InDepthNH.org scans the websites of New Hampshire funeral homes each week and selects at random some of our friends, relatives and neighbors to feature in this column. The people listed here passed away during the previous week and have some public or charitable connection to their community. InDepthNH.org is now offering obituaries through the Legacy.com service. We view this as part of our public service mission. Click here or on the Obituaries tab at the top of our home page to learn more. And if you know of someone from New Hampshire who should be featured in this column, please send your suggestions to NancyWestNews@gmail.com.
The state lost four men with many years of service in local fire departments last week:
Bruce Porter, 70, of Epsom, died April 10, 2023. He had over 42 years in fire service, starting in a volunteer role with Epsom Fire Department in 1981 and finishing with the rank of lieutenant. He also served the City of Concord as a full-time firefighter for more than 20 years and was the emergency management director. He was involved with the Fire Explorers program and was a certified diver who taught diving for many years. He was a commercial lobster and tuna fisherman, a marksman, and a member of the Sunset Mountain Fish and Game Club. (Roan Family Funeral Home – Still Oaks Chapel)
Dennis “Lenny” Letourneau, 70, of Rochester, died April 10, 2023. He was a captain for the Somersworth Fire Department and worked as a physical therapist for Rehab Three. He was a parishioner of St. Martin Church in Somersworth. (Tasker Funeral Home)
Gary W. Covell, 82, of Pittsburg, died April 9, 2023. He began his own logging business, Gary Covell Logging, also helping many local builders set trusses on new buildings in the area. He was a member and fire warden for the Pittsburg Fire Department. He enjoyed helping at Moriah’s Restaurant and in the general store in Pittsburg. He was a volunteer at the Farnham Memorial United Methodist Church in Pittsburg. (Jenkins & Newman Funeral Home)
Joseph L. Demars, 62, of Seabrook, died April 10, 2023. He started his own vintage comic book company, G & J’s Fantastic Finds, which operated until 2018. He was a former call firefighter for Seabrook and longtime youth sports coach for many Seabrook recreational teams. (Remick & Gendron Funeral Home & Crematory)
Other notable New Hampshire residents who passed away last week:
The Hon. Norman H. Stahl, 92, ofNeedham, Mass., and a native of Manchester, died April 8, 2023. He was appointed a judge on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the First Circuit in 1992 and served until his retirement in 2020. Judge Stahl was nominated to the federal bench in 1990 by President George H. W. Bush, and he served on the U.S. District Court for the District of New Hampshire until 1992, when Bush nominated him to the federal appeals court to replace David Souter, whom Bush named to the U.S. Supreme Court. Earlier in his law career, he was an attorney for the Manchester law firm of Devine and Millimet (later renamed Devine, Millimet, Stahl & Branch) and served as acting city solicitor in Manchester for six months to help reorganize the office. He was a board member of the Manchester Historic Society and the Manchester Institute of Arts. He was a director of the Elliott Hospital, a member of the board of governors of Tufts Medical Center, and a member of Temple Adath Yeshurun. (Lambert Funeral Home)
Juliet d’Lancey Brigham Morford, 71, of Rye, died April 6, 2023. She was an admissions counselor for Smith College in Northampton, Mass., eventually becoming the director of admissions before she retired. She was a substitute teacher and volunteer in the drama department at Greens Farms Academy in Connecticut and was active at Trinity Baptist Church as a member of the worship team and church choir. She moved to Rye in 2003 and was an active member of Middle Street Baptist Church in Portsmouth, where she served as moderator, worked on the missions committee and sang on the music team. She was a member of Sounds of the Seacoast Women’s A cappella Chorus for many years. (Remick & Gendron Funeral Home & Crematory)
Bryan Todd Dalrymple, 44, of New London, died April 10, 2023. A volunteer at Woodcrest Village Senior Living and KLS Community Food Pantry, he also spoke at New Hampshire high schools on safe driving. In a news story in a Seacoast newspaper when he was 33, he addressed students at Spaulding High School in Rochester, telling them of an accident 15 years earlier in New York, when he was in the front passenger seat, his friend driving after having a few drinks, when they struck an illegally parked 18-wheeler, hitting Bryan in the face upon collision. He lost sight in his eye and fractured his skull. He was able to regain most of his abilities after years of physical and occupational therapy. (Chadwick Funeral Home)
John Dabuliewicz, 74, of Warner, died April 8, 2023. He was a selectman in Warner for three years and was an attorney for the State of New Hampshire. (Chadwick Funeral Service)
Robert Streeter Perry, 84, of Keene, died April 7, 2023. He was a camp counselor at the Hill Camp on Silver Lake in Cheshamand served as treasurer, vice president and president of New England Acceptance Corp. in Keene. He was also treasurer of Perry Motors in Peterborough. He served on the boards of Apple Hill Chamber Players, The Woodard Home, Cheshire National Bank, American Red Cross in Keene, Keene Zoning Board of Adjustment, including as chairman, and Keene Lions Club. He was a volunteer for the American Red Cross for over 45 years, a founder and president of Volunteers Enabling Transportation, and a volunteer at the information desk of Cheshire Medical Center. (Cheshire Family Funeral Home)
