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.
William Bartlett, 62, of Farmington, died Jan. 18, 2025. He bred dairy cattle and showed at many local and national shows, where he won many champion titles. He was a member of the American Milking Shorthorn Society. He and his wife Cheryl owned and operated The Pines Camping Area in Salisbury, Mass. (Peaslee Funeral Home)
Susan Bickford, 65, of Rochester, diedJan. 26, 2025. She retired as a senior master sergeant after serving 21 years with the 202nd Weather Flight unit in the Air National Guard. She was a meteorological technician at the Aumundsen-Scott South Pole Station in Antarctica and worked for the Wells National Estuarine Research Reserve in Wells, Maine, as a geospatial mapping technicians and drone pilot in the National Estuarine Research Reserve System. She founded New England UAV, a drone educational company, and the nonprofit 1000 Drones for 1000 Girls. (R. M. Edgerly & Son)
Claudia Kramer Bissett, 71, of Mirror Lake, died Jan. 19, 2025. She was a musician and librarian, working in many libraries throughout New England including New England Conservatory Music Library, and McDowell Colony Library, and St. Anselm College. She also volunteered in several others. She was a flutist and played with the Nashua Flute Choir, New England Flute Orchestra, Hollis Town Band, Wolfeboro Village Players and Strafford Wind Symphony. (Lord Funeral Home)
Donald Graham Blanchard, 93, of Henniker, died Jan. 3, 2025. He was a U.S. Air Force veteran and a civil engineering teacher at New England College, where he led an effort to gain accreditation for the college’s civil engineering program, retiring in 1996. He was deputy forest fire warden and assistant fire chief for the Henniker Fire Department for more than two decades. (Bennett Funeral Home)
Sister Denise (formerly Patricia) Bourgeois, 88, of Windham and a Sister of Mercy for 69 years, died Jan. 24, 2025. She taught in New Hampshire Catholic elementary schools for 40 years, including Blessed Sacrament School and at St. Anthony’s School in Manchester, St. Patrick Schools in Nashua and Portsmouth, St. Mary’s School in Claremont, and St. Thomas Aquinas School in Derry. (Carrier Family Funeral Home)
Ernest A. Carpenter, 78, of Plaistow, died Jan. 26, 2025. He was a veteran of the U.S. Navy and worked as a glazer at Demers Plate Glass and later Eastern Plate Glass. He and a partner established Timberlane Plate Glass Co. in Plaistow, and he served as president for 32 years. He was a member and past president of the Fraternal Order of Eagles and a longtime member of the Carl Davis Post of the American Legion, Plaistow. (Brookside Chapel & Funeral Home)
Thomas C. Colletta, 66, of Portsmouth, died Jan. 28, 2025. He was a columnist for the 1590 Broadcaster, a weekly newspaper in Nashua, and wrote music reviews for The Spotlight, the arts section of the Portsmouth Herald, and Rock Bottom Record’s Hi-Fi magazine. He was a musician in several local bands and worked at Bull Moose Records for 20 years. He was grand marshal of the Portsmouth Halloween Parade in 2008 and a host of the Spotlight on the Arts award show. (Farwell Funeral Home)
Roberta C. Cullity, 71, of Manchester, died Jan. 23, 2025, only four days after the passing of her husband, William M. Cullity, 71, of Manchester, who died Jan. 19, 2025. Roberta was a tennis teaching pro for several years at Hampshire Hills Sports and Fitness Club in Milford, the Executive Health & Sports Club in Manchester, Jasper Valley Swim & Tennis in Amherst and Bedford Bluffs in Bedford. She also coached the men’s and women’s tennis teams at St. Anselm College for nearly a decade. She was the line judge coordinator at the Volvo International men’s tennis tournament in North Conway in the late 1970s and early 1980s. William worked in sales and consulting for many years, most recently with Spacepole Inc. and Parkside Spruce Consulting. He was an avid golfer at Derryfield Country Club for more than 35 years and helped lead a campaign in 2011 to improve the course’s drainage and irrigation system. He was a trustee of the Boys & Girls Club of Manchester and a member of the Manchester Rotary Club. (Lambert Funeral Home & Crematory)
Nicholas Dimitriou, 71, of Pelham, died Jan. 23, 2025. A native of Greece, he was a commander for the Greek Cypriot army in the Turkish-Cypriot war in 1974. He owned The River Road Café in Tewksbury, Mass., and Dimitriou’s Family Restaurant in Pelham. (Dracut (Mass.) Funeral Home)
Cheryl A. (Cascone) Edwards, 73, of Seabrook, died Jan. 26, 2025. She was a nurse at Lawrence (Mass.) General Hospital for 28 years, including as nurse manager of the emergency room, then at Holy Family Hospital in Methuen and Haverhill, Mass., as director of nursing operations. She was active with the Kiwanis Club and co-created the Lawrence Police Wives Foundation. (Cautadella Funeral Home, Methuen, Mass.)
