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.
Douglas Andrew Boyd, 76, of Franklin, died July 27, 2025. A U.S. Marine Corps veteran and Purple Heart recipient, he was Franklin’s police chief, retiring in 2001. He worked at the N.H. State Prison and then became a state trooper for 10 years. In 1981, he became Belmont police chief, then Franklin police chief. He started Franklin’s first D.A.R.E. program, helped create the Greater Franklin Crimeline and Neighborhood Watch, and secured a grant for the first Student Resource Officer. He created the Tink Nowell Scholarship Fund, secured in-car video cameras for cruisers, and led efforts to build the city’s new police station. He coached Pop Warner football, Lassie League Softball, rec basketball, and women’s league softball. He served on the City Council for 14 years and was a leader of the N.H. Police Standards and Training Council for 10 years. (Thibault-Neun Funeral Home)
Charbel Abraham Dagher, 77, of Bedford, died July 14, 2025. He owned and operated Rounders Sports Bar & Grill on Brown Avenue in Manchester. (McHugh Funeral Home)
Pauline G. Desautels, 83, of Nashua, died July 25, 2025. She taught 7th grade history at the Spring Street Junior High and Pennichuck Middle School in Nashua for many decades. She was assistant librarian at Nashua High School North and a volunteer at the Nashua Senior Activity Center Library for many years. She was also a trustee of the Nashua Public Library. (Farwell Funeral Service)
Barbara Jones Dill, 81, of Durham, died July 23, 2025. She built a successful freelance art business from her dining room and in 1982 became college designer for Wheaton College, where she worked for 30 years. In 2013, after retiring, she relocated to Durham and was a member of the Durham Planning Board. (Tasker Funeral Home)
Paula R. Eder, 81, of Francestown, died July 24, 2025. She had a decades-long, international coaching practice in Francestown, pioneering her signature Heart-Based Time Management system, which helped thousands of people align their time with their deepest values. She wrote a blog, The Time Finder, and offered a Finding Time Success Kit offering insight into how time can become not a burden, but a gateway to freedom and fulfillment. (Jellison Funeral Home and Cremation Services)
Dr. Alan J. Green, 79, of Nashua, died July 27, 2025. He served in the U.S. Army Medical Corps as a major. He was an obstetrician/gynecologist who was in private practice for three decades with his wife, Dr. Rebecca (Smith) Green, in Nashua. They worked side by side to improve the quality and safety of women’s healthcare and fertility treatment at Southern N.H. Medical Center (formerly Nashua Memorial Hospital). He retired in 2012. (Davis Funeral Home)
Renee Cote Halle, 71, of Manchester, died July 27, 2025. She taught kindergarten and second grade at St. Anthony’s Elementary School for more than 25 years. She was instrumental in starting the school’s Pre-K program. Later, she served as a Title 1 teacher at Beech Street School for five years. (Lambert Funeral Home & Crematory)
Neil Richard Hurd, 83, of Bow, died July 19, 2025. When he was 17, he started an ambulance service and had a career that lasted more than six and a half decades. He and his wife Beverly introduced non-emergency wheelchair transportation in the state. He received commendations from two governors, the State Police Award of Merit, and was named the runner-up for National EMT/Paramedic of the Year in 1987. He served as a medic in the U.S. Army veteran and was post commander of the Loudon American Legion. He was president of the New Hampshire Ambulance Association. (Bennett Funeral Home)
Gerald Francis Janelle, 83, of Rochester and Sanbornville, died July 26, 2025. He was a U.S. Army veteran and served in the N.H. National Guard for 30 years, retiring as a brigadier general. While a helicopter pilot in Vietnam, he flew hundreds of rescue and transport missions and transported comedian Bob Hope to USO events. He worked for three decades in community banking. He was president and chairman of several banks, retiring from Citizens Bank in 1995. (Peaslee Funeral Home)
Ronald C. Martin, 75, of Manchester, died July 23, 2025. A U.S. Air Force veteran, he was a firefighter for 28 years with the Manchester Fire Department. He retired as a lieutenant. (Lambert Funeral Home & Crematory)
Peter Dean Newell, 76, of Laconia, died July 25, 2025. A U.S. Army veteran, he was known by many as the Pizza Man for the time he worked at Weirs Beach. He also worked nine years at Lakes Region General Hospital in Laconia. He was commander of the Laconia VFW Post 1670 and was perhaps best known as a proud Penobscot Native American and chief of the N.H. Intertribal Native American Council for years. He helped establish the Native American Toy Fund, as well as Chapter 1 of the Combat Veterans’ Motorcycle Association, serving as president for years. (Lord Funeral Home)
