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 weeks 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.
Major General (ret.) Roland Lajoie, 87, of Wilton, died Oct. 28, 2023. He was one of the U.S. Army’s foremost experts on the Soviet military. He served two combat tours in Vietnam as an intelligence officer before learning Russian to specialize in the Soviet Union. He was a military attaché in the U.S. Embassy in Moscow and later chief military liaison in Potsdam, East Germany. He became an expert on Soviet military capabilities and doctrine. In March 1985, he helped diffuse a tense Cold War situation when a Russian sentry shot and killed an unarmed American officer, Major Arthur Nicholson Jr., while on a routine mission. Lajoie was Nicholson’s commanding officer and managed the unfolding crisis, protesting the unwarranted killing of the unarmed American, keeping the incident from spiraling out of control. He was selected by the Reagan Administration in 1987 to design a groundbreaking organization to ensure Soviet compliance with the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty. He created the On-Site Inspection Agency (OSIA) and served as its first director. In 1992, he was selected by the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Gen. Colin Powell, to establish and lead a new Office of Military Affairs in the CIA. He retired from the Army in 1994, and then served as the deputy assistant to the Secretary of Defense for cooperative threat reduction, an office mandated by the Nunn-Lugar Act of 1991, assisting in the decommissioning and secure nuclear, chemical, and biological weapons stockpiles in the former Soviet states. In 1998, President Clinton appointed him the U.S. Chairman to the U.S.-Russia Joint Commission on Prisoners of War and Missing in Action. (Michaud Funeral Home & Crematorium)
Richard Alan DuMez Jr., 73, of Enfield, died Nov. 4, 2023. He once lived on a commune in Vermont and became the food and beverage manager of the Hanover Inn. His second career was as a real estate agent. In 2020 he was the Upper Valley Realtor of the Year and then the New Hampshire Realtor of the Year. He was federal political coordinator and a trustee for the Realtor Political Action Committee of the New Hampshire Association of Realtors. (Knight Funeral Home, White River Junction, Vt.)
Jane Frances Holmes, 72, of Peterborough, died Nov. 2, 2023. She worked at Crotched Mountain Center in Greenfield for six years, becoming the director of the speech and language department. In 1982, she became one of the first employees of Rise for baby and family in Keene, an early intervention program for children from birth to age three, where she had a 37-year career. She was a long-time trustee of the Dublin Public Library and a member of the town’s recycling committee. (Legacy.com)
Ernestina “Teena” Parziale, 79, of Epping, died Nov. 6, 2023. She and her husband Michael were co-founders of Exeter Subaru. She was a certified herbalist and owner of the “Olde Tyme Herb Farm” in Epping and also the website “Backyard Herbalist.” She was a published crochet pattern designer who authored more than 10 books. (Brewitt Funeral Home)
Susan R. Ratnoff, 71, of Exeter, died Nov. 5, 2023. She taught special education in the Concord school system, becoming an assistant principal. She became principal of Exeter High School and later worked as a consultant for the N.H. Department of Education. She was special education coordinator for the Greenland Central School. She was also a woodworker and cabinet maker and opened her own business, Taking Shape Designs. (Brewitt Funeral Home)
Russell R. Doucette, 73, of Milan, died Nov. 3, 2023. He served in the National Guard for six years. He worked at Ray’s Gun Shop as a clerk and gunsmith, and served the town of Milan as assistant police chief, assistant fire chief, and fire warden for three districts. (Bryant Funeral Home)
Charles J. Sharpe, 74, of Pelham, died Nov. 6, 2023. While in Portland, Maine, he was a forensic photographer for the sheriff’s department. In New Hampshire, he opened P.I.P’s Jewelry and Gifts in Salem. He was a horse trainer and a roller-skating instructor. (Carrier Family Funeral Home)
Charles Stephen McCrave Jr., 88, of East Andover, died Nov. 4, 2023. He worked for New England Telephone, later Verizon, for 40 years in Rhode Island and Massachusetts. He was a former president of the Andover Historical Society, and a long-standing member of the school board, zoning board, and budget committee. (Chadwick Funeral and Cremation Service)
Priscilla J. (Partington) Sargent, 92, of New London, died Nov. 3, 2023. She was an elementary school teacher and later owned and operated Sargent’s Marina and Lake Sunapee Cottages in Georges Mills with her husband, selling the business in 2000. She sang in the choir of the First Baptist Church of New London and was a member of the Georges Mills Ladies Aid. (Chadwick Funeral and Cremation Service)
Elaine Oleniak, 75, of Merrimack, died Nov. 5, 2023. She taught for 35 years in the Manchester School District. She took many trips all over the world, especially after she retired in 2004. (Connor-Healy Funeral Home and Cremation Center)
John Charles Kotheimer, 86, of Hudson, died Nov. 3, 2023. A U.S. Navy veteran, he was the regional and branch president of the Fleet Reserve Association as well as secretary/treasurer. He was commander of the Hudson VFW 5791 for four years and was chairman of the VFW House Committee, volunteered for many years with the VFW Bingo and belonged to the Military Order of the Cootie. He was also involved with the Benevolent 7 Lodge, Masons of Milford. (Dumont-Sullivan Funeral Home)
Harris Twitchell Sr., 87, of Rochester, died Nov. 3, 2023. He was a full-time firefighter for the City of Rochester, retiring in 1990 as assistant chief. (R.M. Edgerly & Son Inc.)
