Obit­u­ar­ies 4.17.202

Clara Al­berta Brochu

 

It is with heavy hearts and pro­found sad­ness that the fam­ily of Clara Al­berta Brochu an­nounces her death on March 29, 2024, in Ellsworth, Maine.

Clara was born on Feb­ru­ary 5, 1939, and was the third child of four­teen born to Ger­ard and Bella Brochu who first set­tled their fam­ily in a beau­ti­ful farm­house on the Lane Road in Coven­try.

Clara at­tended Sa­cred Heart High School, grad­u­at­ing in 1957.  She mar­ried Mal­colm Ja­cobs, fa­ther of her daugh­ters Judy, Kath­leen, Sharon, and Laura.  Clara felt a deep sense of pride and joy for Kath­leen, Sharon and Laura while she car­ried a life-long grief from the loss of her in­fant daugh­ter Judy.

Clara was em­ployed in the New­port area at Fish­man’s De­part­ment Store, the East­side Restau­rant, and Aubu­chon Hard­ware.  In the 1970s she moved to the Ellsworth, Maine, area with her daugh­ters.  Clara found em­ploy­ment as a com­pas­sion­ate care­giver for the dis­abled and el­derly.  Her out­go­ing and jovial per­son­al­ity drew many peo­ple to her and her abil­ity to treat her clients with deep com­pas­sion earned her gen­uine love from them.

Clara did­n’t waste a minute when it came to hav­ing fun.  She en­joyed col­lect­ing dolls, rarely pass­ing up the op­por­tu­nity to pur­chase or trade one.  She loved eat­ing out, es­pe­cially if she could en­joy a yummy plate of curly Q’s or a west­ern meal.  She never drove by a yard sale with­out stop­ping and found many trea­sures while trav­el­ing be­tween her Ellsworth home and Ver­mont, where she vis­ited her fam­ily every sum­mer.  Clara of­ten re­laxed by work­ing on cross­word and su­doku puz­zles, which kept her mind sharp.  Her fa­vorite pas­time was a good game of bingo and she of­ten went home a lucky win­ner.  If she hap­pened to lose, she could be heard jok­ingly ut­ter­ing “Bingo sucks!”  She also en­joyed singing and danc­ing at mu­sic jam ses­sions held at Jor­dan’s, Ross Manor, and The Bob­bin Mill.

Clara is sur­vived by her three daugh­ters:  Kath­leen Brown and her hus­band, Bill, Sharon Mal­one and her hus­band, George, and Laura Ja­cobs.  She is sur­vived by seven grand­chil­dren:  Ami, Ste­fani, Christi, Luci, Judy, Vic­to­ria, and Col­lette; along with six great-grand­chil­dren. Clara is sur­vived by her sib­lings:  Eva Brochu, Rita Cho­quette, Lea Cook, Rene Brochu, Ger­ard Brochu, Martha Dupont, Theresa Round and her hus­band, Todd, Pa­tri­cia Mann, and John Brochu and his wife, Claire.

She was pre­de­ceased by her in­fant daugh­ter Judy Ja­cobs; par­ents, Ger­ard and Bella Brochu;
sib­lings: Anna Sanville, Maria Buck, Stephen Brochu, and Al­fred Brochu; and by her great-grand­daugh­ter Mat­tie Elle Purdy.

Clara will be re­mem­bered for her quick wit, fun lov­ing, sassy, stub­born, and sen­si­tive per­son­al­ity.

In her mem­ory, do­na­tions can be made to the Amer­i­can Heart As­so­ci­a­tion, Amer­i­can Di­a­betes As­so­ci­a­tion or for Can­cer Re­search.  A cel­e­bra­tion of live will be held at a later date.

 

James Shel­tra

On March 18, 2024, James (Jim) Shel­tra of New­port died, leav­ing his beloved wife, Kim­berly Bean Shel­tra, af­ter 17 years of mar­riage. He also left be­hind older brother Bernard Shear and his wife, Di­ane; nephews Drew and Jeff of North Car­olina; sis­ter Lisa Marie Spates and her hus­band, Lee; niece Mara Spates and her son Ma­teo of New­port; nephew Lo­gan Spates of North Car­olina; sis­ter Janet Richard of Derby; nephew Lu­cus Richard of South Car­olina; and friends from all over the U.S. and Canada.

Jim was born Feb­ru­ary 5, 1959, to Mary Shear Shel­tra and Leo Shel­tra in New­port, where he resided through­out his life.  He grad­u­ated from North Coun­try High School and went on to work at var­i­ous jan­i­to­r­ial jobs with de­ter­mi­na­tion for per­fec­tion.  He en­joyed work­ing in his yard us­ing his hor­ti­cul­ture skills from high school.

Jim shared his life­long pas­sion for sports with both his fam­ily and friends, root­ing for the Red Sox, Mi­ami Dol­phins, Boston Bru­ins, and Lake Mon­sters. Af­ter re­fur­bish­ing his 1966 Chevy Nova Su­per Sport, it prompted his in­ter­est in all an­tique cars.  Jim’s hunt­ing skills nar­rowed down to lo­cat­ing and cap­tur­ing the per­fect Match­box ve­hi­cle for his nephew Lo­gan, who he al­ways called “lit­tle buddy.”

For­mer class­mates in school, Jim’s friend­ship with Kim later evolved into mar­riage in 2007.  With both of their love of an­i­mals, they adopted dogs from a nearby shel­ter.  Two of the trusted com­pan­ions were Ace, a Ger­man shep­ard mix and Maken­zie, a small ter­rier mix.

