ALAN R. LAVALLE

1958 – 2012

NORTHAMPTON, Alan Robert LaValle, 54, died peacefully on November 25, 2012 at Cooley Dickinson Hospital in Northampton after a long battle with colon cancer.

Born April 24, 1958 in Northampton, he was the son of the late Charles LaValle of Amherst and Peg (Sullivan) and Bill Pease of Northampton.

Alan had been a part of the Southampton Youth Athletic Association in the 1990’s. Alan helped form and coach the Hampshire United’s first boy’s soccer team. Besides coaching, he was a prominent referee for high school soccer and basketball throughout the area. Alan’s commitment to children in sports was highly respected by many. He worked for many years at The Williston Northampton School in Easthampton. Alan was an avid bicyclist and runner, including running in the Boston Marathon.

Alan is survived by his son Justin of Easthampton, daughter and son-in-law Kristen and Alex Schindel of Agawam, brother Keith Pease of Easthampton, parents Peg and Bill Pease of Northampton, and several aunts, uncles, cousins and friends.

A private family wake will be held at Douglass Funeral Service, Amherst and a private family burial at The Quabbin Park Cemetery. A celebration of life will follow for family and friends at 6:00 pm, Friday November 30th, at The American Legion, 63 Riverside Dr., Florence, MA 01062.

In lieu of flowers, donations may be made to: American Cancer Society, PO Box 22718, Oklahoma City, OK 73123-1718 or Cooley Dickinson Hospital Development Office, 30 Locust St., PO Box 329, Northampton, MA 01061-0329. Obituary and memorial register at www.douglassfuneral.com.

Service details, Social networking, Memorial Guestbook and Slideshow are available here.

JOAN M. SPRAGUE

1941 – 2012

EAST LONGMEADOW, Joan Marie (Warren) Sprague of East Longmeadow and formerly of Glens Falls, NY, passed away peacefully November 24, 2012, at age 71.

Beloved wife of Lewis Good Sprague for fifty years, a retired teacher for the Springfield Schools; and loving mother of Kevin Sprague a teacher/counselor at the American School for the Deaf in Hartford, CT, and his wife Mary of Manchester, CT; and her Aunt Grace Wagner and cousins Rick and Priscella Wagner, both of New York State; and brother-in-law and his wife, Alton Sprague and Helen Vivian of Amherst, MA.

Joan was a talented artist and owner of the Village Tole Painter Studio in Sturbridge, MA, that provided artist supplies and offered classes in New England tole-ware painting, her specialty.

A private memorial service will be held by family and friends. In lieu of flowers, donations may be made in her memory to an Alzheimer’s Association organization. Obituary and memorial register at www.douglassfuneral.com.

Service details, Social networking, Memorial Guestbook and Slideshow are available here.

Faith Gillenwaters

1921 – 2012

Hadley, Faith Gillenwaters, 91, died November 16^th, 2012 at Hadley at Elaine. Born June 11, 1921, in Fitchburg, MA, she was the daughter of the late Clyde Johnson Leonard and Marion (Nee Wheeler) Leonard, both of St. Albans, Vermont.

She was a member of The Church of The Good Shepherd, in Clinton, Mass., for nearly 70 years and worked for many years as a chauffeur for the Massachusetts Commission for the Blind. 

She is survived by her daughters Nancy Rygg and her husband Gerald, of Lambertville, N.J., Virginia Gillenwaters and her husband Thomas Gralinski of Huntington, Mass. and her son Joel Gillenwaters and his wife Cynthia Kumin of Needham, Mass., 9 grandchildren and 1 great-granddaughter.

She was predeceased by her husband Frederick Jackson Gillenwaters I in 2001 and her son, Frederick Jackson Gillenwaters II.

Funeral services will be held in December, at The Church of The Good Shepherd, Clinton, MA. 

In lieu of flowers please send contributions to Heifer International. Obituary and memorial register at www.douglassfuneral.com.

Service details, Social networking, Memorial Guestbook and Slideshow are available here.

