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\n Ingrid Helene Semenza, loving and adored mother, wife, sister, and\n friend, died on March 2, 2017, at the age of 53, in San Jose,\n California. Ingrid was born in Whalley, UK, and moved with her family to\n the US in 1970, and grew up in Leominster, Massachusetts. She attended\n public schools in Leominster, where she distinguished herself\n academically, in cross-country running, and as a competitive chess\n player.\n
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\n Ingrid was a voracious reader, had a lifelong love of literature and\n languages, and was able to read in Russian, French, German, and Latin.\n She was awarded a B.A. in English and Russian Language and Literature,\n cum laude, from Tufts University in 1985. Ingrid then studied at Brown\n University, where she was awarded an A.M. in 1990 and a Ph.D. in 1996,\n both in Slavic Languages. Her dissertation was entitled “Faith Amidst\n the Chaos: Towards an Understanding of the Religious Message Embedded in\n Dostoyevsky’s Besy” (the title of this novel is variously translated as\n The Possessed and The Devils).\n
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\n From a young age, Ingrid was responsible for her living expenses and\n education, and worked her way through high school (at a movie theater\n and amusement park), college (working her way up from the dishroom to\n Student Manager of Tufts Dining Services), and graduate school (serving\n as a teaching assistant for undergraduate Russian courses and a teacher\n for English as a Foreign Language at Brown). She supported herself with\n many other jobs along the way, tending bar, waiting tables, and in\n retail, where she was a top salesperson in high-end kitchen supply shops\n and clothing stores in Boston.\n
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\n Ingrid married Paul Semenza in 1994, and they moved to Maryland, where\n they lived for three years. Ingrid worked on her dissertation, which she\n delivered in October 1995, while working at the American College of\n Cardiology.\n
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\n In August of 1996, Ingrid gave birth to her first son, Nicholas, which,\n along with the birth of her second son, Andrew, four years later,\n transformed her life. Ingrid dedicated the next decade of her life to\n attachment parenting and home schooling of her sons. She was active in\n La Leche League, supporting many nursing mothers, and various\n home-schooling groups in Santa Clara, California, where she moved with\n Paul and Nicky in 1997. Ingrid provided a rigorous education for her\n sons, who entered The Harker School in San Jose in 2007 and 2008. She\n taught independently from 2009 to 2012, teaching individual students\n Math, Latin, and SAT preparation.\n
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\n Ingrid loved to bake, always taking the opportunity to bake something to\n bring to parties or give as gifts. This included the monumental task of\n baking her own wedding cake, a carrot cake with white chocolate cream\n cheese frosting, which she baked, froze, transported from Maryland to\n New York and then assembled and frosted. Having discovered that her sons\n were allergic to not only gluten but also dairy, Ingrid turned her\n talents toward creating all her favorite baked treats without wheat\n flour, butter, or milk. She has passed this love on to her sons, and\n Nicky has been baking for his fellow students at Purdue.\n
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\n As her sons transitioned into Harker, Ingrid became an active volunteer\n and fundraiser, serving as a grade level coordinator, and chairing\n auctions and other functions for the Fashion show, planning the family\n picnic, and participating in the Parent Development Council supporting\n Annual Giving campaigns.\n
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\n Ingrid was always active, and she loved walking and dancing. She always\n sought out the opportunity to join dance classes wherever she moved,\n from Jazzercise to Zumba to UJAM. She was known as an enthusiastic\n participant in classes at the YMCA in the San Jose area. She always\n preferred to walk to shop or run errands, and recently had been walking\n 6 miles a day to and from her job.\n
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\n Ingrid also was a strong advocate of music education and performance,\n supporting piano education for both her sons. Andy has been playing\n classical piano for over a decade, and has participated in international\n piano competitions and festivals.\n
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\n In 2014, Ingrid started a new phase, taking a position at Xangati, a\n technology company in San Jose as an office manager, where she\n epitomized the concept of jack-of-all trades, rapidly taking on support\n roles in finance, HR, marketing, sales, and executive support. One of\n her favorite responsibilities was employee happiness, in which she\n worked as a problem-solver, event planner, and all-around team player.\n Ingrid was completing the transition of the business to Virtual\n Instruments, which acquired Xangati in 2016.\n
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\n Ingrid is survived by her husband Paul, sons Nicholas and Andrew, sister\n Wendy Nilsson and brother Torbjorn Phillpotts.\n