Amherst – Marion L. Lapham, 84, of Amherst, MA died on July 25 after a long illness. Marion retired from the University of Massachusetts where she worked for 43 years as a level V clerk in the Athletic Department. Throughout her long career in the business office Marion was known as the “go to person” to get things done and was beloved by coworkers, coaches, and players, many of whom remained lifelong friends. For many years she also worked part time at McCrory’s Five and Dime, originally in downtown Amherst and later in Hadley.

Marion was a multi-generational, life-long resident of Amherst graduating from Amherst High School in 1958. In addition to being an animal lover, she was also a devoted and enthusiastic fan of all UMass sports and earlier in life loved being in a bowling league with family and friends at the former Leader’s Bowling Alley and tooling round with her best friend Marguarite (Prescott) Harris in her white Pontiac convertible with the red bucket seats.

She leaves her beloved husband of 19 years, Arthur Warren who also worked at UMass in Food Services. Marion was predeceased by her mother, Gladys E. Lapham and her sister, Barbara E. Young. She also leaves devoted nieces and nephews Susan (Tony) Phillips of Suffield, CT; Deborah Dahdah and her late husband Edward of Bayside Lakes, FL; Valerie Young of South Hadley, MA; Peter (Kathryn) Young of Longmeadow, MA, and Mark Young of Melbourne, FL along with five great nieces and nephews; four great, great nieces and nephews, and cousins in the LeDoyt and Kellogg families.

A private burial will be held at the South Amherst Cemetery.

A Celebration of Life will be held at a future date.

Memorial guestbook at www.douglassfuneral.com

In 1992, after a brief stint with Volunteers for Israel, he moved to Amherst because it met his criteria for an area that had “lots of libraries.”    It was there that he met Flo Rosenstock, after answering her personal ad seeking a “kind, literate, affectionate recycled mensch” and who became his loving life partner, wife, and ultimately caregiver over the following 32 years.

Her father was accidentally killed when his gun fired while crossing the fence to tend his traps. Her mother was unable to care for seven children and they became wards of the state. Alice married her husband, Carlton, and they purchased a house across the street from Carlton’s family farm on Northeast Street in Amherst. She worked into her early eighties serving the elderly at a few nursing/rest homes.

Alice is survived by her sisters, Elvira Reeves of Bethel, Ohio and Lunette Prue of Orange, MA.  Alice was predeceased by her husband as well as her oldest child, Carlton Jr. (Butch) from Horseheads, NY.  Alice’s daughter, Barbara Stewart, lives in Belchertown.  Alice raised over 100 foster children and adopted their daughter, Serena Stone of Easthampton. Alice was a loving mother and grandmother to James, Erica, Coral, Gabrielle, Avery, Sarah, Jennifer and Kelley. She had six great grandchildren, several nieces and nephews and grand nephews and will be sorely missed by all.

Funeral Services will be held at the convenience of the family.

Memorial guestbook at www.douglassfuneral.com

BELCHERTOWN,MA. Felicia Lena (Giancola) Stanton, of 196 Franklin St, Belchertown, passed away peacefully at her home on July 17th, 2024. She was 83 years old. Felicia was born in Brooklyn, NY on December 4th, 1940, to parents Marie Agnes (Bohack) Giancola, and James Felix Giancola. She and her family moved to Long Island in 1951, and six years later, she happened to look out the window and see her future husband moving into the house next door. It was love at first sight. Not too soon after, they made a failed attempt to elope when she was 17 and he was 15, but they were undeterred and eventually married on November 15th, 1959.

She received her degree from the University of Massachusetts at Amherst when she was thirty six years old. She made being a mother a priority and put her own education aside until her children were older. Though she considered a career in social work, she ended up focusing instead on her creative passion for art. She was an amazing artist, concentrating predominantly in watercolor painting, and she realized that becoming a teacher would be the path she would follow in order to share her gift. She earned her teaching credentials and went on to pass along that passion to her young students at Windy Hill elementary School in Jacksonville, Fl, where she taught for more than a decade, and where she won Teacher of the Year honors in 1989. She retired from teaching in 2002, and when her husband retired in 2007, they returned to Massachusetts for good. 

