Born August 17, 1936 in Worcester, Massachusetts, Hope spent her childhood years in Litchfield, Connecticut, the second oldest of four children born to Henry Baldwin Nichols and Esther Shears Nichols. Her father was a West Point graduate with a lifelong military connection and demanding career, her mother an affectionate presence anchoring the children’s everyday lives. Her maternal grandparents gave Hope and her siblings lasting memories of Hyde Park, New York, where her grandfather, Herbert Shears, was superintendent of Frederick Vanderbilt’s Hudson River estate. Hope would later donate several Vanderbilt-related items gifted her as a young woman to the Vanderbilt Mansion, a place she loved to visit with her own children, siblings, and grandchildren.
In her late teens, Hope attended Mills College in California for one year, finishing her studies at the University of New Hampshire after the sudden passing of her mother, a loss that impacted her greatly. Marrying New Hampshire resident John Zanes, Hope would have three children, Daniel, Julia, and Warren. While the family was living in Fredericton, New Brunswick, Canada, she discovered fine art photography, which would become a lifelong passion and practice.
After divorcing, Hope moved with her children to Concord, New Hampshire, where her younger brother, Henry Baldwin Nichols, Jr. was then living.
Concord was Hope’s home for the next fifty-five years. There, when her children were still young, Hope worked at Barbara Antonson’s Spruce Tree Nursery School, forging friendships that would last for many years. Her children attended Concord schools for most of their school-age lives, all finishing secondary school at esteemed out-of-state private institutions, done with their mother’s active encouragement. Concord would, however, remain a home to all.
Later, over a period of thirty years, Hope, alongside husband Harrison Butterworth of Hopkinton, worked to make Concord’s Friendly Kitchen a place that could regularly provide hot meals to an ever-greater number of those in need. Introduced to the organization through their church, St. John’s in Dunbarton, the Butterworths helped build The Friendly Kitchen into the community presence it is today.
As a photographer, Hope leaves behind an influential body of work and students who regularly cite her generous teaching style as crucial to their own artistic development. Mentored by friend and renowned photographer Lotte Jacobi, Hope showed her gum prints at the Currier Museum of Art in Manchester, among other places. A Boston Globe review of that Currier exhibition described Hope as “an extraordinary artist.”
A gardener, a great lover of animals, a devoted swimmer, a regular at area thrift shops, an artist and a beloved fixture on Stickney Hill Road, where she could often be seen walking her dogs, Hope was a friend to many. Doing things her own way, she kept bees, practiced photographic techniques from the late 19th century, raised quails, and stored up fireworks for her grandchildren’s visits. She leaves behind her three children, all of whom work in the arts, her two sisters, Julia Cook ’51 and Leslie Kremer ’55, Harrison Butterworth’s four children, Carol Burnham, Stephen Butterworth, Molly Elmali, and Corwin Butterworth, her grandchildren, Anna Zanes, Isak Saaf, Olaf Saaf, Lucian Zanes, Piero Zanes, Samantha Burnham, Amanda Burnham, Sadie Butterworth, Sam Butterworth, Mirabelle Butterworth, Abra Brown, Deniz Elmali, Dilara Elmali, Derya Elmali, and many more friends and family who will miss her ready humor, her keen eye, her singular style, and her infectious spirit.
Hope passed on Mother’s Day, May 12th, 2024, with her children close to her as she succumbed to the effects of pneumonia. A memorial event is planned for July 13th, 2pm, to be held at St. Paul’s Church, 21 Centre St., Concord NH 03301. It will be open to any and all who want to celebrate a great daughter, sibling, mother, grandmother, artist and friend who will be remembered as a unique, shining presence in the community.