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.

MANUEL P. ROBERTS

GREENFIELD, Manuel “Manny” P. Roberts, 63, a resident of the Morgan Allen House, died unexpectedly on Saturday, November 3, 2012. Manny was born June 25, 1949, in New York City, the eldest son of the late Rosemarie (Marcel) Roberts and Perry E. Roberts.

Manny grew up in Amherst, attended Amherst schools, and graduated from Amherst Regional High School in 1967. In the 70s, he enjoyed the Rock’n’Roll life as a percussionist and vocalist in many local bands, most notably in Real Tears, a Valley band popular at that time.

Manny went on to coach tennis at local colleges. In 1983 he coached the Amherst College women’s tennis team alongside the legendary coach Ed Serues, and between 1983 – 1990 he coached men’s tennis at the University of Massachusetts where, in 1989, he coached the men’s team to an ECAC Championship. Also an avid freshwater and saltwater fisherman, Manny seemed happiest when he had rod and reel in hand fishing with his best friend Brian Higgins. Manny recently retired from the University of Massachusetts following 37 years of service.

Manny leaves four children: Heather, in Greenfield; Ian, in Turners Falls; Raquel Barry, in Greenfield; and Shane, in Montague. He is also survived by a sister Rosemarie James, in Amherst; a brother Juan and his wife Michele, in Belchertown; his aunt Edythe Harris, in Greenfield; and a large extended family – most of whom reside in the Pioneer Valley. A sister, Marie, predeceased him in 2007.

Family and friends are invited to a Celebration of Life on November 17^th at the UMass Campus Center, 11^th floor, from 10:30 a.m. – 1:30 p.m. In lieu of flowers, the family suggests donations be made to the Franklin Area Survival Center, 96 Fourth Street, Turners Falls, MA 01376, 413-863-9549. Obituary and memorial register at www.douglassfuneral.com.

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

Michael A. Cann

AMHERST, Michael A. Cann, 84, died on October 28, 2012, at his home in Amherst, Massachusetts, with family members by his side, after a long illness.

He was born in the Charlottenburg district of Berlin, Germany, on 27 November 1927. He spent nine years in Berlin with his parents, Henry and Hilda Cann, and his Aunt Hanna, whom he always called his second mother.

Hitler’s rise to power was the catalyst for his parents’ decision to emigrate from Germany in 1937. They first went to the Netherlands, where Michael suffered a serious bout of typhoid. In 1938 his father, an electrical engineer, came to New York to find work, and in March 1939 Michael and his mother followed.

After graduating from Weequahic High School in Newark, New Jersey, Michael attended Rutgers University for one semester and then enlisted in the Army. After basic training he was sent back to Germany to use his language skills in the Office of Military Government for Bavaria as part of the Allied Occupation. He returned to many of the sites of his childhood and observed the massive destruction of World War II. He was interested in Berlin for the rest of his life and made many trips there, including ones specifically to introduce his children and grandchildren to the landmarks of his early years.

He attended the University of Chicago on the GI Bill, where he was part of an innovative educational program in which one earned a BA in two years and an MA in an additional three. He participated in the Committee on Human Development, an interdisciplinary cultural psychology program, and found it helped him understand his parents and his upbringing. He joked about the many famous people who attended the University of Chicago that he never knew, but he was friends with fifteen-year-old Richard Rorty, whom he met when both worked on campus bussing tables.

Michael met his future wife Anne when she was introduced to him as “the new Camera C operator” in the microfilm lab in the basement of Swift Hall at the University of Chicago. She was a student at Antioch College in Ohio, and he hitchhiked to Yellow Springs many times to visit her. One time, he got a ride from Woody Guthrie. Michael and Anne married in 1951 in Duxbury, Massachusetts.

Michael graduated from the University of Chicago with BA and MA degrees and earned a PhD in psychology from Boston University in 1961. After brief periods of employment at the University of Vermont and the Holyoke Mental Health Clinic, he spent the rest of his professional career as a counseling psychologist in the Mental Health Service at the University of Massachusetts Amherst. He participated in summer orientation programming for parents and conducted outreach to staff in the residence halls, who liked his practical, down-to-earth manner of working with troubled students. While at UMass he also worked closely with Disability Services and the Foreign Students Office.