Richard A. Allard

1955 – 2012

Whately, Richard Allard, 57, of Long Plain Road Whately died suddenly of a heart condition on November 19, 2012. Born in Northampton, MA, to Marie and Normand Allard. He was raised and educated in Hadley. He spent much of his youth working on the family farm. He worked at Blyda Ford of Northampton as a mechanic until establishing Allard Brothers Lumber in Whately where he worked as the lumber sawyer. He was currently employed at Deerfield Urethane Inc. He is survived by his wife Debbie, son Richard Jr. of Goshen, and son David of Whately. He was predeceased by his son Michael.  He leaves behind his siblings Kathy Allard of Amherst, Norma Winskye of Brownfield, ME, Joseph of Whately, and Gary of Hadley. There will be private funeral services held on Wednesday morning. Obituary and memorial register at www.douglassfuneral.com

Service details, Social networking, Memorial Guestbook and Slideshow are available here.

Sara Starr Wolff 

Amherst, Sara Starr Wolff, 82, died following a long illness on November 11, 2012, at the Hospice of the Fisher Home, with family members by her side.  As a wife, mother, friend, mentor, counselor, therapist, educator, and expert in the field of aging, she had been a postive presence in the Pioneer Valley for more than 40 years.  

Born Sara Starr on August 8, 1930, in Nashville, Tennessee, she was the daughter of Milton and Zaro Starr. Her father, Milton Starr, helped foster the group of poets and philosophers at Vanderbilt University that became known as the Fugitives.  Sara grew up among family friends that included Robert Penn Warren, Hodding Carter, Merrill Moore, and Randall Jarrell, who dedicated a book of poetry to Sara.  

During the Second World War, her family moved from Nashville to Washington, DC, where her father was a dollar-a-year man working in the Office of War Information.  Sara attended the Sidwell Friends School, and graduated with a B.A. in Literature from Sarah Lawrence College in 1952.  

In 1955, while doing graduate work at Columbia University, she met Michael Wolff, then a graduate student in the English department at Princeton, at a party in New York City.  Four days later, Michael proposed marriage by asking her to come with him to Bloomington, Indiana, where he had just been offered his first job teaching at Indiana University. She said yes, and they were married for 57 years.  

The young couple moved to the Midwest, where Michael co-founded the magazine, and discipline, of Victorian Studies, and Sara had three children in two and a half years–Jessica Rachel, Jeremy Joseph, and Judith Starr.  In Bloomington, Sara also found time to volunteer with Planned Parenthood, the League of Women Voters, and the local PTA.  

The family spent a sabbatical year in Michael’s hometown of London, England, and a year in Middletown, CT, where Michael had a fellowship at the Center for the Humanities at Wesleyan University. They moved to Amherst, MA, in 1970, where Michael joined the faculty of the University of Massachusetts.  

In 1972 Sara completed an M.A. in Education at the University of Massachusetts.  Newly engaged by feminism and women’s health, she helped to found the Everywoman’s Center, first volunteering in and ultimately coordinating its counseling program.  During this exciting time, she also became an early member of the pioneering Amherst Area Feminist Counseling Collective.  She undertook post-graduate training in family therapy at Georgetown University and the Austin Riggs Center, and completed her doctorate in counseling psychology at UMass in 1981.  Over the years, she worked as a psychotherapist for the University’s Health Services, then at Amherst Medical Associates, eventually becoming its Director of Mental Health.  

At Amherst Medical (later Kaiser Permanente) Sara became interested in problems of the elderly, particularly elderly women, moving her practice from the medical center to Amherst’s community center. She later joined the Amherst Council on Aging.  

She was on a board of advisors for the creation of the Hospice of the Fisher Home where, more than a decade later, she would spend her final months. The Vital Aging program, a series of support groups for seniors, which she created, would be a main focus of the rest of her career, and her greatest legacy. She led the groups, Vital Aging and Vital Aging II: Pioneering the Third Age from 1994 to 2001. In 2010, Levellers Press published her book on this work, Vital Aging:  Seven Years of Building Community and Enhancing Health.  Vital Aging has become a textbook at the University’s School of Nursing and elsewhere.  It was her first published book, though she and her husband Michael have collaborated on six books for their six grandchildren.  