All that being said, none of it manages to capture the essence of who Felicia was. She somehow managed to become a trusted confidant to all those who knew her. She would listen intently without interrupting, and then offer guidance and advice in such a gentle way that her words alone made those she comforted feel immediately better. She will be remembered as a bright, talented, caring person who managed to make everyone she touched feel loved and special. She was our Maw. She was deeply loved. And she will be greatly missed by all who knew her.

Felicia leaves behind her husband, Robert Stanton, her sister Marie (Giancola) Doyle and her husband, Peter Doyle, her son, Bobby Stanton, of Holyoke, her daughter-in-law, Meredith (Greaney) Stanton, her daughter Sharon (Stanton) and son-in-law David Krock, and her grandchildren, Charlie and Sammy Stanton. 

Funeral Services will be at the convenience of the family.

Donations in Felicia’s memory can be made to Dakin Humane Society at www.dakinhumane.org

Memorial guestbook at www.douglassfuneral.com

BELCHERTOWN,MA. Felicia Lena (Giancola) Stanton, of 196 Franklin St, Belchertown, passed away peacefully at her home on July 16th, 2024. She was 83 years old. Felicia was born in Brooklyn, NY on December 4th, 1940, to parents Marie Agnes (Bohack) Giancola, and James Felix Giancola. She and her family moved to Long Island in 1951, and six years later, she happened to look out the window and see her future husband moving into the house next door. It was love at first sight. Not too soon after, they made a failed attempt to elope when she was 17 and he was 15, but they were undeterred and eventually married on November 15th, 1959.

She received her degree from the University of Massachusetts at Amherst when she was thirty six years old. She made being a mother a priority and put her own education aside until her children were older. Though she considered a career in social work, she ended up focusing instead on her creative passion for art. She was an amazing artist, concentrating predominantly in watercolor painting, and she realized that becoming a teacher would be the path she would follow in order to share her gift. She earned her teaching credentials and went on to pass along that passion to her young students at Windy Hill elementary School in Jacksonville, Fl, where she taught for more than a decade, and where she won Teacher of the Year honors in 1989. She retired from teaching in 2002, and when her husband retired in 2007, they returned to Massachusetts for good. 

All that being said, none of it manages to capture the essence of who Felicia was. She somehow managed to become a trusted confidant to all those who knew her. She would listen intently without interrupting, and then offer guidance and advice in such a gentle way that her words alone made those she comforted feel immediately better. She will be remembered as a bright, talented, caring person who managed to make everyone she touched feel loved and special. She was our Maw. She was deeply loved. And she will be greatly missed by all who knew her.

Felicia leaves behind her husband, Robert Stanton, her sister Marie (Giancola) Doyle and her husband, Peter Doyle, her son, Bobby Stanton, of Holyoke, her daughter-in-law, Meredith (Greaney) Stanton, her daughter Sharon (Stanton) and son-in-law David Krock, and her grandchildren, Charlie and Sammy Stanton. 

Funeral Services will be at the convenience of the family.

Donations in Felicia’s memory can be made to Dakin Humane Society at www.dakinhumane.org

Memorial guestbook at www.douglassfuneral.com

BELCHERTOWN,MA. Felicia Lena (Giancola) Stanton, of 196 Franklin St, Belchertown, passed away peacefully at her home on July 16th, 2024. She was 83 years old. Felicia was born in Brooklyn, NY on December 4th, 1940, to parents Marie Agnes (Bohack) Giancola, and James Felix Giancola. She and her family moved to Long Island in 1951, and six years later, she happened to look out the window and see her future husband moving into the house next door. It was love at first sight. Not too soon after, they made a failed attempt to elope when she was 17 and he was 15, but they were undeterred and eventually married on November 15th, 1959.