Jim was a de­voted fam­ily mem­ber who was al­ways ready to help or ad­vise on needed re­pairs or pro­jects for oth­ers. As a true na­tive Ver­mon­ter, Jim never kept any­one guess­ing what he was think­ing. He was straight­for­ward and stead­fast re­gard­ing his opin­ions and happy to ex­press them.

Brother Bernie: As Jim’s older brother Bernie, we spent his early years bond­ing.  We liked to spend time fish­ing and time with our grand­par­ents at their camp. He was al­ways with me then and to­day.

Nephew Lo­gan: I could­n’t be more grate­ful to have had Jim as my un­cle. My fond­est mem­o­ries were play­ing toss or hit­ting off the tee for hours un­til our par­ents came to pick up my sis­ter and I. The man would do his best to keep the peace be­tween us, with my­self telling Mara how things are sup­posed to be played, whilst Mara played with the dan­de­lions and in­sects, which were of much greater in­ter­est. Jim en­joyed every sec­ond of it. He watched us grow through the years, at­tend­ing just about every sport­ing event, con­cert, and every other ob­tuse ac­tiv­ity. The purest lover of sports that I have ever known, Jim was a reg­u­lar trav­eler of the var­i­ous sport­ing events with his wife, Kim, or best friends — es­pe­cially op­por­tu­ni­ties to put hands on the tro­phies won by the Red Sox and Bru­ins. If there was a chance, a long day trip would be taken. I can’t count on my hands the num­ber of Lake Mon­ster games at­tended with this man. He was al­ways en­thu­si­as­tic for a trip to the Burling­ton area for base­ball and pop­corn. Jim was al­ways a be­liever in keep­ing fam­ily close, re­gard­less of dis­tance. A reg­u­lar caller to all rel­a­tives, one would al­ways ex­pect a weekly chat with the man. Con­ver­sa­tions would range from the un­pre­dictable New Eng­land weather to the lat­est player trades and scores. I’m go­ing to miss those calls, but more the ones I missed. Jim’s mem­ory will never be for­got­ten, for his en­dur­ing love of his friends and fam­ily has left an ever­last­ing im­pres­sion. I love you and will miss you greatly.

Sis­ter Lisa: He called me Lit­tle Sis. Jim and I did­n’t al­ways see eye to eye, like many sib­lings. We ar­gued and laughed over fam­ily, friends, and the fact he was way too old-fash­ioned, and I was stub­born. If I had to pick a mem­ory that shows that he was a car­ing brother, it would be the time I needed a new bi­cy­cle. My fa­ther was re­tired, and he was lim­ited on funds, so Jim went all the way to Burling­ton one day and brought home my first adult 12-speed bike. He had just started his first full-time job at But­ter­fields and did­n’t think twice about get­ting that bike. It was too big, and I know it was ex­pen­sive back in those days, but he bought it be­cause it was for me.  FYI, I had to re­cy­cle it last year be­cause of too much rust.  Later, over the years, he was all about my chil­dren and spoil­ing them with love and at­ten­tion. Thanks Bro, and I hope you’re rid­ing your SS Nova Sport around in the next place real fast and with the mu­sic blar­ing.

Niece Maras: From the time I can re­mem­ber, my un­cle Jim was, and will al­ways be, the best un­cle to me. When he was able, Jim at­tended many of my child­hood mile­stones (birth­days, field hockey games, horse shows, grad­u­a­tion) and al­ways called if he could­n’t make it to hear all about it. Al­ways mak­ing a point he was there.  I think he loved and sup­ported me and my brother just as we were his own chil­dren that he never had the chance to have. He loved his fam­ily near and far. In his last year of life, he made his last beau­ti­ful con­nec­tion with my son. Al­ways re­mind­ing me “Miss Mara, that son of yours is just the cutest thing I’ve ever seen.” That I will cher­ish. The pho­tos I have of you and him will hold close to my heart. I know you’re go­ing to still be in my cor­ner every step of the way that I still need to go. Much love and light my Un­cle Jim. Your Miss Mara.

Jim’s love for fam­ily, his hon­est na­ture and his loy­alty to life­long friends will truly be missed.

There will be no call­ing hours. A pri­vate bur­ial will take place with the fam­ily later in the sum­mer. Re­mem­ber Jim by vol­un­teer­ing at a lo­cal an­i­mal shel­ter or do­nat­ing to the Pope Memo­r­ial Fron­tier An­i­mal So­ci­ety, Pot­ters An­gels Res­cue, or the Jimmy Fund.  Please visit awrfh.com to share your mem­o­ries and con­do­lences.

 

Phyl­lis Belle Roberts Rig­gie

Phyl­lis Belle Roberts Rig­gie, 93, died on April 3, 2024, in El­der­wood Nurs­ing Home in Burling­ton.

She was pre­de­ceased in 2010 by her hus­band, Dr. Brian Rig­gie, the love of her life. She leaves her spe­cial friends and care­givers Kim and Michael Cor­ley of Burling­ton and Do­lores and David Rob­bins of Is­land Pond, who all loved her dearly.

Phyl­lis led a full life.  She was awarded the Eng­lish Book Prize while at Es­sex Junc­tion High School. She grad­u­ated with her RN from Fanny Allen School of Nurs­ing.  She per­formed pri­vate duty care there un­til be­com­ing a re­cep­tion­ist in her hus­band’s den­tal prac­tice. She and Brian trav­eled ex­ten­sively and stayed in sev­eral places for long pe­ri­ods of time.

