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Gary Osha
Chester — Gary W. Osha, 59, formerly of Randolph, died Tuesday, Sept. 27, 2011 at Dartmouth Hitchcock Medical Center in Lebanon, N.H.
Funeral Services will be held Saturday, Oct. 1 at 2 p.m. at the Day Funeral Home in Randolph, with Rev. Ronald E. Rilling officiating. Private burial with military honors will be at the Vermont Veterans Memorial cemetery in Randolph Center. There are no calling hours. Contributions in his memory may be made to The Animal Rescue & Protection Society, P.O. Box 274, Chester, Vt. 05143; or to the Leslie Osha Scholarship Fund at Randolph Union High School, 15 Forest Street, Randolph, Vt. 05060. Online condolences may be left at www.dayfunerals.com.
Mary G. Wakefield
Portsmouth, N.H. — Mary (Gaiko) Wakefield of Portsmouth, N.H. died peacefully on her 94th birthday, surrounded by her loving family. She was born September 20, 1917 in Detroit Michigan the third of eight children born to polish immigrants, the late Joseph and Tekla (Tutka) Gaiko.
Raised and educated in Bethel, Vt., she graduated from Whitcomb High School in 1936. After graduation, she worked for a time at the former Hotel Emery in Bethel, the Golden Bell Dry Cleaners in West Medford, Mass., and Raytheon Co. in Newton, Mass.
Mary met her future husband, Varrell Wakefield, in 1941. They were married
in 1942 and made their home in Kittery, Maine, where they raised their children. While her children were growing up, she made many clothes for them. She also knitted many sweaters, hats, and mittens for her children, grandchildren, neighbors, and friends. When her children were older, she worked for the former W.T. Grant Company in Portsmouth. Mary lived at her Kittery address for 67 years until relocating to Portsmouth, N.H. in 2009.
She was a member of St. Marks United Methodist Church in Kittery, where she volunteered for many years in the kitchen during fish chowder suppers and Christmas fairs.
When Mary and her husband retired, they joined the Good Sam R.V. Club and traveled extensively throughout the lower 48 states, Alaska, and most of the Canadian Provinces and Yukon Territory.
She is survived by her son James Wakefield and his wife Sandra of York, Maine; a daughter, Elaine Yandow, and her husband Raymond of Leesburg, Fla. and So. Hero, Vt.; five grandchildren; James Wakefield, Jr. and his wife Jennifer of South Berwick, Maine, Michael Wakefield and his wife Rachel also of South Berwick, Timothy Gerry and his wife Jessica of Williston, Vt., Michelle Ziter and her husband Jason of Essex, Vt., and Charlene Hoyt and her husband Scott of Kittery, Maine; step-grandchildren Timothy Yandow of Essex Jct., Vt. and Bobbi Jo Meigs of Homosassa, Fla.; eight great-grandchildren; eight step-great-grandchildren; and one step-great-great-grandchild.
Besides her parents and loving husband of 66 years, she was predeceased by her brothers Stanley, Joseph and Louis Gaiko all of Bethel, Vt., and sisters Caroline Curtis of Rochester, Vt., Antonina Levandoski of Wareham, Mass., and Sophie and Helen Gaiko, also of Bethel.
A period of visitation for the Wakefield family was held Wednesday, Sept. 28 at the J.S. Pelkey Funeral Home, 125 Old Post Rd., Kittery, Mine. Funeral services will be Thursday, Sept. 29 at 11 a.m. at St. Mark’s United Methodist Church, 60 Government Street, Kittery, Maine.
In lieu of flowers the Wakefield family strongly suggests memorials be made in Mary’s memory to St. Mark’s United Methodist Church. Committal services will be held at the West Brookfield cemetery in West Brookfield, Vt., Saturday, Oct. 1 at 11 a.m.
Care for the Wakefield family has been entrusted to the J.S. Pelkey Funeral Home of Kittery, Maine.
Therrien Services
The Mass of Christian Burial for Roland E. Therrien, 63, of Randolph, who died September 18, 2011, was held Friday morning, Sept. 23 at St. Anthony’s Catholic Church in Bethel, with Rev. Kenneth Ekekwe officiating.
Kathy Tarrant-Tafuto was the organist. Readings were given by Helen Sabens and Rich Finigan, and remembrances were shared by Shavonna Bent. Pallbearers were Mark R. Therrien, Glenn Russo, Danny Satre, Tim Townsend, Bruce Kuehn, and James Carpenter.
A reception followed at the White Church in Bethel. Burial will be at a later date at Pleasant View cemetery. Calling hours were held Thursday evening at the Day Funeral Home in Randolph.
Janice Aitken
SOUTH ROYALTON — Janice Eugenia Langdon Lonegren Shea Fournier Aitken, 79, died at her home on Mill Rd. on January 11, 2007, following a short illness.
From 1978-86, she was an award-winning reporter and columnist for the Valley News in Lebanon, N.H.
