John Hamilton and Paula Smith Hamilton — lives of helping others and mutual devotion

Their family could not imagine them apart.

John Hamilton, 82, and Paula Smith Hamilton, 85, who lost their lives after a catastrophic car crash not far from their home on Walden Street last weekend, shared a love of learning, helping others, and forging human connections, according to family obituaries provided by Acton Funeral Home on Wednesday.

“While a tragic car accident claimed” both of their lives, their family wrote, the couple “were so closely connected that it would have been impossible to imagine either of them having to live without the other.”

Both spent decades working in the mental health field.

Paula dedicated her career to helping couples strengthen their relationships. After moving to Davis, California, she earned a doctorate in marital and family therapy and led workshops for couples in committed partnerships, according to her obituary.

Her family remembered her as someone “more colorful than most of us,” bringing “vitality, opinions, outlandish ideas, creativity, and focus to every interaction every day.”

She loved conversation and connection, never forgetting details about the people she met. Her obituary says she was happiest “engaged in the messy work of finding and keeping human connection,” while her deepest bonds were with her husband, children, and grandchildren.

‘A voracious life’

John built a career as a child psychiatrist after studying medicine and psychiatry at Harvard Medical School. He mentored psychiatric residents at Cambridge Health Alliance, advocated for evidence-based medicine, and helped lead research on treatments for adolescent depression, according to his obituary.

His family wrote that he was driven by “a voracious life of the mind” and “a physical life characterized by boundless energy.”

John was remembered as a physician who applied his curiosity to caring for patients while remaining eager to learn from those around him. His obituary says he was a Distinguished Life Fellow of both the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry and the American Psychiatric Association.

Outside work, the couple shared a love of travel and the outdoors. Their family recalled their sailing from Woods Hole, swimming in Boston-area pools, walking through Europe and the United States, and spending time in places they loved, including Acton, Nantucket, and California.

Paula, who was born in Everett, balanced a love for her Boston roots with a desire to explore the world, traveling to many places, living in others, and eventually settling in at Acton. Her family said the town’s natural beauty and transcendental history helped reconnect her with “the idea of a larger, spiritual force in our world.”

John, meanwhile, never lost the curiosity that began in childhood. His family wrote that his excitement about the world “made it a fascinating place for him — and made him a fascinating person with whom to connect.”

Officials at the Middlesex District Attorney’s Office said John and Paula were in the front seat of their Tesla Model 3 when a Honda Accord driven by a 25-year-old Wilmington man allegedly crossed the double yellow line on Walden Street.

John and Paula succumbed to their injuries after being flown to Lahey Hospital in Burlington. Their two passengers, both 28, from Tacoma, Washington, were injured and taken to an area hospital. The Honda driver was also hurt. 

Authorities had not publicly identified the Honda driver or the passengers in John and Paula’s car as of Wednesday afternoon.  

Paula and John are survived by their children Allison Webster (Andy Stromberg) and Pamela Webster (Ray Richardson); their grandchildren Isabelle and Tess Stromberg, Marena Richardson, and Nalin Richardson (Kaitlyn Richardson); Paula’s sister Louise Catazano and her family; John’s niece Lorri Hamilton; and “a wonderful cohort of friends who enriched” their lives, according to their obituaries.

A celebration of life for the couple is planned for the fall.