He consulted at Goodwill Industries in Springfield one day a week for thirty years, and worked at the Veterans Administration Medical Center in Northampton at both ends of his professional career, 1960-62 and 1990-92.

After his retirement Michael participated in many Five College Learning in Retirement seminars. One of his favorites was autobiographical writing, in which he wrote an extensive memoir of his childhood and early adulthood, An Ordinary Life in Extraordinary Times. This illustrated narrative has been included in the collection of the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum in Washington, DC.

Michael felt one of his greatest accomplishments was becoming an American. He felt strongly that immigrants bring “new blood” and enormous vitality to this country and that immigration should be encouraged and supported. He was a fierce defender of free speech after witnessing the terrible consequences of eliminating dissent in Nazi Germany.

He believed in representative town government and participated in it as an elected member of Amherst Town Meeting for 37 years, as well as a member of the Planning Board, Housing Review Board, third Town Hall renovation committee, and Public Works Committee.

Michael had a lifelong interest in toy trains, both European and American, as well as other types of toys and cultural artifacts, particularly those of American origin. He joined the Train Collectors Association in 1957 as one of its earliest members. He was part of a large community of train collectors and enthusiasts and had many long-term friends who shared this passion. He was widely read in many topics and especially interested in science, technology, American history, and the immigrant experience.

Michael quietly took on tasks other people avoided and complained about, like vacuuming up water in the basement or making out the summer orientation schedule at work, and then enjoyed doing them in his own way. He was a perpetual “do-it-yourselfer” and referred to himself as a “sophisticated crate builder.” He loved working with his hands and enjoyed making things and fixing things, from cars to household repairs to his beloved collection of toy trains. When he and Anne moved to Applewood at Amherst, Michael created a workshop in their basement storage area, which was the envy of other residents.

Michael felt his greatest accomplishments were his family, his community service, his encyclopedic knowledge of European and American toy trains, and becoming an American.

He is survived by his wife of 61 years, Anne, of Amherst, Massachusetts, and three children: his son Frederic E. Cann of Portland, Oregon, and his family, Ellen Thomas, Alexander Cann, and Anthony Zavin; his son Robert A. Cann of Amherst, Massachusetts, his wife Catherine Bickford, and his children Adrian Cann, Rebecca Cann, and Madeline Cann; and his daughter Elizabeth Cahn, also of Amherst, Massachusetts. He was preceded in death by his parents, his Aunt Hanna, five other aunts and uncles, five cousins, and his cat, Buttercup.

Mr. Cann’s family and friends are invited to gather to remember him on Saturday, November 17, 2012, from 12-2pm at the Lord Jeffrey Inn in Amherst. Burial will be private.

Donations may be made to the Train Collector’s Association Museum and Library, P.O. Box 248, Strasburg, PA 17579, or the Massachusetts General Hospital Development Office, 165 Cambridge Street, Suite 600, Boston, MA 02114, Attn Sara Kelly for the Cancer Center. Obituary and memorial register at www.douglassfuneral.com.

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

Veronica C. Rabinski

AMHERST, Veronica Catherine Rabinski, 94, passed away on Oct. 27, at Overlook at Northampton. Born in Amherst on Feb. 21, 1918, she was the daughter of the late Adam and Antoinette (Yankowski) Rabinski. Veronica was educated in Amherst schools and graduated from Amherst High School, Class of 1936. She worked for many local businesses including Knickerbocker Leather and Novelty, Co., Amherst Laundry, Amherst Carriage Motel and Cowls Lane Laundromat in Amherst, Lesnow Mfg. Co. and Cardanic Corp. of Easthampton and the Howard Johnson Motel in Hadley. Veronica was known locally for her sewing skills and upon retirement continued her seamstress practice privately. She is survived by her brother, Alfred Rabinski. A Mass of Christian Burial will be held on Thursday, Nov. 1, at 10:00 a.m. in St. Brigid’s Church, Amherst with burial following in St. Brigid’s Cemetery, Hadley. A calling hour will precede Mass on Thursday from 8:30-9:30 a.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.