Louise Pelton Montague, 92, died peacefully surrounded by family members on May 12, 2025, at Linda Manor in Leeds, Massachusetts. Born in Northampton MA in 1932, she was the daughter of Alden Pelton and Gladys Pelton Parent. She was a 1950 graduate of Northampton High School and took a post-graduate year at The Northampton School for Girls. She studied at the University of Massachusetts until her employment at Northampton National Bank which ended when she was married.

She is survived by Sidney A Montague, her husband of 71 years. Louise and Sidney settled in Westhampton, Massachusetts where she was an active member of both the Westhampton and the Northampton communities. She served on the Hampshire Regional School Committee. She was the librarian at the Westhampton Public Library for eleven years and continued to volunteer there following her retirement. She sang alto in the choir at the Westhampton Congregational Church and served as a Deaconess. In her later years she attended Edwards Church where she was a lifetime member and served as Clerk. She volunteered at The Cooley Dickinson Hospital for many years.

Small in stature, but strong in spirit, she lived a full and active life despite her lifelong struggle with Crohn’s Disease and later with Dementia. She travelled with Sid to Bermuda and Scotland and to several states in the U.S. Her weekly schedule was filled with volunteering, mastering modern technology, playing Bridge, taking oil painting lessons, tracing family genealogy, gardening, and adventuring with The Red Hat ladies. She was a member of the Worthington Country Club. She achieved the ultimate golfing goal: a hole in one at East Mountain. Louise collected pineapples, a symbol of warmth, friendship, and generosity, which reflected her values. She treasured her family and friendships. She enjoyed socializing and travelling with her friends and welcomed all to her home. Lou’s favorite place was Willoughby Lake in Westmore, Vermont. She shared this beautiful area with friends and family for almost eighty years. Every summer she looked forward to visiting the second community she had developed there. Never one to slow down, she bought herself a new kayak at the age of seventy and enjoyed paddling around the lake. Louise had felt lonely as an only child and planned to have a big family. She and Sid had five children who provided her with built-in game players: she loved playing cards and board games.

She leaves behind her children: Kim Montague (Joe Gazillo), Jill Montague, Robin Montague (Susan Wilder), Todd Montague (Lani Montague), Troy Montague, and Star Montague (her beloved miniature schnauzer).

She leaves behind her grandchildren: Chelsea Gazillo, Julia Gazillo (Daryl Barone), Alden Montague, Rose Montague, and her honorary grandchildren Brianna London (Charles Greb), Jenna London (Ben Rubin), and Gabrielle Wilder. She also leaves behind cousins and nieces and nephews.

Louise was able to live in her home for most of her life thanks to the care of her husband and children. She spent the last year of her life in the Life Enrichment Program at Linda Manor, and we thank the staff there for the care she received from them.

Calling hours for Lousie will be held at Ahearn Funeral Home, 783 Bridge Rd., Northampton on Tuesday May 20, 2025, from 4:00 to 6:00 P.M. Funeral Services will be held on Wednesday, May 21, 2025 at the Edwards Church, 297 Main St. Northampton at 11:30 A.M. Burial in Westhampton Center Cemetery will be private. In lieu of flowers, donations in her memory may be made to the Friends of the Westhampton Public Library, 1 North Rd., Westhampton, MA. 01027 or The Edwards Church, 279 Main St., Northampton, MA. 01060

Caroline Gavin Arnold, 95, died peacefully on April 1, 2025 at the Linda Manor Skilled Nursing Facility in Leeds, Massachusetts. We have lost our wonderful mother, grandmother, great grandmother, aunt, and friend.

Caroline was born to Helen and Phillip Gavin in 1930 and raised with her three older sisters Phyllis (“Bunny”) ’37, Sarah (“Sally”) ’39, and Mary ’44 in Norton, Massachusetts. She received her education at Northampton School for Girls, founded by her Aunt Sarah Whitaker, and Sophie Newcombe College of Tulane University which she left to marry Richard D. Pickett and start a family. She was proud to finish her college education at the University of Massachusetts Amherst where she graduated with a degree in Anthropology at the age of 37. At UMASS, she also worked as an assistant to the Dean of Foreign Students and attended graduate level seminars. Passionate about native plants, she received a Certificate in Native Plant Studies from The New England Wildflower Society at Garden in the Woods, Framingham, MA in 1998.

Caroline and her first husband settled in Leeds with their three children. In 1958 they moved to a home on Puffer’s Pond in Amherst which became her oasis. She was always the first person to take a swim in the early spring and the last in the late fall. She skated there in the winter and traversed the local trails on foot and cross-country skis.

Caroline divorced in 1966 and remarried Dr. Gordon Arnold and became stepmother to his five children. Through the UMASS Anthropology Department they formed a wide and eclectic circle of lifelong friends. Caroline and Gordon enjoyed adventures together such as alpine skiing in Europe, stints in Grenada and Thailand where Gordon volunteered his surgical skills and many foreign trips with their friends including to Central America, Europe, and Morocco.