She was a member of the American Psychological Association, the National Council and Aging, and Gerontological Society of America.  

From the age of 10, Sara spent summers on Cape Cod and had the great joy of watching her children and grandchildren discover the beauty of the beach and ocean.  An enthusiastic cook and gracious hostess, she carried on her mother’s tradition of hospitality and grand dinners at the family’s West Yarmouth home, and was an avid, educated and resourceful gardener at her Amherst home on Pokeberry Ridge.  Music and dance were important throughout her life and in her late sixties she was a member of Dance Generators, a multi-generational dance company based in Northampton.  

Sara is survived by her husband Michael, her children, Jessica Wolff of New York, NY, Jeremy Wolff of Pawling, NY, and Judith Wolff of Brooklyn, NY, and six grandchildren, Violet and Ivy Wanta of New York City, Zaro and Jonah Bates of Brooklyn, NY and Molly and Joseph Wolff of Pawling, NY; also, her sisters Linda Starr Spain of Skillman, NJ, Ann Leslie Rosenbatt of Natick, MA, and Barbara Starr of Washington DC.  Her brother Dr. Henry J. Starr died in 2011.  Her ashes were interred at a small family ceremony at Wildwood Cemetery in Amherst, MA, on Saturday.  There will be a public memorial celebrating the life of Sara Starr Wolff at the Jewish Community of Amherst, 742 Main Street, Amherst, MA, on Saturday December 15, at 2:30PM.  

In lieu of flowers, please send donations to the Hospice of the Fisher Home, 1165 North Pleasant St., Amherst, MA 01002. Obituary and memorial register at www.douglassfuneral.com

Service details, Social networking, Memorial Guestbook and Slideshow are available here.

RHODA HAWTHORNE

AMHERST, Rhoda Hawthorne, 86, a lifelong resident of Amherst, passed away on Nov. 10, 2012. Rhoda was lover of animals and farming. She worked on the family farm her entire life. Rhoda was predeceased by her husband, George R. Hawthorne, in 2009. She is survived by her sons, grandchildren, great grandchildren and her brother. She will be missed by all. Private family services were held last Friday. Burial took place in North Amherst Cemetery. Obituary and memorial register at www.douglassfuneral.com

Service details, Social networking, Memorial Guestbook and Slideshow are available here.

Winifred J. Thorne

AMHERST, Winifred Eloise “Win” Thorne (nee Jones), 85, of Amherst, MA, died on October 30, 2012.  Win was born in Sutherland, Iowa on March 11, 1927, the third of four children of Lester Lambert Jones and Violet Mary (Stoaks) Jones.  She graduated from Sutherland High Schooland received a B.S. in Microbiology from Iowa State University in 1949. For 49 years she was the beloved wife of Curtis B. Thorne from Pine Grove, WV, who died in January, 2008.  Win and Curt met while they were both working at the U.S. Army Biological Laboratory in Fort Detrick, Maryland, and they were married on April 4, 1959. A resident of Amherst, MA for 45 years, Win was a woman of many talents; she was eager to help others and always willing to take on active roles in groups to which she belonged.  Win was a master gardener, and many benefited from her ability as a seamstress, but perhaps Win’s greatest pride and passion was researching her family ancestry.  Win traced her family tree back to the Mayflower, and she was proud to be a member of the Daughters of the American Revolution.  Win was co-owner of Day and Night Delights dress shop in the 1980’s, and she was an active member of the Amherst Garden Club, the Amherst Women’s Club, and the University Women’s Chorus for many years.  She was the loving mother of Brad Thorne and his wife Lisa (Kelly) of Millstone Township, NJ, and loving aunt of nine nieces and nephews and their families.   Her generous spirit of service and selflessness lives on in her survivors’ memories and hearts forever.   There will be a Celebration of her life on Saturday, December 8, 2012, from 1 to 4 p.m. at Applewood, One Spencer Drive in Amherst.  Donations can be made to:  “Orchard Arboretum Fund in Memory of Win Thorne”, Town of Amherst Conservation Dept., Amherst Town Hall, 4 Boltwood Walk, Amherst, MA 01002. Obituary and memorial register at www.douglassfuneral.com.

