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Helen Sperling
Rochester — Helen Sperling, 90, died peacefully and without suffering Thursday, March 3, 2011 at the Menig Facility at Gifford Medical Center in Randolph.
Born in Poland on August 6, 1920, she grew up in Berlin, Germany, and emigrated from there to Palestine in 1936. She became a Hadassah nurse and participated in the founding of the State of Israel.
She moved to New York City with her husband, Julius, and her young son, Ehud, in 1953. She gave birth to her daughter, Deborah, in 1957. Julius and Helen followed their son to Vermont in September 2001.
Survivors include her two children and four grandchildren.
Services were held at the Woodlawn cemetery in Rochester on Monday. Arrangements are by Boucher and Pritchard Funeral Directors.
Joan F. Keyser
PROCTOR — Joan F. Keyser, 74, died at her home April 17, 2002.
She was born in White Plains, N.Y., Jan. 20, 1928, the daughter of Arthur and Caroline Friedgen.
She graduated from Scarsdale (N.Y.) High School, and later graduated from Tufts University in 1950, as one of two women in the engineering school, with a bachelor of science degree in mechanical engineering.
Over a period of 30 years, she worked as a statistician at the Tufts Dental School in Boston, Mass., in the bridge design section of the Vermont Highway Department in Montpelier, and as a project engineer with the Callahan Ams Can Machinery division of the Vermont Marble Company in Proctor.
She married
F. Ray Keyser, Jr., on July 15, 1950, and served as first lady during her husband's term as Governor of Vermont.
She received her pin for 20 years of service as volunteer at the Rutland Regional Medical Center and was a member of Proctor Pittsford Country Club for 35 years, serving on, and as Chair of the women's Sports Committee. She designed and made quilts for each of her children, among others, was a dedicated gardener and enjoyed knitting sweaters for her children and grandchildren.
She was particularly fond of fly fishing for Atlantic Salmon in Quebec with her husband on the St. Paul River for over 20 years. She was a member of the Union Church in Proctor and the United Church, Lady Washington Chapter of the Eastern Star and Chelsea Fish & Game Club in Chelsea.
Survivors include her husband of Proctor; a daughter, Carol E. Fjeld, and her husband, George C. Fjeld, MD of Brandon; two sons, Christopher S. Keyser and his partner, Jane Kosmider, of Rutland and Frank Ray Keyser, III, and his wife, k Pamela C. Keyser of Colchester and nine grandchildren. She was predeceased by her parents.
A funeral service was held at the Union Church in Proctor Saturday, April 20, and later that afternoon family and friends gathered for a graveside service at the Highland cemetery in Chelsea. The Rev. Russell Gates of the Union Church in Proctor officiated. Son, Chris Keyser, read a passage from the book "The Red Tent, " and daughter, Carol Fjeld, spoke about her mother's life and read a poem entitled "Mother" written by granddaughter Kayly Fjeld. George Fjeld, a son-in-law, talked about her fishing adventures and read "A Fishing Prayer." Fellowship was held at the United Church in Chelsea, hosted by the church women.
In lieu of flowers, memorial contributions may be made to the Union Church in Proctor, or the United Church of Chelsea, P.O. Box 98, Chelsea, Vermont. Local arrangements were under the direction of the Boardway & Cilley Funeral Home in Chelsea.
Lewis E. Crain
RANDOLPH — Lewis Eldon Crain, 60, died July 2 in the Garden Room at Gifford Medical Center.
A metals design and metallurgy specialist, Crain was crucial to the early success of Vermont Castings, Inc. as he helped create the lines of woodburning stoves that made Randolph the cast iron stove capital of the world.
Outside of his professional life he also was an enormous contributor to his adopted community, bringing his mechanical expertise and legendary joie de vivre to projects such as the legendary Zucchini Festivals of Vermont Castings or theater productions in Chandler Music Hall and Bethany Church.
Most memorable of all, perhaps, Crain was, in the words of his wife Victoria, "a joyful creator of events, hoaxes, pranks, and characters." He was forever proud of the fact that three of his pranks were so good that they were written up for the Associated Press newswire.
The last of these was created when he was working at Vermont Castings. Under cover of night, he re-carpeted the office of his supervisor with a full floor of grassy sod, with a couple of flowers stuck in.
Therefore, when The Herald decided to create an elaborate hoax for an April Fools edition, we naturally turned to Lew Crain. From sheet metal and random fixtures he created the "Proximal Osmotic Degenerator" (POD), a machine which was alleged to coax maple syrup out of dead maple trees. It looked so good that U. S. Sen. James Jeffords was photographed admiring it.
Early in his Randolph years, Crain created several heroic characters, all of whom wore capes and tights and flew out of high places on flimsy cable arrangements. For various Vermont Castings celebrations, he created Zucchini Man, Married Man, and Cast Man (for the opening of the foundry.)
Others remember him in a blue bathrobe and flying ace cap and goggles, leading a line of children in the Vermont Castings Owners Outing to the dunking booth, or as a teller of corny jokes as MC of the Mud Season Talent Show.
