Remembering local folks we lost in 2018

By Dean Shalhoup
Nashua Telegraph
December 30, 2018

http://www.nashuatelegraph.com/news/local-news/2018/12/30/remembering-local-folks-we-lost-in-2018/

Harold R. Acres

Donald Chartier

Frank Chimento

Brian McCarthy

Louis Prince

Stanley Slosek

Each year I set aside my final column of the year for this purpose, and in doing so remind readers that not seeing your loved one’s name in this space doesn’t in any way suggest his or her life isn’t worthy of a year-end tribute.

While every life is worth celebrating, and every passing worth mourning, it’s the men and women we feel had the widest, and most profound, impact on their communities to whom we pay tribute today.

Benjamin J. Nadeau, Alvirne High graduate, former Hudson selectman and school board member, passed Jan. 23. Well-known Hollis artist and instructor Bette Williams died Jan. 27 at age 94.

Retired Nashua firefighter, weightlifter and gym owner Wayne Andrews was 70 when he died Feb. 5. Normand Joseph “Norm” Burgess, an athlete who went on to coach just about every sport in Nashua at one time or another, died at 75 on Feb. 18.

Donald Chartier, the second to last remaining member of the Nashua Dodgers and its ace southpaw, died March 9 at 93. H. Robert Weisman, one of the top insurance salesmen in the nation, the founding partner of Nashua-based investment firm Weisman, Tessier, Lambert & Halloran and a longtime Rivier University board member, died March 15 four days after his 97th birthday.

Longtime Nashuans will remember Bertha A. Landry, a fixture in the City Clerk’s office for 50 years, who died March 17 at 90. Amherst resident Robert “Bob” Wilson, who lost both his legs in a flight deck accident while serving in the U.S. Navy and went on to lead the National Amputee Golf Association, died at 77 on March 22.

Edward J. (Eddie) Kissell Sr., the last surviving member of the famous Kissell brothers football family, was 88 when he died April 7. Two-term Ward 1 Nashua alderman Sean McGuinness died April 8 at 60 after a battle with cancer.

Married 73 years, Florence A. and Leo J. Phaneuf died five days apart in mid-April. Leo, a World War II veteran and postal employee, was 95. Florence, the last surviving member of the Larose family of Modern restaurant fame and an athlete, was 94.

A crash in Temple claimed the life of Hudson resident Arron Simon Torre, 38, on April 13. Betty Hall, who served in the state legislature for 28 years and was known as an outspoken and tireless political activist, died on April 26 at 97.

Career city employee and friend to everyone, David “Chubs” Migneault, passed peacefully at 67 on April 29. Longtime Nashua dentist Paul H. Ouellette died May 6, just shy of his 87th birthday.

The man behind the twin service stations a minute apart on Amherst Street, Richard “Dick” Raymond, died May 18 at 77 ­ 48 years to the day after he opened his first shop.

One of Nashua’s most decorated World War II veterans, Louis J. Prince, was 98 when he died May 26.

Three generations of budding and accomplished Nashua musicians mourned the death of their leader, Stephen C. Norris, upon his passing May 27. He was 88, and taught music for more than 40 years.

Merrimack teacher of 33 years Lawrence “Larry” Cross died unexpectedly May 30; he was 83. A motorcycle crash took the life of Nashua resident Randall Masson, 48, on June 19.

Stanley Slosek, saluted by his legion of pastrons as “one of Nashua’s enormously popular and iconic inkeepers” who founded the landmark Stan’s Place in 1964, died June 20 at age 79.

Prolific youth sports coach George L. Cann was 71 when he died June 29. The woman behind the well-known family of musicians, Joan M. LaFlamme, died July 8 at age 88.

David A. Smith, the victim of an as-yet unsolved homicide on July 7 on Nashua’s Buck Street, was 49.

Dr. Charles Goyette, known best as “Doc,” delivered an estimated 10,000 babies during his 40 years in practice, mostly as part of the so-called “holy trinity” of physicians with the late Normand Cote and Joseph Duval. He passed July 25 at age 92.