Lt. Col. Christopher S. Girard, U.S. Air Force (Ret.), 83, of Chester, died Jan. 26, 2025. He was commissioned a second lieutenant at the Air Force Officer Training School in 1966 and spent six years as a missile combat crew commander. He did a tour of duty in Thailand as a transportation officer during the Vietnam War, then served stateside in missile operations, in special investigations and with the Defense Investigative Agency. He retired as the deputy director of intelligence at the Joint Special Operations Command, Fort Bragg, N.C. In retirement, he was a senior surveillance officer with the Maricopa County (Ariz.) Adult Probation Department. (Peabody Funeral Homes and Crematorium)
Paul Guy Huard, 77, of Salem, died Jan. 23, 2025. He was an English teacher in Salem for 33 years until his retirement in 2006. He also coached and officiated for several sports including soccer, boys’ basketball, girls’ basketball, baseball, track, and volleyball. He was adviser to the National Honor Society and a yearbook adviser. He is most known for being the “Voice of Salem High,” announcing basketball and football games for 30 years. He was inducted into the SHS Athletic Hall of Fame as a Special Contributor in 2020. He was also a member of the Salem Budget Committee for 11 years, (Carrier Family Funeral Home)
Francis W. Kennedy Jr., 87, of Hampton, died Jan. 24, 2025. A member of the Army Reserve, he was a chemistry teacher at Haverhill (Mass.) High School and Andover High School, where he was assistant coach for the track & field team. He and his brother owned and operated Playland Arcade at Hampton Beach for more than 50 years. (Remick & Gendron Funeral Home & Crematory)
Nelson E. “Bob” Letourneau, 93, of Jaffrey, died Jan. 23, 2025. A veteran of the U.S. Army, he served 18 years in the New Hampshire National Guard. He was the last of a breed, working as a cobbler, owning and operating Jaffrey Shoe Repair on River Street for 49 years, eventually closing the shop in 2020. (Cournoyer Funeral Home & Cremation Center)
The Rev. Eleanor McLaughlin, 90, of Randolph, died Jan. 26, 2025. She received two Fulbright Fellowships and worked as a professor of history at Wellesley College and later was a professor at Andover Newton Seminary in Newton, Mass. She co-edited a book on the historical justification for women to function as ministers and theologians in the modern church and was an advocate for women’s ordination in the Episcopal church.. In 1981 she was ordained an Episcopal priest at St. John the Evangelist Church in Boston, served as Dean of the Chapel at Mt. Holyoke College in South Hadley, Mass. Later she served as Priest at Christ Church, South Barre, Mass. She last served as Rector at St. Barnabas Episcopal Church, Berlin. (Bryant Funeral Homes)
Francis J. Moriarty, 87, of Keene, died Jan. 18, 2025. He taught in Europe for the University of Maryland European Division Program during the 1960s and in 1968 began teaching history at Franklin Pierce College, working there for 30 years. He wrote on topics of Latin American history and society. He retired with the rank of Professor Emeritus in 1998. In 2022, Franklin Pierce University honored him by the placement of a permanent inscription on the wall of Petrocelli Hall, a word of advice he wrote on the exam booklet of one of his students many years ago, “Don’t give in to the temptation to be average.” (DiLuzio Foley And Fletcher Funeral Homes)