He could create more serious characters, too, such as a moving portrayal of Tevya in a production of "Fiddler on the Roof" on the Chandler stage.
Crain loved to build things. He collaborated on the design and building of the gazebo in downtown Randolph and built many sets for Chandler Music Hall productions, as well as the sophisticated lighting catwalk that modernized technical production there. He created a pair of hilarious life-sized camel puppets for a Bethany Church production. He could fix anything.
Lew Crain was born in Newton, Kan., on March 25, 1942, the second child of Lola Mae (Miller) McCullough and Russell Crain. He attended schools in Kansas and La Junta, Colo., and graduated from Wichita High School South. At Wichita State University, he was a member of Delta Upsilon.
He married
Victoria Ann Sinning in Wichita on July 1, 1966. They were married
for 36 years.
Previous to coming to Vermont Castings, Crain worked in the design and manufacture of Boeing aircraft and Reed and Barton sterling flatware. More recently, he worked for H.E.B. Manufacturing and N.E.I. Industries.
He served as a trustee of Chandler Music Hall, on the board of the Chandler Cultural Foundation, and as president of the Third Branch Players. He sang with the Randolph Singers and the Montpelier Community Gospel Choir.
He greatly enjoyed his cottage and sailboat on Lake Dunmore.
He leaves his wife Victoria of Randolph and son Nathan Brady Crain of Burlington; his mother, Lola Mae McCullough of Norman, Okla.; brothers Gerald E of Norman Okla., Duane of Irving, Tex., and David Pence of Denton, Tex.; sisters Bernice Pauley of Spicewood, Tex., and Sarah Scott of Dallas, Tex.
A memorial service will be held Saturday, July 6 at 10 a.m. at Bethany Church. In lieu of flowers, contributions are suggested to the Randolph Area Foodshelf or Randolph's Habitat for Humanity project.
Vincent Fago
BETHEL — Vincent Fago of Christian Hill, Bethel, died at his home June 13, 2002 after having been diagnosed with cancer six weeks before. His last days were a peaceful time at home surrounded by family and friends.
He was the last child of a large Italian immigrant family. After attending DeWitt Clinton and Cooper Union, he broke into animation in New York as a tracer in the old Edison Studios.
Following four years in Detroit with the pioneering film production company Jam Handy, he moved to Florida for another four years and was employed at Fleisher Studios. There he worked on animation for such classics as "Popeye, " "Betty Boop, " "Superman, " "Mr. Bug Goes to Town" and "Gulliver’s Travels."
After Pearl Harbor, he moved back to New York City, where Stan Lee, then editor of Timely Publications (which later became Marvel comics) offered him a job. When Lee was drafted in 1942, he asked Fago to take over his job. It was under Fago’s editorial watch such strips as "Captain America, " the "Human Torch" and "SubMariner" were born.
In 1947 Elizabeth Hardwich (later wife of poet Robert Lowell and founder of the New York Review of Books) introduced him to an artist friend from Kentucky, D’Ann Calhoun, whom he married
April 1, 1943.
Lee returned from the service and Fago returned to the world of free-lance comics. While at Timely-Marvel, he had stayed active with his own free-lance drawing and the creation of original comics and comic book characters. He and his brother Alfred wrote, drew and produced comics like "Kiddie Kapers" and in the 1950s, "Atomic Mouse."
In 1947, Fago was offered a half page Sunday syndicated cartoon strip, "Peter Rabbit, " in the then thriving New York Herald-Tribune. He wrote and drew this weekly cartoon strip from 1948-58.
Fago also wrote and drew activity books for children, at one point in the 1960s, producing about a book a week for Waldman Publishing, Golden Press and Whitman Press. These books have been read and used by many millions of children all over the world. When "E.T. the Extraterrestrial" is being taught to read by his earth child protector, he uses an ABC book written and drawn by Fago. Golden Press also published two of his hardcover children’s books and in 1975, Charles Tuttle printed a book off Fago’s whimsical poems and drawings.
In 1969, the Fagos came to Vermont, where D’Ann had taken a job with the Vermont Arts and Crafts Service in Montpelier. They moved to Bethel and later to the old farm on Christian Hill where they have lived for the past 32 years.
Fago often acted as an artist-mentor to children in the local schools. He sometimes taught cartooning in Bill Cecil’s classes at the RAVC.
In the 1980s he launched a final cartoon strip, "Mystic Mouse, " which appeared in the White River Valley Herald (now the Herald of Randolph) and in the Telluride Times in Colorado. During the last 15 years, he collaborated with music teacher Julie Albright on a series of books using rabbits to teach the principles of music to children. Up until a few days before his death, he continued to make drawings for the next book.
Fago once said he’d like to do a book called "Hey God, I’m From the Bronx."
Fago is survived by his wife of 59 years, D’ann Calhoun Fago; a son, John; a daughter, Celie; and a sister, Anne A. Arter, who still lives in the Bronx.