Service details, Social networking, Memorial Guestbook and Slideshow are available here.

Elaine Fligman

1923 – 2012

Amherst, Elaine Fligman, 89 of West Street in Amherst, passed away peacefully at the Center for Extended Care in Amherst. Born on March 2, 1923 in New York City, she was the daughter of Samuel and Sylvia Gordon, who were immigrants from Eastern Europe. Elaine died from complications arising from a fall and a broken hip.

A precocious young girl, she demonstrated an exceptional talent as a singer at a very early age and singing was her passion to the day of her death. She entered Brooklyn College at age 15 and graduated four years later with a degree in French. In 1943, her first job was at the Sperry Gyroscope Company, a sort of Rosy the Riveter from Brooklyn. When WWII ended and the troops came home, most of the women that worked in the defense industries were forced to seek other employment. Elaine went back to school, received a Masters Degree in Education and taught 1^st grade in a private school in Manhattan for some thirty years.

Although teaching was her profession, her first love was singing. While at Brooklyn College she joined a comic opera group that specialized in Gilbert and Sullivan. When her cohort graduated they wanted to continue doing G and S and formed the Brooklyn Savoyards, a group that performed all of the major operettas. By this time, Elaine’s singing skills had matured and her rich contralto voice was ideally suited to the contralto roles in Gilbert and Sullivan. Her favorite role was as Katisha in the Mikado and it was in a production of the Mikado that she met Benjamin Fligman, recently discharged from the Army. Ben, who was himself an immigrant from Russia, came from a family of cantors. He had a beautiful tenor voice, albeit with a slight Eastern European accent. Tenors, then as now, were hard to come by and he was cast as Nanki Poo. They hit it off immediately and they were married in 1947.

Elaine and Ben formed a duet and sang professionally in the summers at the hotels in the Catskills. It was truly a romance made in heaven and they remained totally devoted to one another for 36 years until his death in 1983.

At this point Elaine entered Act II of her life. She moved to Amherst in 1987 to be close to her brother, Glen Gordon, and his family. Glen was a long term resident of Amherst and a professor of Political Science and administrator at the University of Massachusetts. Elaine found Amherst to be fertile ground for her talents and interests. She almost immediately joined the chorus of the Valley Light Opera. She also sang with the University Women’s Chorus. Her life changed dramatically when she joined the Young at Heart Chorus. For a person whose longest trip was from Brooklyn to the Catskills, she suddenly became a world traveler, going with the group to perform as one of the lead singers in concerts all around the world.

She developed a problem with blood circulation in her legs that made the travel schedule of the Young at Heart Chorus too stressful for her. Now in her mid-eighties, she returned to her first love, Gilbert and Sullivan and auditioned for the Valley Light Opera. They created cameo roles for her in The Pirates of Penzance and Iolanthe as Queen Victoria and Queen Bess. She loved the opportunity to be back on stage singing the music that she loved so much.

Her idea of a wonderful day was to go to a folk dancing class at theBangs Center in the morning, have lunch there, and do crossword puzzles with her companion, Warren Bechtold. Elaine and Warren were inseparable and ironically both wound up at the Center for Extended Care.

Elaine did not have children of her own, but she doted on her nieces and nephews. She leaves her brother, Glen Gordon, his wife Nelly, their three daughters Vivian, Elena and Lillian, their children, Alicia, Nathaniel, Robert and David and her very special nephew Frank Fox and his family. She also leaves behind many friends inAmherstandNorthamptonwhose lives she touched deeply.

In lieu of flowers, the family asks that any donations be made to the Valley Light Opera, PO Box 2143, Amherst, MA 01004 and the Young at Heart Chorus, 240 Main Street, Northampton, MA 01060.

Calling hours will be on Saturday, December 1^st, from 3 to 5 p.m. at the Douglass Funeral Service, Amherst. Obituary and memorial register at www.douglassfuneral.com.

Service details, Social networking, Memorial Guestbook and Slideshow are available here.

THOMAS LEWIS EDDY

LEVERETT, Thomas Lewis Eddy, 81, passed away November 12, 2012 peacefully at home, surrounded by his loving family.