William Neverett, a lifelong car salesman in his family’s Desoto and Plymouth dealership who sold his first car at age 10, died July 27 at 81.

Victoria “Vicki” Tamposi, gifted with an “unimaginable optimism” and “baffling” positive attitude that kept others smiling, laughing and inspired, died Aug. 5 after a 25-year battle with multiple sclerosis.

Hollis residents mourned the loss Aug. 16 of neighbor, pharmacist and senior town selectman Vahrij Manoukian, who was 66. Carolyn Ann Disco, a small-town newspaper editor and Merrimack school board member who played an active role in Voice of the Faithful and Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests, passed Sept. 5.

Merrimack firefighter and Civil Air Patrol commander Paul E. Mondoux was killed in a car crash in Manchster Sept. 9. He was 63. A tragic “train-surfing” accident claimed the life of 24-year-old Hudson resident Michael Vigeant on Sept. 20.

Nashua resident Frederick Sarstedt, who was born in Germany, came to the U.S. at 18 and joined the U.S. Army, died at 98 on Oct. 1. His Army missions included liberating Dachau concentration camp and handling the surrender of Nazi leader Hermann Goering.

Career elementary school teacher Margaret Woitkowski was 80 when she died Oct. 2. U.S. Marine and longtime Nashua police officer John Zaccagnini Sr. died Oct. 11 at 79.

Kevin T. Mulligan, a Bishop Guertin graduate who became the youngest elected official in the world when he was elected state representative at 18, was 58 when he died Oct. 13.

State Rep. David J. Gleneck was 84 when he died Oct. 18. Emile Chagnon Jr., Nashua native who ran his family’s lumber business for decades and saw it through a devasting fire in the 1980s, died Oct. 25 at 90.

Nashua lost one of its most knowledgable, thoughtful and dedicated public servants ever with the unexpected passing Nov. 5 of Alderman at Large Brian McCarthy, who will go down in city history as among the aldermen who accomplished the most during their time in office. McCarthy was 64.

Matthew L. Schwab, 51, also died unexpectedly Nov. 5; he had restored the Milford Oval bandstand and helped build the Shepard Park ice rink in Milford.

Nashua resident Maurice “Moe” Demarais was 63 when he was killed in a car crash in Nashua Nov. 11. Also on Nov. 11, Frank Chimento, for 40 years a boxing coach and trainer best known for coaching hundreds of kids at Nashua Police Athletic League, died; he was 88.

Danielle M. Bonner was 22 when she was killed in a Merrimack crash Nov. 12.

Hollis resident Tabitha “Abbey” Hirsch, whose “sharp intellect and ambition took her far … “ in music recording and on-air radio personality in California, was just 22 when she died Nov. 15.

A tragic Thanksgiving Day homicide claimed the life of Milford resident Brandon S. Kluz, an aspiring welder who was 23. On Nov. 27, podiatrist Philip E. March, who practiced for 50 years in Nashua, died at 92.

Norbert Marquis, the consummate “old school” police officer who served Nashua for more than 30 years, died Nov. 27 at 87. Beloved and respected career teacher Marilyn R. Wolfe Matuza Viens of Nashua passed Dec. 2 at 81.

A Dec. 14 car crash in Hollis claimed the life of 23-year-old Matthew “Matt” Wing. Retired National Weather Service meteorologist John Stansfield of Nashua was 71 when he died Dec. 16.

Lifelong athlete, coach and referee Robert “Bob” Mercer, who ran the family business Mercer Brothers Garage and served as a state representative while working at the former Sanders Associates, died Dec. 19 at 93.

Keith Dwire, a master craftsman from Lyndeborough, was in the process of restoring book shelves at the Wilton library when he died Dec. 24 at age 64.

Longtime Nashua banker Harold R. Acres, known for his leadership on boards of many Nashua area civic organizations, and as a prolific member of the former Exchange Club of Nashua, who rose to the office of national president in the 1980s, died Dec. 27 at age 80.

Best wishes to all for a happy, safe and productive 2019.