Phyl­lis and Brian even­tu­ally moved to Is­land Pond, Bri­an’s home­town. She be­came very ac­tive in the Is­land Pond com­mu­nity. She was a re­cep­tion­ist at the med­ical cen­ter and was a mem­ber of the Or­der of the East­ern Star, and the ladies’ aux­il­iaries of the VFW and Amer­i­can Le­gion. Phyl­lis served as a town au­di­tor and a mem­ber of the Civil Board of Au­thor­ity.

Phyl­lis was full of life. She was al­ways rar­ing to go any­where, es­pe­cially clothes shop­ping. She loved hav­ing fun and looked for­ward to at­tend­ing or host­ing a party or din­ner. She ap­peared in and chore­o­graphed the dances in many of the va­ri­ety shows in Is­land Pond. She once found her­self in the same bath­room with Bar­bara Bush and just hap­pened to have with her Bar­bara’s book, which Bar­bara gra­ciously signed. Phyl­lis was an avid reader and could be seen lug­ging a bag of books from the li­brary, enough to last a week be­cause she usu­ally read a book a day.  Any­one who knew Phyl­lis will re­mem­ber her love of dogs, all named af­ter beers. One could of­ten see Sam Adams, her lat­est black lab, pulling her down the street, and she would be lov­ing every minute of it.

Many thanks to all the won­der­ful care­givers at El­der­wood Nurs­ing Home, and the Bayada Hos­pice care team.  A spe­cial thank-you to Di­ane Jarvis…you are a friend for­ever.

She will be in­terred in a pri­vate bur­ial be­side her hus­band in Ver­mont Vet­er­ans Memo­r­ial Ceme­tery. Phyl­lis would love that any con­tri­bu­tions in her mem­ory be made to an an­i­mal shel­ter. To send on­line con­do­lences please visit www.vt­fu­ner­al­homes.com.

 

Kevin A. Rice

Kevin A. Rice, 68, of Spring­field, died sur­rounded by his fam­ily on Thurs­day, April 11, 2024, at Dart­mouth Hitch­cock Med­ical Cen­ter in Lebanon, New Hamp­shire af­ter a brief ill­ness. He was born on Oc­to­ber 19, 1955, in New­port, to Wayne and Frances (Wright) Rice of Or­leans.

He at­tended Lake Re­gion Union High School in Or­leans, grad­u­at­ing in 1973. He went on to at­tend the New Hamp­shire Vo­ca­tional Tech Col­lege in Berlin, New Hamp­shire, and

Ver­mont Tech in Ran­dolph. He mar­ried his high school sweet­heart, Juanita Blod­gett, of Bar­ton, on Au­gust 7, 1976.

Kevin worked at Jones and Lam­son in Spring­field and Fel­lows Cor­po­ra­tion in North

Spring­field be­fore be­gin­ning a 29-year ca­reer at Gen­eral Elec­tric in Rut­land as a tool de­sign en­gi­neer and team leader. While at Gen­eral Elec­tric, Kevin and his team were awarded the Cor­bett D. Caudill Award for de­vel­op­ing a new method­ol­ogy for air­foil die de­sign.

Kevin loved fish­ing, es­pe­cially on the Willoughby River in Or­leans. He also en­joyed

hunt­ing, work­ing in his gar­dens, op­er­at­ing his sawmill, and spend­ing time on Mount Ephraim with his trac­tor. He was an avid sports fan fol­low­ing all the Boston teams as well as col­lege bas­ket­ball. Kevin was an ac­com­plished mar­tial artist, achiev­ing the rank of fourth de­gree black belt in Ok­i­nawan Karate. He also loved cook­ing. His stews, smoked meats, and boiled din­ners were among his spe­cial­ties.

Over the years Kevin and Juanita en­joyed trav­el­ing through­out the United States

and abroad, in­clud­ing Italy, Greece, Spain, Croa­tia, France, Cen­tral Amer­ica, and

the Caribbean, among oth­ers. Wells Beach, Maine, was a fa­vorite yearly va­ca­tion.

Kevin is sur­vived by his wife, Juanita; his two daugh­ters: Laura Rice Seder and her

hus­band, Jonathan, of Wa­ter­town, Mass­a­chu­setts, and Ami Rice of Spring­field; his grand­son Lu­cas Kevin Rice of Spring­field; and sib­lings: Wayne Rice and his wife, Nancy, of

Ken­ne­saw, Geor­gia, Karl Rice and his wife, Kath­leen, of Nashua, New Hamp­shire, Karen Blanchette and her hus­band, Brian, of South Burling­ton, and Ronald Rice and his wife, Ma­ri­ette, of Es­sex Junc­tion. He is also sur­vived by sev­eral nieces, nephews, cousins, and friends.

He was pre­de­ceased by his par­ents, Wayne and Frances Rice; his beloved son Aaron Rice; and sev­eral well-loved fam­ily dogs and cats.

An in­for­mal memo­r­ial will be held at the Hart­ness House in Spring­field on May 18, from 2 to 5 p.m. In­ter­ment will be held at a later date at Pleas­ant View Ceme­tery in Or­leans.

 

Sally Ann McAl­lis­ter

Sally Ann McAl­lis­ter, age 73, died and went to Heaven peace­fully, sur­rounded by fam­ily, on Tues­day, April 2, 2024, at the An­droscog­gin Hos­pice House in Auburn, Maine.