Born September 9, 1931 in Northampton, he was the son of the late Percy Lewis and Mary Ruth (Hartnett) Eddy.

He leaves his wife of 55 years, Harriet (Lashway) Eddy. He also leaves his six children Thomas L. Eddy Jr. and his wife Sybil of Leverett; Paul Eddy and his wife Elizabeth of South Deerfield; Terry Sall and her husband Jeffrey of Greenfield; Susan Eddy Nagy and her husband Stephen of Leverett; Timothy Eddy and his wife Carolyn of South Deerfield; and Kimberly Bari and her husband Todd of Douglas. He leaves eleven grandchildren Benjamin Eddy and his wife Nina; Sarah Eddy; Matthew and Brooke Eddy; Gabrielle, Timothy and Jack Nagy; Paige Eddy; Bryce, Chase and Payne Bari, and three great grandchildren Collin, Owen and Ava Eddy.

He was predeceased by both of his parents and his sister Thelma (Eddy) Zakaitis.

He was a 1950 graduate of Amherst High School where he was a standout athlete in three sports including captain of the men’s championship basketball team in 1950. He also attended the Stockbridge School of Agriculture at the University of Massachusetts before serving four years in the U.S. Navy.

After returning from the Navy in 1955 he worked for Henry “Chick” Toole Construction. After that he worked at the Amherst Department of Public Works as a tree surgeon for 35 years, retiring in 1992.

Tom enjoyed his retirement by spending time with his family and grandchildren. He extended this time by introducing them to his favorite place on earth, Kennebunkport, Maine, a place he vacationed for his entire life. He was also a true New Englander who passionately followed the Boston Red Sox and New England Patriots.

He was a lifelong communicant of Saint Brigid’s Parish.

A Mass of Christian Burial will be held Friday, Nov. 16, at 10:00 a.m. at St. Brigid’s Church, Amherst with burial following in North Amherst Cemetery. Calling hours will be Thursday, Nov. 15, from 4-7 p.m. at the Douglass Funeral Service, Amherst.

In lieu of flowers, the family asks that donations be made to St. Brigid’s Parish, Visiting Nurses Association of Hampshire County or Hospice of Hampshire County. Obituary and memorial register at www.douglassfuneral.com.

Service details, Social networking, Memorial Guestbook and Slideshow are available here.

Gertrude Laurin

Amherst – Gertrude G.  Laurin, 89, died November 5, 2012 at The Center for Extended Care in Amherst where she was a resident.

She was born October 18, 1923 in Amherst to the late Samuel Pratt and Ruth (Pierce) Pratt. She is survived by her children Roland Laurin Jr. of Hatfield, Theresa Marrero of Holyoke and her sister Shirley Ely of Florence. She was predeceased by her son Charles Laurin (2003) and her siblings Dorothy Jordan, Charles Pratt and Nelson Pratt Sr.  She also leaves behind 4 grandchildren and 9 great-grand children who she loved very dearly and was always speaking about them with a smile on her face.

Gertrude was educated in Amherst and had lived and worked there all her life.  She could be seen walking around town talking to everyone and taking her daily rides on the PTVA buses to see new areas or just chat with everyone on the buses.  She also enjoyed the trips that were arranged through the Amherst Senior Center.

Gertrude was an avid New England sports fan and enjoyed watching the games on TV.  For many years she was on candlepin leagues at Pioneer Bowl in Hatfield, MA. Even after retiring from bowling she enjoyed taking her grandchildren there to watch and cheer on her friends.

Gertrude’s family would like to thank the entire staff at The Center for Extended Care for their exceptional care and compassion during the years she was a resident.

A celebration of her life will be held on Monday, November 12, 2012 at the Amherst VFW Post 754 on Main St. from 4-7 p.m.   In lieu of flowers, donations in Gertrude’s memory can be sent to the National Kidney Foundation, Inc. 30 East 33^rd Street, New York, NY 10016. Obituary and memorial register at www.douglassfuneral.com.

Service details, Social networking, Memorial Guestbook and Slideshow are available here.