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.

Rev. Dr. Arthur E. Athans (Athanasios Emmanuel Athanasiou), 94, of Dover, died Dec. 22, 2024. He was ordained as a deacon in 1955 and to the priesthood in October of that year.  He was assigned to the Annunciation Greek Orthodox Church in Dover, and within a year, the church was destroyed by fire. Under his guidance, a new church opened in 1957. He was instrumental in building a Hellenic Center in 1966, buying picnic grounds and enlarging the church cemetery grounds. He served as chaplain UNH for 25 years and taught for 15 years in the UNH classics department. He retired in 1995 and then served in Somersworth at the Dormition of the Virgin Mary for 15 years. (Tasker Funeral Service)

Lorraine Clark Elwood, 96, of Hillsborough, died Dec. 20, 2024. She and her husband owned Orchard View Farms in Londonderry since 1948. (Davis Funeral Home)

Judith Gibbs Farr, 78, of Laconia, died Dec. 13, 2024. She worked for the Winnisquam Regional School District, starting in 1968 when it was Tilton Northfield High School as a physical education and health education teacher. She was the first female athletic director in N.H. and served as principal from 1996 until her retirement in 2007. She was actively involved with the N.H. Association of School Principals, the National Interscholastic Athletic Administrators Association, and the New Hampshire Interscholastic Athletic Association. She coached field hockey, girls’ basketball, softball, and girls’ and boys’ track and field for more than 18 years and was inducted into the Walter Smith Coaches Hall of Fame and the N.H. Coaches Hall of Fame. In retirement, she taught at Plymouth State. (Legacy.com)

Richard Ernest Fletcher, 89, of Goffstown, died Dec. 19, 2024. A U.S. Air Force veteran, he owned Fletcher’s Oil Service and was a volunteer Goffstown firefighter, serving for 40 years since 1958.  He was appointed fire chief in 1975 and oversaw the creation of the Goffstown Emergency Medical Association and the beginning of ambulance services in Goffstown. He retired in 1997. He was a state representative for five years, from 1999 to 2004 and 2007 to 2008. He was a Goffstown water commissioner since 1997 and a member of the Budget Committee, He also served on the parks and recreation commission and  coached Little League baseball. (French & Rising Funeral Home)

Michelle Rita Hamm, 55, of Rochester, died Dec. 19, 2024. She was landfill environmental manager at Waste Management in Rochester and was recognized during her time with Monadnock Paper in Bennington with the Governor’s Award for Pollution Prevention in 2006. She received the President’s Volunteer Service Award for her work safeguarding New Hampshire’s rivers and streams. (J.N. Boufford & Sons Funeral Home)

Roger E. Hebert, 99, of Hooksett, died Dec. 23, 2024. He was a veteran of the U.S. Navy and served 43 years in the armed forces, including the Air National Guard, U.S. Air Force and Army National Guard. He was postmaster in Suncook and Hooksett, serving more than 36 years working for the U.S. Postal Service. He coached girls’ softball for several years, leading his team to a N.H. State Championship and National Championship title. (Roan Family Funeral Home)

Amy S. (Kennett) Jenkins, 72, of Charlestown, died Dec. 17, 2024. She was a registered nurse for 43 years, including head nurse at Maine Medical Center in Portland, Maine. She had multiple specialties including kidney transplants, oncology and ER medicine. She was school nurse at Fall Mountain Regional High School in Langdon from 1988-2015 and created the peer outreach program. (DiLuzio Foley And Fletcher Funeral Homes)

Earl Robert Jette, 85, of Lebanon, died Dec. 17, 2024. He climbed Mount Kilimanjaro at 75 years old and worked at Dartmouth College as assistant to the executive director of the Dartmouth Outing Club, later retiring as the director of Outdoor Programs and executive director of the Dartmouth Outing Club after 30 years of involvement. He also served on the Lebanon Conservation committee. (Ricker Funeral Home)

Roberta A. “Bobbie” Lattig, 85, of Manchester, died Dec. 22, 2024. She had a long career as an English teacher at Memorial High School in Manchester, where she organized clothing/food drives and fundraisers, establishing the Cecilia Gagnon Lattig scholarship in honor of her mother. She was a member of the Daughters of the American Revolution and the Richelieu Club. (Lambert Funeral Home & Crematory)

William Leak, of Rochester, died Dec. 18, 2024. He was a research forester who was awarded an honorary Doctor of Science degree from UNH in 2023. His accomplishments include more than 180 research publications on topics including New England forest site classification/land typing, site-related silvicultural practice, stand dynamics, modelling and integrated habitat management. He loved talking to students and loggers about the forest and he loved studying the creatures who lived there. He spent countless hours in the woods working with colleagues and leading field trips and wrote many publications used as textbooks. (Purdy Funeral Service)

Gloria J. Neary, 98, of Concord, died Dec. 18, 2024. She was an overseas flight attendant during the 1940s and 1950s, when flight attendants were required to be registered nurses.  She worked for American Overseas Airlines (AOA) for seven years, then moved to Hancock in 1970 to start a horse farm. She worked to have Hancock’s Main Street included on the National Historic Register and was president of the Hancock Historical Society.  She was president of the Peterborough Garden Club. (Bennett Funeral Home)

Barbara Louise (Farnum) Sylvester, 97, of Portsmouth, died Dec. 20, 2024. She was an artist and art  educator in New Hampshire and Southern Maine. She showed her work in many juried exhibits, including at the Ogunquit Art Center and Currier Museum of Art in Manchester. A special retrospective exhibit of her work was held in Portsmouth to celebrate her 80th birthday in 2008. (J. Verne Wood Funeral Home)

Chester L. Willey, 83, of Exeter, and Fort Myers, Fla., died Dec. 18, 2024. He established the first interscholastic varsity soccer program at Exeter High School, where he coached until 1977. He began his teaching and coaching career at Coe-Brown Academy in Northwood, where he taught history and was the sole coach for all boys’ sports teams. In 1969, he joined Exeter Area High School in the history department. He became assistant principal in 1977 and retired in 2001. (Stockbridge Funeral Home)

WORDS OF WISDOM: “I have always been delighted at the prospect of a new day, a fresh try, one more start, with perhaps a bit of magic waiting somewhere behind the morning.” – J. B. Priestley, English novelist and playwright, Sept. 13, 1894, to August 14, 1984