Sally was born in New­port on March 14, 1951, she was the daugh­ter of the late Ur­ban and Re­jane (Mar­tel) Starr. She was a 1969 grad­u­ate of North Coun­try Union High School in New­port. On June 20, 1970, she mar­ried the love of her life, Thomas A. McAl­lis­ter. Sally loved the out­doors, and en­joyed camp­ing, fish­ing, and gar­den­ing as well as cook­ing and sewing.  In her younger years, Sally en­joyed ski­ing and hunt­ing with her hus­band. Prior to her re­tire­ment, she worked as a den­tal as­sis­tant, all while main­tain­ing an im­mac­u­late house and rais­ing her girls.

Sally is sur­vived by her lov­ing hus­band, Thomas A. McAl­lis­ter; her two daugh­ters: Stacey and hus­band, Kar­son Clark, of Lyn­donville, and Tabitha McAl­lis­ter and Greg Nazaroff of Eu­stis, Maine. She also leaves be­hind her five beloved grand­chil­dren: Brit­tany McAl­lis­ter, Michaela Royea, Tay­lor Da­ley, Grace Clark, and Kar­son Clark III.  She also leaves be­hind three great-grand­chil­dren: Ad­di­son and Wil­low Da­ley, and Kea­gan McAl­lis­ter; as well as her beloved sis­ter Linda Al­bergh­ini and sis­ter Jane Leblanc; and broth­ers: Ur­ban Starr Jr. and David Starr.  Sally was pre­de­ceased by her broth­ers: Jay and George Starr.

Fam­ily and friends may share con­do­lences and fond mem­o­ries of Sally on her trib­ute page at www.al­bert-burpee.com.

There will be a ser­vice held at the St. An­dre Bes­seTte Parish in Troy on April 20, at 11 a.m. im­me­di­ately fol­lowed by fel­low­ship and
re­fresh­ments at the Troy Parish Hall.

 

Doris Mae (Rollins) La­Clair 

Doris Mae (Rollins) La­Clair died on April 7, 2024, at the age of 87. She was born on No­vem­ber 5, 1936, in Bar­ton.

Doris’ great­est joy came from spend­ing time with her fam­ily. She was a de­voted, car­ing wife, mother, grand­mother, and great-grand­mother.  Her fun-lov­ing per­son­al­ity will be missed by many.

She is sur­vived by her lov­ing hus­band, Car­roll La­Clair, and her chil­dren: James La­Clair and wife, Cyndy, Gary La­Clair and wife, Jus­tine, Den­nis La­Clair and wife, Sharyn, Tina La­Clair, Mark La­Clair and wife, Joy, Di­ane La­Clair and part­ner, Michael Pous­sard, Dawn La­Clair and hus­band, Glen Her­manow­icz, and by her sis­ters Joan Fro­big and Mary Young.

Doris had 16 grand­chil­dren and 19 great-grand­chil­dren.  She was pre­de­ceased by her son Stephen La­Clair; grand­daugh­ter Shan­non Berg­eron; great-grand­daugh­ter Maken­zie Divers; her par­ents, Her­bert and He­len Rollins; her brother Richard Rollins; and sis­ter Myr­tle Jer­seykowski.

She worked at Sprague Elec­tric for over 30 years.  She greatly en­joyed her work at Sprague and had made many last­ing friend­ships.

There was a pri­vate view­ing for the fam­ily only at Ben­nett Fu­neral Home in Con­cord, New Hamp­shire, on Sat­ur­day, April 13.

Fu­neral ser­vices to honor Doris’ life will be held at a later date at the Vet­er­ans Ceme­tery in Boscawen, New Hamp­shire. Her mem­ory will for­ever live on in the hearts of those who knew and loved her.

 

James D. Ka­vanagh

James Don­ald Lloyd Ka­vanagh died in New­port on Sat­ur­day, April 13, 2024, at 9:21 p.m. sur­rounded by his fam­ily, whom he cher­ished above all.

The life he and his wife, Judy, cre­ated had an amus­ing be­gin­ning when two kids bumped heads un­der­wa­ter go­ing af­ter the same white rock in Wal­lace Pond in Ver­mon­t’s North­east King­dom. Friend­ship turned to courtship, and even­tu­ally a mar­riage of 61 years with four chil­dren, six grand­chil­dren, two bonus grand­chil­dren and two great-grand­chil­dren.

Born in Lac Megan­tic, Que­bec, on Jan­u­ary 3, 1942, James (Jim) was the youngest of eight chil­dren born to Al­bert and Al­ice Ka­vanagh. Later, the fam­ily moved to Beecher Falls, where Jim grew up and went to school. He was a stand­out ath­lete at Canaan Memo­r­ial High School, es­pe­cially in bas­ket­ball and was cap­tain of the 1961 team that won both the league ti­tle and the North­east­ern Con­fer­ence Tour­na­ment.

Jim was also an avid hockey player. He played on sev­eral teams in East­ern Que­bec, and in the Boston area Northshore leagues. Berlin High School in New Hamp­shire, which was a feeder team for the Mon­treal Cana­di­ens, tried to re­cruit him, but he de­clined the of­fer, as he did not want to be that far away from the love of his life, Judy.