She received her degree from the University of Massachusetts at Amherst when she was thirty six years old. She made being a mother a priority and put her own education aside until her children were older. Though she considered a career in social work, she ended up focusing instead on her creative passion for art. She was an amazing artist, concentrating predominantly in watercolor painting, and she realized that becoming a teacher would be the path she would follow in order to share her gift. She earned her teaching credentials and went on to pass along that passion to her young students at Windy Hill elementary School in Jacksonville, Fl, where she taught for more than a decade, and where she won Teacher of the Year honors in 1989. She retired from teaching in 2002, and when her husband retired in 2007, they returned to Massachusetts for good. 

All that being said, none of it manages to capture the essence of who Felicia was. She somehow managed to become a trusted confidant to all those who knew her. She would listen intently without interrupting, and then offer guidance and advice in such a gentle way that her words alone made those she comforted feel immediately better. She will be remembered as a bright, talented, caring person who managed to make everyone she touched feel loved and special. She was our Maw. She was deeply loved. And she will be greatly missed by all who knew her.

Felicia leaves behind her husband, Robert Stanton, her sister Marie (Giancola) Doyle and her husband, Peter Doyle, her son, Bobby Stanton, of Holyoke, her daughter-in-law, Meredith (Greaney) Stanton, her daughter Sharon (Stanton) and son-in-law David Krock, and her grandchildren, Charlie and Sammy Stanton. 

Funeral Services will be at the convenience of the family.

Donations in Felicia’s memory can be made to Dakin Humane Society at www.dakinhumane.org

Memorial guestbook at www.douglassfuneral.com

Carol Schabacker, 82, of Hadley, passed away on July 22, 2024, after a brief illness.  She was a loving wife, mother, grandmother, sister, and aunt to many. She was the daughter of Felix and Julia Peterson (Tidlund) and a sibling to David (Ellie) and Alan (Becky).  She graduated from Amherst Regional School in 1959. Her tenacity and expertise with numbers helped her begin her career at Amherst Savings Bank and later with the treasurer’s office at UMASS Amherst until 2000 when she retired.

She met her husband, Don, in March of 1962, and after a brief courtship married on June 1, 1963. While traveling with her husband’s job she had four children: Don Schabacker (Betsy); Gail Wright (partner, Michael Salvatore); Scott Schabacker (Melissa); and Kristi Callaghan (Jim). She also had six grandchildren: Patrick, McKenzie, Caroline, Sean, Ashley, and Samuel. She treasured her time with them when they were young making their birthday cakes, decorating gingerbread houses, making Halloween costumes, taking them for day trips, and spending time with them on several trips as they matured.  

Carol loved to read, play cards, and watch HGTV and UCONN women’s basketball. As a couple, they enjoyed traveling as much as possible to new places, but their trips to Maine was especially memorable. She was a careful listener and an exceptional friend to many. Carol, also known affectionately as Pete or Trinka, was a very selfless, thoughtful, and kind soul. She was a people person, and everyone who met her loved her. She will be missed tremendously, but her best attributes will live on through her family and friends. 

Calling hours will be held on July 31, 2024, at Douglas Funeral Home from 10:00-11:30 with burial service directly afterward.

In lieu of flowers, donations can be made to the cause of your choice. 

Memorial guestbook at www.douglassfuneral.com

Walter Frederick Filios passed away peacefully Friday, July 12, 2024 due to complications from diabetes. He was born Mar. 8, 1956, in Northampton MA, to Norma (Dick) and Frederick Filios. Walter grew up primarily in Amherst MA, with the exception of two years when his family resided in Panama. He attended Amherst Regional High School for one year, but graduated from St. Michael’s High School in Northampton MA in 1974. In his teen years he ran a paper route from Hastings Stationary store in Amherst, worked at Flavortown restaurant, and was a member of the Boy Scout troop 503.

After high school, he attended Michigan Technological University in Houghton Michigan for one year before enlisting in the U.S. Army. After basic training Walter completed combat engineer training at Fort Leonard Wooden MO. Walter was then stationed in Bamburg, Germany where he attained the rank of Specialist 4. Unfortunately, Walter was then diagnosed with type 2 Diabetes, resulting in his medical discharge from the Army. However, Walter remained a proud veteran for the rest of his life.