Dr. Don A. Holshuh, 74, of Surry, died April 7, 2023. He started his medical career in 1976, practicing general medicine, then dermatology from 1979 to his retirement in 2012. He was a member and past president of the N.H. Medical Society and a founding member of the Surry Slow-Pokes Running Club. He was an avid runner and cyclist, completing many marathons and triathlons all over the world. (Foley Funeral Home)
Thomas J. Carlson, 69, of Windsor, died April 7, 2023. He was a self-employed contractor and served as a selectman in Windsor for many years. He had an ultralight pilot license and loved to fly. (Holt-Woodbury Funeral Home & Cremation Service)
Cris T. Goodman, 63, of Stratham, died April 8, 2023. He was CEO of the family business at Portsmouth Paper Company. He also had his own consulting firm, CTG Enterprises. He sat on multiple boards within his industry. (J. Verne Wood Funeral Home)
Arnold Richard Lowrey, 93, of Unity, died April 7, 2023. Formerly of Alstead Center and Columbia, he
was a U.S. Army veteran. He started his career in education as a high school math teacher and continued as a school administrator in the Keene School District until his retirement. (Jenkins & Newman Funeral Home)
Steven D. MacArthur, 57, of Berlin, died April 8, 2023. He was a case manager for Northern Human Resources and was a member of the Fraternal Order of Eagles, the American Legion Post No. 36 in Berlin and the Androscoggin Valley Country Club. (Bryant Funeral Home)
John Francis Sherwood, 83, of Madison, died April 6, 2023. He was the owner of Silver Lake Home Center in Madison. He started a construction company called Sherwood and Cardin Builders in Connecticut and moved to Silver Lake in 1969. He served as a selectman in Madison and started Silver Lake Hardware and Custom Millwork in 1983, later changing the name to Silver Lake Home Center. (Lord Funeral Home)
Eldwin A. Wixson Jr., 91, of Plymouth, died April 6, 2023. A U.S. Army veteran, he had a Ph.D. from the University of Michigan and taught at Waterville and Winslow (Maine) high schools and Keene State College before becoming a full professor of mathematics education at Plymouth State College. He was a member of the Plymouth School Board, Plymouth Planning Board, board of the New Hampshire Electric Co-op, board of Speare Memorial Hospital and board of Rural Utilities Services CFC. He was a founding member of Plymouth Community Guaranty Savings Bank. (Mayhew Funeral Home)
Amy L. Miller, 80, of Peterborough, died April 7, 2023. She earned a Ph.D. from Lancaster University in England and was a private practice psychologist in Massachusetts for many years. She was an avid painter, figure drawer and sculptor. (Michaud Funeral Home & Crematorium)
Irwin Mark Pikus, 86, of Hanover and Martha’s Vineyard, Mass., died April 6, 2023. As a high school student in Philadelphia, he was scouted by the Philadelphia Phillies baseball team to be a pitcher for one of their minor league teams but instead studied physics at Drexel University and then received a Ph.D. in physics from the University of Pennsylvania/Temple University. He worked at General Electric’s Space Sciences Lab and decided to study the law, receiving his J.D. in 1972 from Temple University. He joined the State Department’s new Bureau of Oceans, Environment and Science and became the deputy director of the Office of Advanced Technology. He then worked for the National Science Foundation where he was the head of strategic planning, later for the Department of Commerce’s Bureau of Export Administration. He taught space law at Georgetown University and the University of Virginia and served as a member of Clinton’s Presidential Commission on Critical Infrastructure Protection. (Rand-Wilson Funeral Home)
Daniel Dempsey III, 54, of Loudon, died April 11, 2023. A U.S. Army veteran, he worked for the N.H. Department of Corrections and then joined the U.S. Marshals, serving for 20 years. (Wilkinson-Beane-Simoneau-Paquette Funeral Home)
William Alexander Myers Jr., 82, of Sanbornton, died April 6, 2023. He was a certified Montessori teacher and founded Montessori schools in Plainview, N.Y., Frederiksted, St. Croix in the U.S. Virgin Islands, and Sanbornton. His local school was the Montessori House of Children on New Hampton Road in Sanbornton. (Wilkinson-Beane-Simoneau-Paquette Funeral Home)
Bernard W. Folta, 81, of Claremont, died April 10, 2023. He worked in information technology for many years at the National Life Group insurance company in Montpelier, Vt., before retiring in the late 1990s. He published photos and articles in local newspapers and was one of the founders of the Montpelier Bridge newspaper. He played the viola and served as general manager for the Vermont Philharmonic Orchestra in the early 1970s. He was involved with several community theatre groups in the Central Vermont area. (Stringer Funeral Home)
WORDS OF WISDOM: “Let us endeavor to live that when we come to die even the undertaker will be sorry.” (Attributed to Mark Twain, Nov. 30, 1835 to April 21, 1910)