At the age of fif­teen, Jim worked load­ing log trucks in Beecher Falls that fed var­i­ous sawmills in the area. This was also the home of the first Ethan Allen fur­ni­ture plant in the coun­try. At the age of six­teen, he took a job as a tour guide for the fac­tory as he was bilin­gual in both French and Eng­lish. This job was a step­ping­stone to a sec­ond ca­reer as a man­u­fac­tur­er’s rep­re­sen­ta­tive in later years.

Af­ter high school, Jim earned his de­gree from the New Eng­land School of Mor­tu­ary Sci­ence where he also served as class pres­i­dent. Jim be­gan his 37-year ca­reer as a fu­neral di­rec­tor in New­port with Rush­ford Fu­neral Home, fol­lowed by sev­eral years with Knight Fu­neral Home in Wind­sor, and re­turn­ing to New­port to be­come a part­ner in what even­tu­ally be­came Con­verse Rush­ford Fu­neral Home. To say he touched the lives of many is an un­der­state­ment. He was hon­ored to help fam­i­lies in their time of need, and he did it with great care and com­pas­sion. This in­cluded pro­vid­ing out­stand­ing ser­vice to the peo­ple of St. Johns­bury dur­ing a time of cri­sis, for which he earned an award from the state of Ver­mont. Jim worked for two years to pass a Ver­mont State law to pro­tect con­sumers of fu­neral ser­vices from fraud and/​or mis­man­age­ment of funds. Jim was also an ac­tive mem­ber and served as pres­i­dent of the Ver­mont State Fu­neral Board and was ap­pointed to the Ver­mont State Board of Fu­neral Ser­vice by Gov­er­nor Made­line Kunin in 1989. Jim re­tired from the fu­neral busi­ness in 1997.

While in Wind­sor, Jim took a hia­tus from be­ing a fu­neral di­rec­tor and ac­cepted a job with Han­son Tools as a man­u­fac­tur­er’s rep­re­sen­ta­tive. He turned this into a sec­ond ca­reer and cre­ated The James D. Ka­vanagh Com­pany, work­ing with the Ver­mont Ethan Allen Fur­ni­ture Di­vi­sion where he built strong re­la­tion­ships that lasted the rest of his life.

Jim es­pe­cially en­joyed pass­ing on his love of sports to an­other gen­er­a­tion, in­clud­ing coach­ing his sons Mike and Tim­my’s Lit­tle League and hockey teams. In ad­di­tion to be­ing a lit­tle league coach, he served as com­mis­sioner and was in­stru­men­tal in or­ga­niz­ing the New­port hockey pro­gram, which be­came part of the Bor­der Mi­nor Hockey League. His teams achieved great suc­cesses and dur­ing their sec­ond year, went on to win league and tour­na­ment cham­pi­onships with an un­de­feated record, and made it to the sec­ond round of the Que­bec provin­cial play-offs. He passed along his love of hockey to his chil­dren and grand­chil­dren who, like him, have all been life­long Mon­treal Cana­di­ens fans (and nat­u­rally de­spise the Bru­ins). Go, Habs, Go!

Jim was in­volved in the lo­cal com­mu­nity as a mem­ber of the Knights of Colum­bus Fourth De­gree, and a life­long mem­ber of the Elks Club. He was pres­i­dent of the St. Mary’s Ceme­tery As­so­ci­a­tion and was in­ducted into and later ran the Or­leans and North­ern Es­sex Ath­letic Hall of Fame. He was also an in­te­gral part of or­ga­niz­ing the first in­ter­na­tional swim of Lake Mem­phrem­a­gog and the in­ter­na­tional speed skat­ing com­pe­ti­tion, both tak­ing place in the 1980s and draw­ing com­peti­tors from all over the world.

Even with ac­tive work and com­mu­nity com­mit­ments, Jim al­ways carved out time for his fam­ily.  Din­ner was at 5 p.m. sharp every day and every­one was there talk­ing over the day, plan­ning fam­ily va­ca­tions, and telling sto­ries and jokes. Fam­ily va­ca­tions in­cluded trips to Maine, New York City, Florida, Aruba, and Ire­land. But the fa­vorite fam­ily trip was an an­nual sum­mer va­ca­tion to Plum Is­land, Mass­a­chu­setts, where all would en­joy days on the beach, swim­ming in the ocean, fish­ing, shop­ping, and play­ing games. Jim and Judy also en­joyed many trips to the Na­tional Fu­neral Di­rec­tors Con­ven­tions, ex­pe­ri­enc­ing des­ti­na­tions such as At­lanta, Charleston, San An­to­nio, and Chicago. It was dur­ing the trip to Chicago that Jim checked off a bucket list item when he and Judy drove to South Bend, In­di­ana, to at­tend a Notre Dame foot­ball game. He was a huge fan of the “Fight­ing Irish” and ex­em­pli­fied the team motto of “Play like a cham­pion to­day” with his com­pet­i­tive na­ture.

In his younger years, his sis­ters af­fec­tion­ately named him Jimmy, a name that was used by those that knew him well and loved him dearly. Jimmy had a kind and gen­er­ous heart and spirit. He was warm, gen­uine, and nur­tur­ing. He loved a good party and was an ex­cel­lent host. Jimmy made friends wher­ever he went and wel­comed every­one into his house and made them feel com­pletely at home. He had the abil­ity to con­nect with in­di­vid­u­als of all ages and was ea­ger to travel with friends and fam­ily and cre­ate mem­o­ries.