Lorraine E. O’Neal, 87, of Deerfield, died July 21, 2025. She and her husband Paul established the True Value store in Deerfield and the Radio Grove Hardware store in Raymond. (Brewitt Funeral Home)
Kenneth Lawrence Paul, 84, of Atkinson, died July 17, 2025. He served in the U.S. Coast Guard and had a career of more than five decades with Process Engineering, a cryogenic tank manufacturing company that once employed 300 people and was founded by his father. He served in national organizations including the American Gas Association and the National Fire Protection Association. He was also a consultant with Chart Industries and Cosmodyne. He joined the local Boy Scouts leadership council in 1971 and was president from 1976-1977, earning the Silver Beaver Award for distinguished service. He served on the Timberlane Regional School Board for 12 years beginning in 1978 and was chairman three times. He was appointed to the N.H. State Board of Education by Gov. John Sununu in 1984 and was chairman for a three-year term. He was a board member of Family Bank and the Essex County Gas Company. (Brookside Chapel & Funeral Home)
Augusta Petrone, 88, of Dublin, died Aug. 1, 2025. She and her husband, Ambassador Joseph C. Petrone, were an essential part of New Hampshire’s political landscape for decades, according to Senate President Sharon Carson, R-Londonderry, who released a statement on her passing Friday. Augusta’s husband, Joseph C. Petrone, was ambassador to the United Nations in Geneva, Switzerland, appointed by President Ronald Reagan. Carson said, “Augusta represented the United States around the world alongside Joe, worked to get Ronald Reagan elected as one of Dutch’s Dollies, and cast a crucial electoral vote to make George W. Bush President. I’m not going to remember her as a political activist, but as one of the kindest people I’ve ever met, greeting one and all with a broad smile and a warm welcome.” Several other politicians, including Gov. Kelly Ayotte, also commented on her passing in social media posts. Augusta was educated at the Sorbonne in Paris and taught English in Washington, D.C., and in Seoul, and she also taught French at the Marshalltown, Iowa Community College. After moving to Dublin in 1976, she and her husband were involved in musical and political events at their home. A graveside service is planned for Sunday, Aug. 10, 2025, at 11 a.m. in the Dublin Cemetery. (Cournoyer Funeral Home)
Linda A. Pivin, 64, of Berlin, died July 24, 2025. She was a social worker for the state and was a member of the Kiwanis Club of Berlin, serving as president. She was also a police commissioner and recipient of the Syliva Evans Award, the Gus Rooney Award and the Champion of Children awards. She served on the school board for 12 years. (Bryant Funeral Home)
Zahava Salomon, born Aurica (Goldie) Salomon, 86, of Nashua, died July 24, 2025. A native of Romania, she and her family fled the country during World War II, eventually settling in Tel Aviv, where she remembers dancing in the streets in 1948 to celebrate the birth of the State of Israel. She and her family came to America, settling in California, where she had a career in high fashion, serving as a consultant in the Los Angeles fashion industry. She worked on television productions such as The Love Boat and later brought her talent to Dallas, coordinating wardrobe for prominent clients including Laura Bush. (Davis Funeral Home)
Raymond William Taylor, 77, of Hampton, died July 24, 2025. He was a high school math teacher who then practiced law, working for the state of New Hampshire for more than 40 years, first in the Office of Legislative Services (1974-1976) and then as deputy clerk and clerk of the Rockingham County Superior Court (1976-2015). He served for 30 years on the New Hampshire Supreme Court Advisory Committee of Rules, as well as on the N.H. Bar Association’s Special Committee on Rules of Civil Procedure (1982-1988). He was a long-standing member of the Rockingham County Bar Association, serving on its board of directors (1976-2015) and as secretary (1998-2015). He coached youth soccer, basketball, and baseball for the Hampton Youth Association. He was also an accomplished pianist and trumpeter. (Remick and Gendron Funeral Home-Crematory)
WORDS OF WISDOM: “August is the border between summer and autumn. It is the most beautiful month I know.” – Tove Jansson, Aug. 9, 1914, to June 27, 2001, Finnish author, novelist and painter