She was the wife of the late Robert Aitken, Jr., the late D. George Fournier, and the late Chester Totman Shea. Mrs. Aitken was born March 12, 1927, in Phoenix, Ariz. to Louis C. and Ruth Mildred (Wallace) Langdon and lived in Massachusetts before relocating to South Royalton in 1968.
Survivors inlcude her children: Robert Lewis Aitken and wife, Sandi of Granville; Marion "Nonnie: Dahnke Young and husband, Terry of Guilford, Conn.; Sandra Capporticelli and husband, Don of Athens; Bill Lelbach and wife, Sandra of Westport, N.Y.; and Tim Shea and wife, Cheryl of Orlando, Fla.; numerous Landgon and Shea nieces and nephews, and a granddaughter, Casey Brianna Shea of Orlando, Fla.
She graduated from St. Johnsbury Academy in 1945, but didn’t start her professional writing career until age 46. She authored a book, published in 1988, called Sidehill Sketches, which originally appeared in the White River Valley Herald (now The Herald of Randolph). She was also the editor, publisher and owner of the Green Mountain Gazette, a monthly tabloid that focused on Vermont history and Vermonters past and present.
Her ashes will be interred on a fine summer’s day at the Shea family plot in Spring Grove cemetery, Florence, Mass.
Donald W. Calhoun
ROCHESTER — Donald W. Calhoun, 91, of Quarry Hill Creative Center in Rochester, and Miami and Lynne, Fla., died May 5, 2009 at Central Vermont Medical Center in Berlin. He was the husband of Isabelle (Barbara) Hall Fiske, co-founder of Quarry Hill.
He was born June 14, 1917 in Worcester, Mass. He attended college in South Carolina and earned his PhD from the University of Chicago. A professor of sociology at the University of Miami, he met Barbara Hall Fiske in 1988. He became one of her advisors as she earned her M.F.A. from Vermont College and they married
on April 9, 1989.
The author of several respected textbooks, he also wrote “The Oceanic Quest” and “Spirituality and Community, ” a memoir with a focus on his involvement with a variety of groups, including A. J. Muste’s Brookwood Labor College and Quarry Hill.
A lifelong pacifist and conscientious objector, he was a member of the Miami (Fla.) Meeting of the Society of Friends (Quakers), where he was considered an elder. Injured at 50 in an automobile accident, he recovered from a severe head injury and never allowed the ensuing paralysis of his left side to prevent him from doing anything he wanted to do. He had been a top tennis player in college and a sports reporter, and he continued to follow tennis and football throughout his life.
He also continued to teach at the University of Miami into his 70s, and to write. At the time of his death, he was revising a second volume of autobiography. He was a founder and supporter of the Rochester Friends Worship Group, which met at the Rochester Library and at Quarry Hill for some years.
Survivors include his wife, Barbara; his daughter, Lisa Gomez and her husband, Alfredo; his stepdaughter and son-in-law, Isabella (Ladybelle) and Brion McFarlin; three grandchildren; four step-grandchildren; and great-grandchildren.
Memorial services will be held at a future time. The Day Funeral Home of Randolph arranged for a simple cremation, the preference of many Quakers. In lieu of flowers, the family suggests donations to any local food bank, to Amnesty International, or to the American Friends Service Committee.
Marguerite Schenkman
ROCHESTER — Marguerite Quarles Schenkman, 93, of Rochester, Vt. and Central, S.C., died Wednesday, Dec. 24, 2003, at the Park House in Rochester.
She was born July 9, 1910, in Denver, Colo., the daughter of Robert E. Quarles and Florence Lee Bradley. As a teenager, she played violin in the Denver Symphony and performed professionally with her sisters, Alice and Virginia Quarles.
She later pursued graduate studies in music at the Juilliard School and at the American Conservatory in Fontainebleau, France, where she studied with the eminent teacher Nadia Boulanger and, with fellow students, performed Ravel’s String Quartet for the composer.
At Juilliard, she met the conductor Edgar Schenkman and they were married
in 1934. Under Edgar’s baton, she was concertmaster of the Norfolk (Va.) Symphony and principal violist of the Richmond Symphony for nearly two decades.
In the early 1970s, she and Edgar taught and performed at the Royal College of Music in Bangkok, Thailand, and spent a year in Korea as Senior Fulbright Fellows, touring as well in Taiwan, the Philippines, Japan, Indonesia, India, and Vietnam.
Beginning in 1960, the Schenkmans kept a summer home on West Hill in Rochester and played many informal chamber music concerts there. In the last decade of her life, following Edgar’s death in 1993, Marguerite founded the Rochester Chamber Music Society and performed regularly in its summer concert series, greatly enriching the musical life of her adopted home.
Survivors include her sister, Virginia Quarles Wendt of Clemson, S.C.; her children: Peter Schenkman of Toronto, Canada; David Schenkman of Bryantown, Md.; Lucy S. Manson of Central, S.C.; Sarah Schenkman of Savannah, Ga., and Joe Schenkman of Rochester; eight grandchildren; and three great-grandchildren.
Friends are welcome to join Park House residents at an informal gathering in her memory at the Park House this Thursday, Jan. 1 at 3 p.m. A memorial service and concert will be held this summer.
