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.
Valerie Smith Cole, 82, of Winchester, died Jan. 9, 2024. She taught English and Latin at Thayer High School for more than 30 years, then was a substitute teacher at local high schools. She was a member of the Keene Chapter P.E.O. Sisterhood and helped create the Dan Cole Memorial Scholarship Fund. (Cheshire Family Funeral Home)
Vincent R. Daudelin, 89, of Middleton, died Jan. 15, 2024. He and his late wife owned and operated the former Vinnie’s Pizza in Farmington for 45 years. (Peaslee Funeral Home)
Joseph L. Delahunty, 88, of Salem, died Jan. 16, 2024. A U.S. Army veteran, he was a Salem selectman for five years and the former president of the N.H. Senate, where he served for six terms. He was a member of the Salem Area Chamber of Commerce, president of the Salem Boys Club, a director of N.H. Catholic Charities, and member of the Salem Professional Association, the BPOE, American Legion Post 85, the Ancient Order of Hibernians, Knights of Columbus Council 7572, Derry-Salem Elks Lodge 2226, and the Salem VFW. He was the Chamber of Commerce’s Business Person of the Year for 1985-86. He owned several car washes and Delahunty Nursery and Florist. (Carrier Family Funeral Home)
Richard Ottavio DeVivo, 89, of Gilford, died Jan. 12, 2024. He was co-owner with his brother of Bristol Building Corp. and later owned Drafting Specialties in Gilford. He was a founding board member of the Community Wellness Center in Laconia. (Wilkinson-Beane-Simoneau-Paquette Funeral Home & Cremation Services)
Raymond E. Dixon, 87, of Lebanon, died Jan. 9, 2024. He was operation supervisor for Mary Hitchcock Memorial Hospital who became director of engineering, retiring in 1996. He was a life member of the Elks #2099, the N.H. Hospital Association, serving as president 1987, and a member of N.H. Energy Engineers, New England Hospital Engineers Society, and a founding member of the N.H. Society of Health Care Engineers. (Ricker Funeral Homes & Crematory)
John Francis Earnshaw Jr., 80, of Manchester, died Jan. 12, 2024. He served in the U.S. Navy for more than 20 years, teaching at the Naval War College and OCS in Newport, R.I., and the Fleet Training Center in Mayport, Fla. He worked for Centronics in Hudson, then Digital Equipment Company, retiring from HP Worldwide Services Division as director of customer relations. He served as an usher, lector, Eucharistic minister, and taught CCD at Saint Catherine of Siena Church. He was a third-degree member of the Knights of Columbus, Marian Council 5748 and fourth-degree Knight with the Knights of Columbus, Bishop Bradley Assembly, 0626. He was also a member of the Ancient Order of Hibernians. (Connor-Healy Funeral Home and Cremation Center)
Robert A. Fasanella, 65, of New Ipswich, died Jan. 6, 2024. He started his own law firm with offices in Boston and New Bedford, Mass., then was a partner at Rubin and Rudman law firm in Boston, specializing in environmental and land use law. He was the fourth-generation owner of Henry Hill Farm in Howes Cave, N.Y. (Michaud Funeral Home & Crematorium)
Barbara J. Greenwood, 90, of Bristol, died Jan. 14, 2024. She was a teacher’s aide at Bristol Elementary School and became the school librarian. She worked for her husband’s business, Greenwood Plumbing and Heating Company, and then her son’s business, Bristol Plumbing and Heating, LLC, retiring only recently. She was a library trustee and worked to build the addition to the Minot Sleeper Library. She was also instrumental in establishing a new town office building. Her current project was the new safety facility under construction on Lake Street. She helped plan Bristol’s Christmas program, Santa’s Village, and started the Concert in the Park series. She helped re-establish Bristol Old Home Day. She was a life member of the Bristol Recreation Advisory Council and a ballot clerk for more than 20 years. (Wilkinson-Beane-Simoneau-Paquette Funeral Home & Cremation Services/Emmons Funeral Home)