Kenneth H. Patten, 89, of Alexandria, died Nov. 6, 2023. He was a founding charter member of the Alexandria Volunteer Fire Department. He worked for more than 44 years as a machinist for Esty Machine Corp in Bristol and was groundskeeper for the Alexandria United Methodist Church. He and his wife Beverly devoted thousands of hours as volunteer drivers for Bristol Community Services. (Emmons Funeral Home)
Glenn O. Carder, 76, of Nashua, died Nov. 5, 2023. He was a sergeant in the U.S. Air Force veteran and was a senior expense buyer with General Electric, Ametek, Teradyne and retired from MKS Instruments Inc. He was a member of Club National, the Polish American Club and the American Legion James E. Coffey Post 3 of Nashua. (Farwell Funeral Home)
RoseMarie “Pinkie” Grams, 83, of Salem, died Nov. 2, 2023. When living in Andover, Mass., she was involved in youth sports, serving on the executive board of Andover Pop Warner football, as a director of Andover Little League and as an auxiliary member of several sports teams including Babe Ruth baseball. She coached both the Andover High School varsity and junior varsity cheerleaders. In Salem, she volunteered at the Haigh and Barron elementary schools, running after-school craft clubs and horticulture programs and volunteering with the Salem Rams. (Goundrey Dewhirst Funeral Home)
John Nikolas Katralis, 79, of Dover, died Nov. 3, 2023. A native of Greece, he was a tailor for Farnham’s Clothing Store in downtown Dover. In 1979, he and his wife opened John’s Custom Tailoring on Central Avenue, then on Fourth Street. He worked for 40-plus years. He volunteered with the Annunciation Greek Orthodox Church’s annual Greek festival. (Tasker Funeral Home)
Katherine Myrick Mulhern, 95, of Portsmouth, died Nov. 6, 2023. She and her husband Jack were longtime residents of Durham, where Jack was a professor of physics at UNH. She earned a master of theology degree from Harvard Divinity School in 1977 and was pastor to the Gonic Friends Meeting in Rochester. (J. Verne Wood Funeral Home – Buckminster Chapel)
Dr. Réal Gérard Boivin, 79, of Manchester, died Nov. 4, 2023. He taught French at Newmarket High School from 1966 to 1970 and at Manchester Memorial High School from 1970 to 1985, where he was named assistant principal, serving from 1985 to 1998. In retirement, he acquired the Griffin Watch Co., a business selling vintage watch parts nationally to watchmakers, which he operated for 15 years. (Lambert Funeral Home & Crematory)
Pamela Jean McGinnity, 66, of Mason, died Nov. 4, 2023. She was a recruiter for several businesses and volunteered for the Displaced Homemakers and the Vestry in the Episcopal Church. She was a Trustee of the Trust Fund and served on the Town Hall Renovation committee. (Michaud Funeral Home & Crematorium)
David S. Huse Sr., 85, of Goffstown, died Nov. 4, 2023. A U.S. Army veteran, he worked 39 years for Western Electric, then AT&T and later Lucent Technologies. He volunteered at the Upper Room in Derry. He and his wife Anita founded the Upper Room food pantry, named the Anita Huse Kitchen. (Peabody Funeral Homes & Crematorium)
Paul O. Boucher, 76, of Epsom, died Nov. 1, 2023. A veteran of the U.S. Air Force, he was a N.H. State Trooper from 1969-1994. (Waters Funeral Home)
WORDS OF WISDOM: “Take up our quarrel with the foe:
To you from failing hands we throw
The torch; be yours to hold it high.
If ye break faith with us who die
We shall not sleep, though poppies grow
In Flanders fields.”
– Poet John McCrae, 1872-1918, from “In Flanders Fields”