Jim is sur­vived by his wife of 61 years, Judy; their four chil­dren: Michael and wife, Cyn­thia, Timmy and wife, Candy, An­drea and hus­band, Ewell, and Katy and hus­band, Mar­tin; six grand­chil­dren: Matthew Ka­vanagh and wife, Kris­ten, Alex Ka­vanagh and wife, Amanda, Sawyer Ka­vanagh and part­ner, Quinn, Jack Ka­vanagh, and Kristo­pher and Eliz­a­beth Smith; two bonus grand­chil­dren, Danielle and Grant Thibault; and two great-grand­chil­dren Evy-Lou Ka­vanagh and Abra­ham Thibault. Jim is also sur­vived by two sis­ters: Noreen Le­gendre and Jean Rainville; brother- and sis­ter-in law David and Pa­tri­cia Nel­son; and many nieces, nephews, and cousins.

He is pre­de­ceased by his par­ents, Al­bert and Al­ice (McIn­er­ney) Ka­vanagh; sis­ters Mar­garet, Pa­tri­cia, Eliz­a­beth, and Kath­leen; brother John-Havey; and his in-laws, Arthur and Cather­ine Nel­son.

A Mass of Chris­t­ian bur­ial will be cel­e­brated at St. Mary’s Star of the Sea Catholic Church in New­port on Fri­day, April 19, at 11 a.m. A re­cep­tion will fol­low at the East­side Restau­rant in New­port for fam­ily and friends to gather and share sto­ries.

In lieu of flow­ers, do­na­tions can be made in Jim’s mem­ory to North Coun­try Hos­pi­tal, care of the Foun­da­tion Of­fice, 189 Prouty Drive, New­port, Ver­mont 05885, at­ten­tion Wendy Franklin.  In his later years, Jim in­ter­acted with many com­pas­sion­ate nurses and health­care pro­fes­sion­als. He ap­pre­ci­ated the care they pro­vided, and many had a fond­ness for him and his Irish charm. His fa­vorite nurse though was his life­long part­ner, Judy. On­line con­do­lences may be made at cur­tis-britch.com.

 

Her­bert “Herb” Har­vey Dun­bar Jr.

Her­bert “Herb” Har­vey Dun­bar Jr., aged 92, of Glover, died on April 10, 2024. He was born on July 19, 1931, in Brat­tle­boro, to Her­bert H. and Lulu (Slicer) Dun­bar, grew up on Four Winds Farm in East Crafts­bury, and lived an abun­dant life at The High­lands home­place in West Glover.

A 1949 grad­u­ate of Crafts­bury Acad­emy, “Miss Jean” Simp­son played a for­ma­tive role in his love of learn­ing. Herb was drafted into the Army dur­ing the Ko­rean War and served as a cor­po­ral and medic at Mur­phy Army Hos­pi­tal in Waltham, Mass­a­chu­setts, from 1953 to 1955. Herb then re­turned to school and grad­u­ated from the Ver­mont School of Agri­cul­ture as vale­dic­to­rian in 1956. Herb worked for 30 years with the U.S. Soil Con­ser­va­tion Ser­vice as an en­gi­neer­ing tech­ni­cian in the North­east King­dom, where he was rec­og­nized for his ded­i­ca­tion and ex­per­tise.

Herb mar­ried his dear­est Vir­ginia (Ginny) Hub­bard on Oc­to­ber 20, 1954, and for the next 65 years, they raised chil­dren, an­i­mals, and veg­eta­bles to­gether — pour­ing their love and at­ten­tion into grow­ing their fam­ily. Putting their pas­sion into prac­tice, Herb and Ginny es­tab­lished and led the Lone Tree Hill 4-H Club for many years, and he also served in lead­er­ship on the Grange and Lake Re­gion school board. In his re­tire­ment, Herb raised sheep and taught him­self to spin, dye, and weave the wool, spend­ing many peace­ful hours at his spin­ning wheel and demon­strat­ing to oth­ers at lo­cal ex­hi­bi­tions. He al­ways planted and cared for a large gar­den — first to feed his fam­ily and later to share with oth­ers in the com­mu­nity.

Herb was in­quis­i­tive and in­tel­li­gent in thought, and lov­ing and loyal in ac­tion. He en­joyed mu­sic and books, but fam­ily was his high­est pri­or­ity and he shared many happy hours with his chil­dren and grand­chil­dren — hunt­ing and fish­ing in West Glover, boat­ing and play­ing cards at their Nor­ton Pond camp, at­tend­ing band con­certs and school events, and en­cour­ag­ing their pas­sions, what­ever they may be. His was a boun­ti­ful life!

Herb is sur­vived by his chil­dren: Heather Dun­bar of Mag­dalena, New Mex­ico; Har­vey Dun­bar and his wife, Deb Clark, of Glover; Scott Dun­bar and his wife, Mar­i­lyn, of West Chazy, New York; and Ian Dun­bar and his wife, Jane, of Cary, North Car­olina.

He is also survived by his grandchildren: Tristan, Katie, Maclean, Jillian, Andrew, Daniel, Allana, and Emily; six great-grandchildren; and Bethany, Heather Ann, and Ritva-Leena, who are like family to him. Herb was preceded in death by his wife, Virginia Hubbard Dunbar; his siblings: George, Shirley, and Wayne; and his grandson Graham Dunbar.

A pri­vate grave­side ser­vice for the fam­ily will be held at a later date. If peo­ple wish to honor Her­b’s life with a do­na­tion, please con­sider giv­ing to the Glover Am­bu­lance Squad at 48 County Road, Unit 64, West Glover, Ver­mont 05875, or www.glover­am­bu­lance.org.

