WILLIAMSTOWN, Mass. —  With heavy hearts, the family of Tessah Wesley Latson announces her sudden passing on January 21, 2025 at her home in Albuquerque, NM. Tessah was one bright and beautiful soul, with two hearts; one born in Massachusetts and the other transplanted and firmly rooted in New Mexico. This new home she made her own for almost 25 years; the only place Tessah found that relaxed and nourished her soul. Vast desert, wide open vistas, blending of cultures and food mixed with as she would exclaim “360 days of sun a year!” Her only complaint living in the “land of enchantment” was “no Ben and Jerry’s ice cream or real maple syrup, I can live without ketchup but man that fake maple flavored corn syrup stuff is horrible!”

Tessah was born October 27, 1975 to Lynn (Steele) Latson and Edward Latson of Hancock, Massachusetts. She attended school at the Little Red Schoolhouse in South Williamstown, MA and Hancock Elementary School in Hancock, MA. Growing up as the eldest grandchild in the family, Tessah had a distinct taste and voice instilled in her. Once asked what she wanted to eat at age 5 she exclaimed, “duck a l'orange!” This love of fine food was instilled by her grandparents but was tempered throughout life with simple things like Frito Pie from the Five and Dime in Santa Fe because, “it tastes best in the bag sitting on a bench in the sun, people watching in the plaza.”

Tessah graduated in 1993 from Mt. Greylock Regional High School in Williamstown, MA where she met many lifelong friends, played varsity soccer, track and field and was active in theatre productions such as Oliver Twist and Oklahoma! Tessah studied Anthropology at the University of Vermont from 1993-1995 (she left because she hated the frigid northern Vermont winters). A first generation college student, she graduated from the University of Massachusetts Amherst in 1998 where she earned her bachelor's degree in Art and Architectural History. Tessah would even poke fun at her own degree choice stating, “I like to be able to name what kind of Greek column that is; Doric, Ionic, Corinthian, Composite, or Tuscan because accuracy matters!” Her point was, no one cared about columns.

Tessah returned briefly to Massachusetts as she continued her education at Boston University, graduating in 2008 with a degree in Gastronomy and Sociology of Industrialized Food Systems. The following year in 2009, she earned her master’s degree from Lesley University in Cambridge, MA in Intercultural Relations with an emphasis in Community Development, American Social Movement Theory, and Creating Local Food Economies of Scale. Tessah was passionate about not just nutrition and its impact on community health but how food can unite people from all walks of life. She was also a very accomplished baker and cook who appreciated good food and the joy of preparing it for those she loved. Tessah made the finest homemade Caesar salad (homemade croutons of course) and her crowned jewel, almond biscotti with orange chocolate ganache! Like the Greek columns, food was a pillar and source of joy and enjoyment with Tessah and those she loved.

Tessah was a powerful advocate for people with developmental disabilities and those in need in her community. Tessah last served as the New Mexico State Director for Best Buddies International, a non-profit which supports people with disabilities in building friendships, gaining employment and housing, and provides services for families raising children with disabilities. Tessah had also worked as the Director of Barelas Economic Opportunity Center at the Albuquerque Hispano Chamber of Commerce, the Development Coordinator at New Mexico

Community Capital, and as the Program Director of Disability Inclusion at the New Mexico Business Leadership Network. Tessah adored yoga and was a yoga instructor at Bhava Yoga Studio when time permitted. She also started her own consulting business, Moonshadow Alignment LLC.

More important than any of her accomplishments in her impressive career, Tessah was most proud of her daughter Grayson. Tessah and Grayson shared countless adventures together in New Mexico and beyond, traveling often to visit family and friends in New England and enjoyed new experiences in tropical locales such as Hawaii together.

To know Tessah was an experience. Passionate, opinionated and at times just like her mother, Tessah’s life was filled with what she put into it- and at times that was a lot! A perpetual optimist, always striving for something better in her life, Grayson’s life or her community Tessah may be gone but her presence is eternally felt by all who knew her. Her vicious satirical humor mixed with dry Yankee wit, Tess will be remembered for laughing so hard “my shins are sweating” or over quoting movies such as Happy Gilmore, Dumb and Dumber or Spaceballs.

Tessah is survived by her daughter Grayson Eileen Garcia, companion Andrew Cavallier and family, as well as some of the finest and most caring humans she called friends but were more like family of Albuquerque, NM. Her brother Robert Jeremy Latson and his wife Vikki West of Savoy, MA, and her father Edward Latson of Spencer, NY. She was predeceased by her mother Lynn (Steele) Latson, her maternal grandparents Eileen (Walker) and Robert Steele as well as paternal grandparents Warren and Helene (Maki) Latson. Tessah will be deeply missed by all who loved her, including aunts and uncles Kim Steele, Robert and Jennifer Steele, Stuart and Suzanne Steele, Janet Hall and her cousins Tom Steele, Evelyn Haddad, Alex Maki and many more cousins, great nieces, nephews, and beyond.

Rest easy Tessah, I hope you’re having as much “Christmas” (red and green chile together- it’s a New Mexico thing) and real, authentic, 100%, Massachusetts maple syrup whenever you want now!

Services in Massachusetts will be held March 15th, 2025, beginning 10:00 am at The Second Congregational Church, 81 Hancock Road, Williamstown, MA. Burial will immediately follow in the family plot of Southlawn Cemetery, Williamstown, MA

Services in New Mexico will be held March 22, 2025 at 2:00 pm at French Funerals and Cremations, 1111 University Blvd NE, Albuquerque, NM. Interment will be at the discretion of Ms.Grayson Eileen Garcia.