us."
Besides her husband, son, sister, and brother, Mrs. Lawson leaves her parents, Harold S. Sossen of Marblehead and Rhea Kovar Sossen of Belmont.
A memorial service is being planned for Wesleyan University. A funeral was held at Congregation Adath Israel. 