Returning to Amherst Walter worked at several jobs while also learning to be a sound technician for musical acts. In 1978 Walter moved to Santa Cruz, California as the sound technician for The Ernie Buck Band. While the band had some success Walter found he needed to pursue other employment and he worked for several years  – first as an electrical technician for Seagate Technology, and then as an environmental technician before returning to school to pursue a bachelor’s degree in business administration at California State University, Stanislaus. 

In 1990 Walter returned to Massachusetts to join the family small site engineering business, Filios Enterprises, and to serve as the general contractor, helping his father and mother build their retirement home. He also found further employment in Greenfield MA as a land surveyor.

Returning to California in 1993 Walter continued to work as a land surveyor until his diabetes began causing progressive blindness and resulted in him becoming disabled and unable to work.

While in California he met his wife Suzanne (Porter) Filios, whom he married in 2011 at a ceremony at Yosemite National Park attended by his family and friends. In 2014 Walter and Suzanne moved to first Gulfport and then Long Beach MS, residing there until his death.

He will be deeply missed by his wife Suzanne of Long Beach MS, his 7 remaining siblings: Kathryn Finn of Amherst, Paul and wife Krys of Alexandria, Virginia, Teresa Korpita and husband John of Sunderland, William and wife Larissa of Malden, Marita Magnant and husband Gary of Topsfield, Elizabeth Tyler and husband William of Hadley, and Laurie Blanchard and husband Daniel of Southborough; as well as his 20 nieces and nephews, Michael, Danette, Bridget, Socorro, and Teresa, children of Kathryn; Kimberly, Jason, Sarah, Paula, and Patrick, children of Paul; Ksenia and Marina, children of Teresa; Salvatore, son of William; Ross, Sage, and Grace, children of Marita; John and Kathryn, children of Elizabeth; and Georgieanna and Annabel, children of Laurie; and five great-nieces and great-nephews, Emili, Sophia, Jonathan, Leonardo, and Raphael from the Finn family; and his aunt Judy Dick of Bradenton, Florida; as well as many cousins.

A graveside service and burial will be held at St. Brigid’s Cemetery (85 North Maple Street, Hadley, MA) at 10:00 AM, Friday, August 2^nd, with a celebration of life following at 11:30 AM at the Amherst Public House (40 University Drive, Amherst, MA).

Memorial guestbook at www.douglassfuneral.com

Carol Schabacker, 82, of Hadley, passed away on July 22, 2024, after a brief illness.  She was a loving wife, mother, grandmother, sister, and aunt to many. She was the daughter of Felix and Julia Peterson (Tidlund) and a sibling to David (Ellie) and Alan (Becky).  She graduated from Amherst Regional School in 1959. Her tenacity and expertise with numbers helped her begin her career at Amherst Savings Bank and later with the treasurer’s office at UMASS Amherst until 2000 when she retired.

She met her husband, Don, in March of 1962, and after a brief courtship married on June 1, 1963. While traveling with her husband’s job she had four children: Don Schabacker (Betsy); Gail Wright (partner, Michael Salvatore); Scott Schabacker (Melissa); and Kristi Callaghan (Jim). She also had six grandchildren: Patrick, McKenzie, Caroline, Sean, Ashley, and Samuel. She treasured her time with them when they were young making their birthday cakes, decorating gingerbread houses, making Halloween costumes, taking them for day trips, and spending time with them on several trips as they matured.  

Carol loved to read, play cards, and watch HGTV and UCONN women’s basketball. As a couple, they enjoyed traveling as much as possible to new places, but their trips to Maine was especially memorable. She was a careful listener and an exceptional friend to many. Carol, also known affectionately as Pete or Trinka, was a very selfless, thoughtful, and kind soul. She was a people person, and everyone who met her loved her. She will be missed tremendously, but her best attributes will live on through her family and friends. 

Calling hours will be held on July 31, 2024, at Douglas Funeral Home from 10:00-11:30 with burial service directly afterward.

In lieu of flowers, donations can be made to the cause of your choice. 