 

Flo­rence M. Boisvert

Flo­rence M. Boisvert, 95, of Mor­gan, died on April 9, 2024, at her home. She was born on May 10, 1928, in Beauceville, Que­bec, Canada, to the late Napo­lion and Al­ber­tine (Gilbert) Poulin. On May 10, 1952, she mar­ried Edgar Boisvert, who pre­de­ceased her on Jan­u­ary 3, 2017.

Flo­rence en­joyed spend­ing the win­ters in Zephryl­lis, Florida, with her hus­band Edgar, spend­ing time with her fam­ily and friends, and at­tend­ing the fourth de­gree Knights of Colum­bus sup­per meet­ings with her hus­band, Edgar. She was al­ways seen with Edgar rid­ing in their 1930 Model A Ford dur­ing pa­rades and car shows while wear­ing out­fits from the 1930s.

She is sur­vived by her chil­dren: Francine Bai­ley of Mor­gan, Michel Boisvert and his wife, Julie, of John­son, Eddy Boisvert of Mor­gan; sev­eral grand­chil­dren and great-grand­chil­dren; two great-great-grand­chil­dren; brother Patrick Poulin of Sher­brooke, Que­bec; sis­ter Marie Reine Labrie and her hus­band, Lu­cien, of Ma­gog, Que­bec; daugh­ter-in-law Doris Boisvert of Is­land Pond; and nu­mer­ous nieces and nephews.

She was pre­de­ceased by her son Gas­ton Boisvert; grand­son An­drew Boisvert; and son-in-law Bill Bai­ley.

Fu­neral ser­vices will be held at 1 p.m. on Sat­ur­day, April 20, at St. James Catholic Church, 146 Mid­dle Street, Is­land Pond, where a Mass of Chris­t­ian bur­ial will be cel­e­brated with Fa­ther James Butts of­fi­ci­at­ing. If friends de­sire, memo­r­ial con­tri­bu­tions in Flo­rence’s name may be made to St. James Catholic Church, in care of Mater-Dei Parish, P.O. Box 1078, Derby Line, Ver­mont 05830. In­ter­ment will be held at Cimetiere Saint-Hermenegilde in Que­bec at a later date. On­line con­do­lences may be made at cur­tis-britch.com.

 

Mary­Jane Bick­ford

With heavy hearts, the fam­ily an­nounces the pass­ing of Mary­Jane Bick­ford of Glover.  Born Sep­tem­ber 10, 1940, she died peace­fully and sur­rounded by her fam­ily on March 28, 2024, af­ter a brief ill­ness.

Mary­Jane was born in Ithaca, New York, to Glenola Jones and was raised by Glenola and her hus­band, Ray Mc­Coy, in Ver­mon­t’s North­east King­dom.  She was the mid­dle child and only sis­ter to older broth­ers Bobby and Kenny and younger broth­ers Ray­mond and Ron­nie.

Grow­ing up, Mary­Jane at­tended school through the sixth grade and then went to work to help her fam­ily.  She cooked at the fam­i­ly’s log­ging camp and helped raise her youngest brother, Ron­nie.  Her first pay­ing job was work­ing along­side her mother at the Park Restau­rant in Bar­ton.  While work­ing there, she met her fu­ture hus­band, Carl­ton Bick­ford.  They mar­ried on April 16, 1960, and had two chil­dren: Stacey and Jeff.

When not busy rais­ing her fam­ily, she worked in the kitchen at Glover Com­mu­nity School.  She later worked for many years in the Union House Nurs­ing Home kitchen, lov­ingly prepar­ing meals for the res­i­dents.  She also worked for a few years at Sug­ar­woods Farm.  Work­ing at the school was a very en­joy­able ex­pe­ri­ence for her; how­ever, her fa­vorite job was at the nurs­ing home.  In ad­di­tion to in­dulging her pas­sion for cook­ing, she made count­less life­long friends while she was there.

Mary­Jane and her fam­ily en­joyed many camp­ing trips while the kids were young.  Some of their best mem­o­ries were made dur­ing their an­nual stay at Pa­gent Park Camp­ground on Crys­tal Lake in Bar­ton.  Fam­ily and friends would come from all around to join them there.  Af­ter the kids were grown, Mary­Jane and Carl­ton con­tin­ued their camp­ing ex­cur­sions through­out New Eng­land as they ven­tured from one county fair to an­other, fol­low­ing their shared pas­sion for horse pulling.

Any­one that knew her can at­test to Mary­Jane’s pas­sions for many things.  She loved be­ing out­side where she could be found plant­ing, tend­ing, and har­vest­ing her boun­ti­ful veg­etable and flower gar­dens.  She would then turn her har­vest into de­li­cious meals and canned goods for fam­ily and friends. She spent many hours pe­rus­ing cook­books and mag­a­zines or watch­ing a va­ri­ety of cook­ing shows on TV, al­ways on the hunt for new recipes to try for her loved ones.  In her later years, she even took to search­ing the in­ter­net on her cell phone and tablet for en­tic­ing recipes.  The kitchen was most cer­tainly her “happy place.”  When not in the kitchen, she en­joyed sewing, knit­ting, cro­chet­ing, and read­ing.