Edith Mary Ann Morrison, 95, of Brentwood, died Jan. 24, 2025. A native of Scotland, she was director of public relations and volunteers at Frisbie Memorial Hospital in Rochester, for 18 years, retiring in 1988. She was a member of Rochester Rotary, N.H. Public Relations Association, N.H. Department of Volunteer Services, and New England Public Relations Association. She served on the boards of the former Strafford Guidance Center and the Dover Children’s Home. (Remick & Gendron Funeral Home & Crematory)
Lynda Rose Poloian, 81, a long-time Manchester resident and now of South Addison, Maine, died Jan. 13, 2025. She was a professor of retailing, teaching retailing, marketing and fashion merchandising at Southern New Hampshire University (then New Hampshire College) from 1975 to 2007. She led the New Hampshire College Dance Team for several years and the author of textbooks, including “Multichannel Retailing and Retailing Principle: Global Multichannel and Managerial Viewpoints.” She also taught at Landsdowne College in London, England. (Legacy.com)
Lt. Col. James Reed Thyng, U.S. Air Force (Ret.), 83, of Pittsfield, died Jan. 16, 2025. He was the son of noted aviator Harrison Thyng and Mary (Rogers) Thyng and was himself a noted aviator, flying F-102 and F-106 Interceptors before volunteering for Vietnam in 1965 where he flew the A-1E Skyraider. He did a brief second tour in Vietnam flying the F-4D Phantom. He reported to the Pentagon and advised the Chief of Staff on the viability of the F-15 and F-16 fighter jets. He entered civilian life in 1973 and worked for a natural gas transmission company in Colorado. He was staff manager of operations and joined the Air Force Reserves. He was promoted to lieutenant colonel in 1981 and retired in 1985 as the Group Deputy Commander, Resources., for the 901st Tactical Airlift Group. After moving to New Hampshire in 1985, he was superintendent of the Littleton Water & Light Department, then joined the N.H. Public Utilities Commission in 1993 as an engineer. He was a Pittsfield selectman from 1998-2001. (Waters Funeral Home)
Rev. Dr. John L. Topolewski, 83, of East Lempster, diedJan. 20, 2025. He served is several positions in the Methodist church, in New Jersey, Pennsylvania, and New York. He was appointed superintendent of the Oneonta District of the Wyoming Annual Conference in 1988, a post he held for eight years. He and his wife were appointed to serve as pastors of the United Methodist Church of the Good Shepherd in Newport, where they worked together 10 years until both retired in 2016. He was an author who wrote on matters of church governance. (Newton-Bartlett Funeral Home)
Arthur William Wiggin, 84, of Plaistow, died Jan. 27, 2025. A veteran of the U.S. Navy, he joined the Exeter Police Department in 1966 and was appointed to the N.H. State Police in 1969, serving with Troop A in Exeter. He was promoted to detective sergeant, lieutenant and retired as commander of the Major Crimes Unit after 32 years. He worked security details for Presidents Gerald Ford, George W. Bush, Bill Clinton, and George H.W. Bush. He once drove John Wayne to the airport. After retiring, he was an Investigator for the Rockingham County Attorney’s office for 15 years. He was a 50-year Mason of the Star in the East Lodge F&AM in Exeter, a member of Gideon Lodge F&AM in Kingston and a former Bektash Shriner. (Brookside Chapel & Funeral Home)
WORDS OF WISDOM: “Death is a challenge. It tells us not to waste time. It tells us to tell each other right now that we love each other.” – Leo Buscaglia, author and motivational speaker, March 31, 1924, to June 12, 1998.