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.
Alan H. Birk, 83, of New London and Blue Hill, Maine, died April 6, 2024. A U.S. Air Force veteran, he was a corporate pilot for NL Industries, W.I. Clark Company and General Signal Corp. In 1981 he became general manager of Buchanan Marine, the largest tugboat and barge operation on Long Island Sound and the Hudson River. He started his own barge inspection and dock building business, AB Marine LLC. He and his wife retired to New London in 2005. He volunteered at the New London Historical Society, Our Lady of Fatima Church, Council on Aging, and New England Healing Sports Association. (Chadwick Funeral Home)
Patricia Ann Blanchard, 89, of Raymond, died April 7, 2024. She worked for 30 years as a Raymond school district lunch lady and retired as a manager of the program. She was a charter member of the Rainbow for Girls in Exeter, was on the advisory board in Candia of the Rainbow for Girls where she received the Grand Cross of Colors, was a member of the American School Food Service Association and a member of the Order of Eastern Star in Derry. (Brewitt Funeral Home)
Joann E. Breen, 94, of Nashua, died April 4, 2024. She was a nurse at Prince George’s General Hospital in Prince Georges, Md., for five years. Her family moved to Nashua in 1968, and she was pianist for Nashua Baptist Church. She was a junior girl scout leader for three years and worked at Greenbriar Nursing Home, becoming service director. She was co-president of the Nashua Garden Club and secretary of the Nashua Soup Kitchen. (Farwell Funeral Service)
Tom Dufresne, 73, of Hollis, died April 6, 2024. He was an avid cyclist and participated in the Pan Mass Challenge to raise money for the Jimmy Fund and the Dana Farber Cancer Center. He rode with his team, Nashua Rides for Hope. Over 16 years, he raised more than $131,000 for cancer research. He was a member and chair of the Hollis Conservation Commission, helping preserve land around Hollis from development. (Farwell Funeral Home)
John S. Hussey Jr., 85, of Dover, died April 7, 2024. He served in the U.S. Army Reserves for several years and was a firefighter with the Somersworth Fire Department and later the Dover Fire Department for 16 years until his retirement. He retired to Zephyrhills, Fla., where he owned a restaurant. (Tasker Funeral Home)
Larry Kenneth Kimball, 73, of Wolfeboro, died April 6, 2024. He taught special education, science and physical education, and coached wrestling and basketball at Winnisquam Regional School District. He was an assistant football coach at Tilton School and established Kimball Insurance Agency in Wolfeboro. (Lord Funeral Home)
Anastasia (Petrakopoulos) Mariolis, 95, a longtime resident of Salem, died April 5, 2024. A native of Greece, she and her family were forced to share their Athens home with armed occupying Nazi and Italian officers during World War II. She studied opera and recorded her copywritten song “Love Me Once More” (March 1961). Her family moved to Salem, and she was a member of the St. Constantine and Helen Church in Andover, Mass. She served on the board of directors of the church and was active in the Order of the Daughters of Penelope and the Philoptochos Society. (Kenneth H. Pollard Funeral Home, Methuen, Mass.)
Dorothy B. Milbury, 84, of Kensington, died April 6, 2024. She began her career in real estate in 1966 at Benny’s Real Estate in Exeter, then started her own business, Milbury Associates, and was a member of the Seacoast Board of Realtors. She was president of the Exeter Rotary Club from 1990-1991 and received Rotary’s Paul Harris Fellowship Award twice. She was a member of the Exeter Area Chamber of Commerce for many years and received the Citizen of the Year Award in Exeter in 2020. She volunteered for Special Olympics and the Seacoast School of Technology Scholarship Awards. Every Christmas Eve for the past 27 years, she and other Rotarians and volunteers decorated the streets of Exeter with luminarias. (Stockbridge Funeral Home)
Marianne Morse, 88, of Francestown, died April 3, 2024. She held several health-care positions including certified nursing assistant, healing touch practitioner, and volunteer coordinator. She was director of activities at Maplewood Nursing Home in Westmoreland. She was a board member of the nonprofit From the Heart Studio and Gardens. She was a television personality for Channel 32 WRLP in Northfield, Mass., and a radio personality for WKNE of Keene. She was owner and operator of the House of Mud N’ Color in West Swanzey. (Cournoyer Funeral Home)