The family suggests memorial contributions to the Rochester Chamber Music Society, which may be sent in care of RCMS President, Larry Hamberlin, P.O. Box 68, Rochester, Vt. 05767.
F. Ray Keyser, Sr.
CHELSEA — F. Ray Keyser, Sr., 102, retired Justice of the Vermont Supreme Court, died Wednesday, March 7, at Eden Park Nursing Home in Rutland.
He was born Sept. 29, 1898, in Woodsville, N.H., the son of Winifred S. and Harriett (Bailey) Keyser. On July 2, 1921, he married
Ellen Larkin of Chelsea, who died in 1976 after 55 years of marriage. He was married
to Ruby Hackett of Tunbridge Jan. 8, 1977. She died in June 1999, after 21 years of marriage.
After his graduation from high school in Woodsville in 1917, he was a student at Norwich University before serving in the Army in World War I. Upon his discharge from the Army, he worked as a banker in Wells River, Chelsea and Lyndonville and later taught school at District #11 in Chelsea. He then became interested in the law and began studying law part time with former Governor Stanley C. Wilson. In 1929 he was admitted to the practice of law and began a distinguished life-long career with the law that eventually resulted in his being appointed Justice in the Vermont Supreme Court.
In the 1930s, he was a law partner with Stanley C. Wilson, Deane Davis and J. Ward Carver, in the Chelsea law firm. It has often been said that this represented the best collection of legal talent ever under one roof in Vermont, since it included two governors, one attorney general, and one Supreme Court Justice.
In October of 1956 he was appointed to the Superior Court by Governor Joseph Johnson. After eight years of distinguished service on the Superior bench, he was appointed to the Supreme Court in October of 1964. He retired from the Supreme bench in 1974, but his value to the judiciary was of such distinction that he continued to serve under special assignments from the Vermont Judicial System until he was 88.
He held many town offices, serving as School Director, Selectman, Moderator, Auditor, Tax Collector, Town Counsel and member of the Prudential Committee of the Chelsea Fire District #1, American Legion Post #61 in Chelsea, and was an 80-year member of the George Washington Lodge #51 F&AM. He was elected to serve two terms in 1937 and 1939 as Chelsea's representative to the State Legislature. He also served as Orange County state's attorney, Secretary of Civil & Military Affairs under Governor Lee Emerson, chief enforcement officer for the Federal Office of Price Administration, and past president of the Vermont Bar Association.
He had been interested in sports over the years, particularly baseball. In the 1920's, he served as catcher for the Chelsea Town Team and following World War II was often called to umpire local games. He was also a life-long ardent and loyal Red Sox fan.
He is survived by his son, former Governor F. Ray Keyser Jr., and daughter-in-law Joan F. Keyser of Proctor; his daughter Natalie Keyser Niles and his son-in-law, David A. Niles of Concord, Mass.; six grandchildren, and nine great-grandchildren; his sister, Doris Kaiser of Wells River; and several nieces and nephews; his step-daughter, Elaine R. Cilley of Tunbridge; four step-grandchildren and six step-great-grandchildren.
He was predeceased by his wives, a brother, Roland Kezer; a sister, Blanche Chandler, and a son-in-law, David P. Cilley.
Calling hours were held Saturday, March 10, at the Boardway & Cilley Funeral Home, Main Street, Chelsea. A funeral service was held Sunday, March 11, at the United Church of Chelsea with the Rev. Brenda L. Howe and Rev. David L. Wolfe officiating. The church was filled with family, friends and colleagues. Also in attendance were several Justices from the Vermont Supreme and Superior Courts, former Senator Robert Stafford, and delegations from the Vermont State Bar Association, the Masonic Lodge and the Chelsea Court.
The service opened with a greeting from Rev. Wolfe and was followed by a prayer from Rev. Howe. There was a time for readings from the Old and New Testaments, followed by a time of remembrances offered by retired Chief Justice of Vermont Supreme Court, Justice Albert W. Barney Jr., and by local businessman and friend Frank Keene. Justice Barney used words like "wise, fair, compassionate" in describing his friend and colleague. He spoke of Justice Keyser as a "tireless worker" and "a mountain of good advice." His friend Frank Keene talked about Ray's commitment to the Chelsea community and his favorite pastimes, eating out and the Boston Red Sox.
Rev. Wolfe read the poem "Footprints" and then shared some of his memories and thoughts of Ray's life. He spoke of Judge Keyser's keen mind, generosity toward family, friends, and community, and his ability to give to others without a thought of what would be returned. The final blessing was given by Rev. Howe, the service ended with the entire congregation, led by organist Dale Post, singing "Take Me Out to the Ball Game."
A committal service will be held later in the spring in the Highland cemetery in Chelsea. In lieu of flowers, donations may be made to the "F. Ray and Ellen L. Keyser Trust Fund for the Chelsea Commons, " in care of Diane Mattoon, P.O. Box 266, Chelsea, Vt. 05038, or to the United Church of Chelsea, P.O. Box 98, Chelsea, Vt., 05038.