Wilbur Warner Hartford Jr., 90, of Rochester, died Jan. 7, 2024. He was a baker and chef who found his second calling as a pastor. He was co-owner of Fernald Hackett’s Restaurant until 1979, later working at Frisbie Memorial Hospital’s coffee shop. In 1985 he was asked to become pastor at United Methodist Church in Tuftonboro, since the congregation has dwindled to one parishioner. He went to school to be a lay pastor and remained their pastor until his retirement in 2008. (R.M. Edgerly & Son)
Marie Magdaleine (Vallat) Kaplan, 96, of Nashua, died Jan. 13, 2024. Born in Paris, she worked for newspaper as a photojournalist. She flew in gliders, parachuted from airplanes and achieved a brown belt in Judo. She and her husband settled in Nashua, where she joined the League of Women Voters in the 1960s. She volunteered for 25 years at the Memorial Hospital, gave tours at the Currier Museum, and lectures to high school students about surviving World War II in Paris. (Davis Funeral Home)
Barbara E. MacInnis, 93, of Dover, died Jan. 11, 2024. She taught Sunday School at St. Thomas Episcopal Church, sang in the Junior and Senior Choir, was a volunteer thrift shop worker, and was active in Boy Scout Troop 172. She also served 10 years in Ward 1 as a selectman and was past president of Nomi Theta Rowe Girls Club and a member of Cocheco 4-H Club. She was past president of the Dover Pioneer Garden Club 4 years and an honorable lifetime member of the New Hampshire Federation of Garden Clubs, Inc. (Purdy Funeral Service)
Laura E. McGettigan, 91, of Peterborough and formerly of Wilton, died Jan. 10, 2024. In Wilton, she served many years as a library trustee and a supervisor of the voter checklist. She and her husband built and operated their own textile mill in Wilton. They also provided the school bus service for the Wilton and Lyndeborough schools for 21 years. She volunteered at the Wilton Public and Gregg Free Library and the Wilton Elementary School’s library. (Legacy.com)
Albert W. Savage, 95, of Nashua, died Jan. 15, 2024. He was a U.S. Army veteran and a member of the James E. Coffee Post 13, the American Legion, and the Catholic War Veterans Post 1624. He was vice president and co-owner of the former Nashua Beef Co. and was co-owner and vice president of the Country Club, USA in Chelmsford, Mass. He was a member of the Nashua Council 122 Knights of Columbus, the Nashua Lions Club and the Nashua Lodge of Elks, serving in several leadership roles for more than 70 years. He helped organize and run many youth sports programs. He was named Citizen of the Year for Service in Youth & Community in 1974, the 1981 Citizen of the Year Award from the Nashua Chamber of Commerce, the International Association of Lion’s Club Medal of Honor in 1999, and the Elks Distinguished Citizenship Award in 2009. He was recognized by the governor for his volunteering in 2010. He was presented with a life membership to the Nashua Lions Club in 2017 and in 2020 Al and the late Marion Savage were inducted into the Nashua Athletic Hall of Fame. (Rochette Funeral Home)
Sandra Alyce Ludwig Skora, 78, of Manchester, died Jan. 13, 2024. She was a member of the faculty of the Beech Street School, where she was a fifth-grade teacher and librarian for 35 years. Connor-Healy Funeral Home and Cremation Center)
Adrien R. Thibeault, 94, of Canaan, died Jan. 15, 2024. He operated a real estate office and insurance agency and was a charter member of the original Upper Connecticut Valley Hospital Association that established the Upper Connecticut Valley Hospital in Colebrook. He served on the hospital’s board of directors and was a board member for the Community National Bank in Derby, Vt. (Jenkins & Newman Funeral Home)
WORDS OF WISDOM: “Democracy cannot succeed unless those who express their choice are prepared to choose wisely. The real safeguard of democracy, therefore, is education.” – President Franklin D. Roosevelt, Jan. 30, 1882, to April 12, 1945. (New Hampshire’s First in the Nation Primary is Tuesday, Jan. 23.)