Notable New Hampshire Deaths: Former Nashua Alderman; Nurse Who Became an FBI Agent; Well-Known Rock Climber

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The True Cemetery on Bear Hill Road in Chichester contains the remains of Abraham True and about 50 others. True was born in 1755 and served in the Revolutionary War, according to a webpage maintained by the Chichester Cemetery Committee. The gravesite, one of 21 cemeteries in town, is also known as the Shaw Cemetery. True was elected the first senior deacon of the Chichester Congregational Church. He built the Bear Hill school in 1790 and served as Chichester selectman, moderator and state representative for 24 years.

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.

Kay Gertrude (Davidson) Anderson, 75, of Francestown, died May 22, 2024. She was a nurse who left nursing to pursue a career in law enforcement, first as a Special Agent with the FBI investigating organized crime and later with the U.S. Department of Labor as a federal labor racketeering investigator in Philadelphia. She was a clinical investigator for a pharmaceutical company and retired in 2001 as senior director of product quality. She returned to nursing, working at a Pennsylvania prison, then as a nanny. While in Francestown, she was health officer for 10 years and served on the town’s waste disposal committee. (Jellison Funeral Home)

Stanley J. Andrewski III, 52, of North Sutton, died May 24, 2024. He started as a police officer in 1993 with the Webster Police Department, then worked for the Claremont Police Department, rising through the ranks from patrolman to sergeant to lieutenant and captain in 2019. He was the use of force instructor and armorer and then the senior firearms instructor/range officer. He received the Combat Cross in 1996 for rescuing a downed officer while in combat with an armed adversary and in 2012 he was honored with the N.H. Congressional Law Enforcement Award Unit Citation for “Courage and Resolve” during a domestic violence incident in Cornish. He retired in January of 2021 and worked for campus security at New England College, retiring again in January of 2023. (Chadwick Funeral Home)

Therese Marie (Methot) Archambault, 93,of Manchester, died May 25, 2024. She was a reporter for the Manchester Free Press and taught Sunday school at Ste. Marie’s Church. She started her own business called Miss Therese’s Yarn Shop and co-founded the gift shop at Catholic Medical Center when it was Notre Dame Hospital. She worked at the Ward 11 polls for elections and volunteered for several years with the Catholic War Veterans & Auxiliary. She served as Ste. Marie Unit 1749 president from 1961-1962. She volunteered at both the Elliot and CMC hospitals and was recognized for 4,250 lifetime hours of volunteering at CMC. (J. N. Boufford & Sons Funeral Home & Cremation Service)

Brent Armstrong, 78, of New Boston, died May 25, 2024. He served on the planning board, was a member and treasurer of the New Boston Artillery Company, was on the board of directors for the Hillsborough County 4H Foundation, and was a founding member of the New Boston Fourth of July Association. He worked as a caretaker for South Hill Farm in New Boston for many years. (French and Rising Funeral Home) 

Jeanette R. Couch, 85, of Sutton, died May 26, 2024. She was the librarian at the Sutton Free Library for 50 years. She was a member of the Grange for more than 60 years, at Sutton Grange and then Sunapee Lake Grange. (Chadwick Funeral and Cremation Service)

Richard W. Derby, 93, of Pelham, died May 27, 2024. He was a Pelham selectman, cemetery trustee, supervisor of the checklist, trustee of the trust funds and served on other boards. He was a member of the Lions Club and a volunteer fireman. He was once a shoeshine boy, a paper boy and later worked for  Rosenbloom’s in Lowell, Mass. He was owner and operator of Derby Monument in Pelham from 1971 to 2019. He was also a bail bondsman and justice of the peace. (Pelham Funeral Home)

Christopher Paul Fowler, 70, of Derry, died May 23, 2024. A U.S. Army veteran, he also served in the National Guard. He was a mechanical engineer for 33 years for various defense contractors, including Sanders Associates, CISCO Systems, and BAE Systems, retiring in 2017. Earlier in his career, he and his father both worked for Rogers Foam Company in Somerville, Mass., where he helped his dad, Paul Fowler, design the mechanical die allowing for mass production of the Parker Brothers “Nerf” ball. He was a juried member of the League of New Hampshire Craftsmen and created an ornament for the White House Christmas tree during President Bill Clinton’s terms in office. The ornament was a model of the USS Constitution assembled within a clear glass globe. (Peabody Funeral Home)

Joan M. Gray, 81, of Hampstead, died May 25, 2024. She was a teacher in the Salem School District, working for 41 years as a fourth-grade teacher at Soule School. (Goundrey Dewhirst Funeral Home)

Lee A. Hansche, 46, of Allenstown, a well-known rock climber and a long-time employee of Vertical Dreams in Manchester, died May 21, 2024, in an accident at his job. He took great love in introducing people to rock climbing and sharing his excitement for the activity. He mentored countless young people and helped them find their own way in life. He loved exploring every nook and cranny of Rumney and found great love and passion in opening new climbing routes and areas. His passion for exploration led him to contributing significantly to the development of climbing in the greater Waterville Valley area. He assisted the NH Audubon in banding peregrine falcons and educated others about the birds. He is survived by his wife, Victoria Kidd; his father, Ernest Hansche; his brother, Daniel Hansche; and his mother, Robin Mulcahy, a director and founder of the New Hampshire Center for Public Interest Journalism, the nonprofit publisher of InDepthNH.org. (Roan Family Funeral Home)