Memorial guestbook at www.douglassfuneral.com

Brian W. Thompson, 77, of Amherst and most recently Hopkinton and Chatham, MA, passed away peacefully and surrounded by family on July 22, 2024.

Brian grew up in Amherst, Massachusetts and graduated from Amherst Regional High School in 1964.  He earned a BS from West Virginia Wesleyan College in 1968 and his MBA from Western New England University. 

Shortly after graduating college, Brian began what would become a five-decade banking career as a trainee at Shawmut First Bank in Springfield, MA, where he worked his way up to President by the time he turned 40.  When the bank was consolidated into the Shawmut Bank Holding Company, he left to join New Hampshire-based Pelham Bank and Trust Company as its President and CEO. That bank was sold in 1996 to First Essex Bancorp of Andover, MA, where he then served as President until it was acquired in 2004. He subsequently joined Commerce Bank and Trust Company in Worcester, MA and served as its President and CEO before the banks’ sale in 2018. Brian retired shortly thereafter to spend more time with family and friends. 

 Brian was regarded as a leader in his field, participating in many industry organizations, and was also an active board member of many non-profit organizations, including the United Way of Central Ma.  He loved banking because it enabled him to support the local communities that he served, and he would encourage others to be generous with their time, as well.  Over the years, he received much recognition for his leadership and service.

 Brian always reflected on how fortunate he was to have supportive mentors and the opportunity to continue growing professionally. He most enjoyed building teams of great people in the organizations he led; he was always so proud of those he worked with and treated everyone with respect and appreciation.

He is survived by his wife of 52 years, Marilyn (Bates) Thompson, also of Amherst. He leaves his three children – Laura and her husband, Matt Colleran, of Hopkinton; Mark and his wife, Natalie Telfer, of Toronto, Canada; and Matthew and his wife, Sarah Blank, of London, U.K. He also leaves behind his seven beloved grandchildren – Taylor, Teddy, Tucker, and TJ  Telfer-Thompson, and Riley, Jack, and Kennedy Colleran. He leaves a sister, Joanne Allen, of Naples, FL, a brother-in-law, Larry Bates, and his wife, Dottie, of Wareham, as well as many nieces and nephews. He is predeceased by his parents, Richard and Marjorie Thompson, of Amherst.

Brian always said he never had a bad day.  He loved his work, his community, his friends and, above all, his family; Brian made his family his life. He never missed his children’s games, from youth baseball and softball through to college sports.  As time passed, his focus turned to his grandchildren, with weekends and travels spent watching soccer, hockey and dance recitals. He took tremendous pride in all of the athletic, academic and professional achievements of both his children and grandchildren.

Over the years, Brian and Marilyn’s house in Chatham became a special place for the family to come together, especially over the 4th of July holiday.  He loved those moments and his family will always cherish the memories they shared with him there.

Brian enjoyed life to its fullest and treasured each day. He loved to play golf, always wishing he was a little better than he was. He was a member of Chatham Seaside Links and Cranberry Valley Golf Course. He also loved the Red Sox and Chatham A’s, the morning paper, a coffee from Cumberland Farms, a hot beach, boat rides in Essex I and time spent with friends.

 Brian is remembered for his kindness, generosity and selflessness. He would do anything to brighten the day of those around him.  He will be dearly missed by his family, former colleagues and many friends.

 Thank you to the UMass Memorial Medical team in Worcester, MA, whom Brian regarded as friends, for the care he received over the past years. 

 In lieu of flowers, gifts in memory of Brian may be made to UMASS Memorial Health in support of the ‘Cancer Center of Excellence’ (Leukemia designation).  Give online at donate.umassmemorial.org

 Calling hours will be held Thursday, August 1, from 11:00 AM – 2:00 PM at Douglass Funeral Home, 87 North Pleasant Street, Amherst, MA. 

 A Celebration of Brian’s Life will follow at 3:00 PM at the Inn on Boltwood, 30 Boltwood Ave,  Amherst, MA.

Memorial guestbook at www.douglassfuneral.com