She was a die-hard fan of the Boston Red Sox, and she never missed a game, no mat­ter how late it ran.  Twice, she was able to travel to Fen­way Park in Boston to cheer on her team in per­son.  For many years she showed her sup­port for the New Eng­land Pa­tri­ots; how­ever, she re­cently had a change of heart and be­came a fan of the Mi­ami Dol­phins, much to the de­light of her grand­son Joe.  She was also an avid Boston Celtics fan, spend­ing even more nights cheer­ing them on from the com­fort of her re­cliner with her beloved dog So­phie, curled up next to her. Mary­Jane had an in­cred­i­ble mem­ory and could tell you much about most any player, re­gard­less of the sport.

Above all else, her great­est joys came from her fam­ily.  As her fam­ily grew through the years, so did her love for each per­son who joined the fam­ily, but es­pe­cially with the ad­di­tion of every grand­child and great-grand­child.  The first of Mary­Jane’s five grand­chil­dren, Jessi spent much of her younger life as Gram’s shadow.  Whether work­ing in the gar­den or cook­ing in the kitchen, Jessi kept Gram en­ter­tained with her knack for con­ver­sa­tion.   Next came Joe, and as men­tioned above, he and Gram con­nected over their shared love of sports; he was also quite fond of a good game of crib­bage, as well as Gram’s hol­i­day good­ies.  James was the third grand­child to ar­rive, and he quickly wrapped him­self around her heart­strings; even as the years passed, he made a point to stop in for a visit as of­ten as he could; he was also known to bat­tle with any­one for Gram’s good­ies!  Be­fore long, Kait­lyn joined the fam­ily as the sec­ond grand­daugh­ter.  She spent much of her child­hood just be­ing with Gram and her dog. Af­ter start­ing her own fam­ily, she moved next door and be­came a lov­ing care­taker of sorts.  She was there to help with any­thing and every­thing that Gram might need.  When grand­daugh­ter Krys­tal was younger, she loved to find her way up­stairs to spend hours play­ing with Gram’s trea­sured dolls. As she, too, cre­ated her own fam­ily, Krys­tal also made a point to stop in for a visit as of­ten as pos­si­ble and made sure that her own chil­dren had the op­por­tu­nity to get to know their Gram Gram.

Mary­Jane is dearly missed and sur­vived by her chil­dren: Stacey and her hus­band, De­nis Lemire, and Jeff and his wife, Nikki Bick­ford.  She leaves be­hind her grand­chil­dren: Jessi and her hus­band, Eddy Sta­ples, Joe and his wife, De­van Bick­ford, James Bick­ford, Kait­lyn and her hus­band, James Wells, Krys­tal and her hus­band, Ben Fos­ter, Megan and her hus­band, Dan Web­ster, Tyler and his wife, Lind­say (Gabel) Rodgers; and her great-grand­chil­dren: Grayson, Wil­low and Elora Sta­ples, Hailee, Hay­don and Han­nah Bick­ford, Caleb (and his very spe­cial mother Jessi Ran­dall) and Miles Bick­ford, Liam, Rowan, Lin­coln, Gage, and Em­ber Wells, Letty, Fin­ley, Dy­lan, and Ri­ley Fos­ter, and Noah, Ad­die, Lo­gan and Asher Web­ster.  She is also sur­vived by broth­ers Ray­mond and his wife, Peggy Mc­Coy, and Ron­nie and part­ner, Fe Mc­Coy; sis­ter-in-law Pauline Laugh­lin; nu­mer­ous nieces and nephews and spe­cial fam­ily mem­bers: Julie Bick­ford and Jeri­cho Dens­more and Shari Bent, and Abby Ba­con and Christo­pher Ba­con.  While it would be im­pos­si­ble to list all of the friends she made through­out her life, there are many who held a very spe­cial place in her heart:  Roland and Sharon Bick­ford, Ja­son and Melissa Racine, Butch and Bon­nie Cur­rier, Gary and Gail Ly­man, Mark and Hope Col­burn, Devin Col­burn and Danielle Grat­ton, Lau­ren and Nick Baker, and Grace Ma­son.  If you were lucky enough to be a friend, know that you were a friend for life; and even if you are not specif­i­cally men­tioned, please know how much she trea­sured each and every one of you!  Fam­ily and friends meant the world to her.

She was pre­de­ceased by her par­ents, Glenola Jones Mc­Coy and Ray Mc­Coy; her hus­band, Carl­ton Bick­ford; broth­ers Bobby and his wife, Lucy Mc­Coy, and Kenny Mc­Coy; broth­ers- and sis­ters-in-law Ernie Col­beth, Bev Col­beth, Stan Bick­ford, and Louise Bick­ford; dear friend Leroy Ma­son, and her beloved cat Em­mitt.

Per Mary­Jane’s wishes, there will be no for­mal ser­vices.  The fam­ily will host a cel­e­bra­tion of her life at her home in Glover this sum­mer, with her ashes to be spread on a windy day.  De­tails will be an­nounced at a later date, and all will be in­vited to at­tend.

BUR­IAL AN­NOUNCE­MENT

Bianca Mackay

Fam­ily and friends of Bianca Mackay, who died on Jan­u­ary 6, 2024, are re­spect­fully in­vited to at­tend the in­ter­ment ser­vice for Bianca, which will be held at the West­look II Ceme­tery in Glover on Sun­day, May 5, be­gin­ning at 10 a.m.  All are wel­come to join in hon­or­ing Bianca fol­low­ing the bur­ial with a visit to the beach at Willoughby Lake or a hike in the area, two of her fa­vorite ac­tiv­i­ties.  Bian­ca’s com­plete obit­u­ary may be found at dg­fu­ner­als.com.