Timothy Knox, the 17th head of school of Kimball Union Academy in Meriden, died May 24, 2024. He served from 1989 to 2003 at the private boarding school founded in 1813. During his tenure, he oversaw key building initiatives including Doe Dining Hall, the E.E. Just Environmental Center, and the modernization of Chellis Hall. He also instituted significant programmatic impacts including the institution of the honor code, increased access to technology, and meaningful progress in the school’s girl’s programs. One of his first duties when he was hired in 1989 was to staff the recently completed Flickinger Arts Center. (Kimball Union Academy)

Georgette Blanche (Gaudette) Levesque, 95, formerly of Manchester, died May 25, 2024. She was a volunteer at the Community Living Center of the Manchester VA Medical Center for nearly two decades and was recognized as volunteer of the year several years in a row, culminating in a 2009 Spirit of New Hampshire Award in the senior category. In 2013, she received a second-place Myra Kraft Community MVP award of $10,000 by the New England Patriots Foundation, which paid for a renovation of the laundry room at the VA Hospital. (J.N. Boufford & Sons Funeral Home)

Janice Maureen (Stokes) Macneil, 71, of Londonderry, died May 23, 2024. She was a health educator at Lowell (Mass.) High School, Masconomet Regional High School and then Fairgrounds Junior High School in Nashua, She became a senior crisis intervention counselor at the Nashua Youth Council and retired from the Mental Health Center of Greater Manchester as an in-home family crisis intervention counselor. (Dumont-Sullivan Funeral Home)

Dudley M. Outcalt, 73, of Greenland, died May 29, 2024. A congressional appointment led him to the Naval Academy, graduating in 1973 with a degree in physics. He then attended a year of nuclear power training and submarine school and served on the USS Tecumseh. He served on the USS Memphis and left active duty in 1978, continuing in the Naval Reserve, retiring in 2003 after 30 years of service. He worked in the nuclear power and commercial electrical generation industries. He was a professor for 11 years at the Milwaukee School of Engineering. (Legacy.com)

Robert “Mick” O’Gara, 68, of Meredith, died May 20, 2024. He was a ski instructor at Waterville Valley from 1982 to 2018. He was an active member of the Professional Ski Instructors of America (PSIA) from 1981 to his retirement in 2018. He reached the highest certification level in PSIA, Examiner, in 1990. He worked up the ranks of ski teaching and skiing skills for six years, showing dedication and commitment to his goals. In 2015, he was given the Alpine Examiner Emeritus Award. (Mayhew Funeral Homes & Crematorium)

JoAnn O’Shaughnessy, 75, of Hampton, died May 28, 2024. She started her career as a home economics teacher at West High School in Manchester, then in 1975 she and her husband started A Little Folks School House in Manchester, operating it for more than 30 years, selling in 2008. In 2011, she opened another childcare center, the Manchester Child Development Center, which she and her husband operated for eight years. She was a trustee and volunteer for the New Hampshire Audubon Society, receiving the John Thalheimer Volunteer of the Year Award in 2001. She was also a member of the Manchester Conservation Commission. (Connor-Healy Funeral Home and Cremation Center)

Robert A. Robertson, 89, of East Hampstead, died May 27, 2024. He worked for General Electric for more than 20 years, becoming general manager. He joined Textron as a president in optoelectronics and was general manager at Babco Textron. He was a management consultant and became president for General Dynamics, Sunbeam Corporation and Fairchild Fasteners. He was chief operating officer for the Insurance Technology Services of America and president of Consumer Insurance Services of America. (Carrier Family Funeral Home)

David Joseph Rootovich, 68, of Nashua, died May 22, 2024. He was a Nashua Ward 9 alderman from 1994 to 1999, alderman-at-large from 2000 to 2007, and president of the board of alderman from 2002-2003 and 2006-2007. He was vice president of operations for Rentown Inc. for 15 years and was in banking and property management for many years. (Davis Funeral Home)

Dr. S. Scott Sudduth, 87, of Stratham, died May 19, 2024. A U.S. Navy veteran, he was junior ship’s doctor on the USS Lexington and then trained in obstetrics and gynecology. He joined the staff of Exeter Hospital in 1969 as the hospital’s first OB/GYN specialist. He and Winslow Brabson formed Exeter-Hampton OB/GYN, eventually becoming Partners for Women’s Health. He served as chairman of Exeter Hospital’s credentials committee for 15 years and served on the Cancer, Quality and Executive committees. He was division chief of surgical services and the section liaison for obstetrics and gynecology. He was honored by the New Hampshire Medical Society for his 50 years of membership in 2019. (Remick and Gendron Funeral Home-Crematory)

John M. Wolters, 88, of Atkinson, died May 25, 2024. He served on the Atkinson Planning Board for several years. He was a national merchandising manager for Marshalls and later became a real estate developer, general contractor and certified financial planner. (Brookside Chapel & Funeral Home)

WORDS OF WISDOM: “Mostly it is loss which teaches us about the worth of things.” – Arthur Schopenhauer, German philosopher, Feb. 22, 1788, to Sept. 21, 1860

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