Carl James Nelson, 79, of Glen, diedApril 2, 2024. In New York, he was the longtime superintendent of schools for the Greenport, N.Y., and Hampton Bays, N.Y., schools. After moving to New Hampshire, he was superintendent of SAU 9 (Mount Washington Valley) from 1998 to 2014. In 2005 he was president of the New Hampshire School Administrators Association and Superintendent of the Year in N.H. He considered the completion of the new Kennett High School as his proudest accomplishment. (Furber & White Funeral home)
Colleen O’Shea, 51, of Windham, died April 5, 2024. She coached the Salem High School Cheerleading Team then opened her own gym, Champion Cheer Training Center in Methuen, Mass. She merged the center with another local gym to found Celebrity Cheer, and merged again to form East Celebrity Elite. (Carrier Family Funeral Home)
Cecily S. (Ballou) Quimby, 84, of Gilford and formerly of Laconia, died April 9, 2024. She was chair of the Gilford Budget Committee, chair of the Gilford Old Home Day committee, president of the Taylor Community board of directors, chair of the Our Lady of the Lakes Pastors Advisory Council and member of the LRGH Hospital Auxiliary Board. She also contributed to the Gilford Outing Club, Gunstock Ski Club, Lakeport Women’s Club, Belknap County Extension, Yankee Homemakers, Daughters of the American Revolution, Our Lady of the Lakes New to You Shop and Friends of UNH Hockey. After she retired, she earned her B.S. in behavioral science from UNH and worked at the Odyssey House for Women and as a Belknap County Bail Commissioner. (Wilkinson-Beane-Simoneau-Paquette Funeral Home & Cremation Services)
Barbara Jane Rogers Sanders, 89, of Hanover, died April 4, 2024. She taught home economics at Hanover High School from 1957-1958, before moving to Illinois in 1960. She returned to New Hampshire and taught culinary arts at White Mountain Regional High School for 19 years, retiring in 1997. She was certified as a culinary educator by the American Culinary Federation and became a member of the American Academy of Chefs. She twice won the national gold medal for her recipes from the American Dairy Association and was one of 40 American chefs to represent the United States at the World Cooks Tour for Hunger in South Africa in 1992. She and her husband started an upbreeding program for Simmental cattle before moving their Makanda, Ill., farm to Monroe in 1977. (Rand-Wilson Funeral Home)
Robert Fredrick Schur Jr., 75, of Exeter, died April 5, 2024. He taught grades 7-8 in the Fremont School District and was a coach, then athletic director. He briefly worked in landscaping then returned to education as a paraprofessional in the Exeter School District. He retired in 2015 from the Cooperative Middle School as a seventh-grade social studies teacher. He created the “Kids Who Care” program to assist students facing financial hardship. (Brewitt Funeral Home)
Bertha Rancore Shepard, 101, of Canaan, died April 6, 2024. She was involved in Cub Scouting programs for more than 50 years, as den leader, coach, district training chairman, and for Pack 279 of Lebanon as chairperson, treasurer, and adviser. She was awarded the Silver Fawn award in 1971 and the District Award of Merit in 1981. She was presented the Rena Tracy Lifetime Award in 1992 and Cub Scouter of the year in 1994, along with God and Country Service Award and Distinguished Service Award in 1996. She was a member of Summit Chapter 56 Order of Eastern Star for 40 years where she held the office of Star Point, Worthy Matron, Associate Matron, and was the Secretary for the Order. She was awarded the Rose Award in 1994 for Service to the Community and Eastern Star. She worked as a secretary- receptionist at the Lebanon High School Guidance Office, retiring in 1987. (Ricker Funeral Homes & Crematory)
Betty Grace (Morrow) Stevens, 95, of Kingston, died April 6, 2024. She was a bookkeeper for Christie Poultry Farm in Kingston, Eno Brick Company in Exeter, and Stevens Dairy in Brentwood, Northland Forest Products in Kingston and Highland Hardwoods in Brentwood. She and her husband were founding members of the Pilgrim United Church of Christ, Kingston-Brentwood. She served with the Brentwood Grange and was the Brentwood town treasurer. (Brewitt Funeral Home)
Thomas N. Willcox, 83, of New Castle, diedApril 10, 2024. He had a 20-year career with Howard Johnsons in New York, Florida and Massachusetts. He started his own business in 1987 operating several Burger Kings in Maine and New Hampshire, eventually selling his business in 2001. He served on the Master Association Board of the Wentworth by the Sea community in New Castle. (J. Verne Wood Funeral Home – Buckminster Chapel)
WORDS OF WISDOM: “What we have once enjoyed we can never lose. All that we love deeply becomes a part of us.” – Helen Adams Keller, June 27, 1880, to June 1, 1968