Throughout her life, Caroline maintained a keen curiosity and a thirst for learning. She could pretty much do anything she set her mind to and would tackle any project-whether it be butchering a deer or restoring antique furniture and gilded picture frames. Among her other varied skills, she was a talented watercolor artist, expert gardener, invasive plant crusader, naturalist, and exceptional cook/baker. In her younger days, she raised, groomed and showed poodles and also lent a hand grooming the family Morgan horses. While helping her children fix up their homes, she acquired the nickname “Granny Gooper” (referencing joint compound) after developing a talent for drywall installation.

Caroline relished good food, good drink, and good company. She was an early adopter of Julia Child’s cookbooks and brought home recipes from her travels abroad that inspired countless feasts for friends and family. She was a sucker for blue-eyed men including Bing Crosby, Paul Newman, her first husband Richard, her second husband Gordon, and her last gentleman friend John Murphy whom she met in her late 80s while residing at the Lathrop Community.

Caroline was one of a kind and a true bon vivant. She will be remembered as smart, funny, fearless, and incredibly generous to those who knew and adored her. She taught us to be serious about what you love but not take yourself too seriously.

She is survived by her three children, Molly Pickett (m. Steve Tirrell), Jack Pickett ’72 (m. Julie Pickett), Lucy Pickett, three stepchildren, four grandchildren, four great grandchildren as well as many beloved nieces and nephews and dear friends.

In lieu of flowers,donations can be made to Trustees of the Reservation at thetrustees.org or Kestrel Land Trust at kestreltrust.org

Our family would like to thank the staff on Forestview unit at Linda Manor for their care.

Leslie Baldwin Nichols Kremer died on March 14, 2025 in the early morning hours as the crow moon set in the west and dawn was breaking on the horizon.

Leslie was born on Oct. 16, 1937, to Henry Baldwin Nichols and Esther Shears Nichols in Worcester, Mass. She spent her early childhood in Litchfield, Conn., with her two sisters Julie and Hope and younger brother Hank.

Leslie attended Colby College, where she majored in English. In her first year, when Leslie was only 18, her mother died in a tragic car accident. The loss of her beloved mother stayed with her for the rest of her life. She was incredibly fortunate that her father remarried, and her stepmother Deborah entered her life.

During her college years, Leslie spent many winter weekends skiing at Sugarloaf Mountain, and after graduation, moved to North Conway, N.H., to teach second grade at John H. Fuller School. Leslie went on to become a kindergarten teacher in the Fryeburg, Maine, school district where for many years she influenced a host of young people, teaching kindness alongside the ABCs.

In 1961, she married Bretton Russell, whom she met skiing at Sugarloaf. Together they had four daughters: Jessica, Melanie, Kristen and Hilary. Eventually Leslie and Brett divorced but they maintained a close friendship. The respect they showed each other was an example for family and friends alike.

When Leslie was in her early 50s, she decided to explore her love of cooking, and in 1988 embarked on this new adventure by going to Grasmere, England, where she worked in the kitchen at Michael’s Nook. She returned home with an increased passion for cooking and became a sous chef at Chez Alain in Conway. She went on to cook at the Snowvillage Inn where she became lifelong friends with a number of amazing people.

Her love of travel and desire for adventure took her to the 7D Ranch in the Sunlight Basin in Cody, Wyo., and the Flying E Ranch in Arizona, where she was head chef.

In 1992, she met John Kremer III. It was love at first sight for John and it didn’t take Leslie long to realize she felt the same. They shared a love of travel, cooking, walking and hiking the White Mountains, as well as cross-country skiing. They were married in June 1994, in the backyard of her Fryeburg home, surrounded by their children. They had many wonderful adventures together, including volunteering for the Peace Corps in Lithuania for two years.

Leslie was an amazing gardener. When her children were looking for her, they knew they’d find her tending her gardens. She was an incredible cook. Her kitchen always smelled of blueberry muffins, or some other wonderful baked treat, homemade soups, or a scrumptious roast pork with the perfect potatoes. She was a generous, kind soul who never hesitated to help someone in need. She was a natural teacher and nurturer. Family was immensely important to her, as was community. She volunteered as a cook at the Dinner Bell and two thrift shops.

Leslie leaves behind her husband, John Kremer III; her children Jessica and her husband, Filippo, of Foligno, Italy; Kristen and her husband, David, of Fryeburg, Maine; Hilary and her husband, Rene, of Foligno, Italy; her stepchildren John IV and Erika of London UK, Ellen Christian of Bartlett, N.H.; her grandchildren Allison and Camilla Battoni, Henry and Milo Kremer, Theo and Max Christian, Silva and Eyob Treiser Brown; her oldest sister Julie Cook ’51; as well as many wonderful nieces and nephews and their children who she loved very much. The family would like to thank her “chosen family” Jessyca Broekman who painted with Leslie and enjoyed many walks with her, especially in her final years, and Leslie’s caretaker, Deborah Parker, who loved and cared for her and John deeply.

She is predeceased by her parents Esther and Henry Nichols, her stepmother Deborah Nichols, her infant daughter Melanie, her sister Hope Zanes Butterworth ’54 and her brother Hank Nichols.

It has been a long “goodbye” as dementia took away bits of Leslie, but at her core she was always there, and to the end knew her daughters and husband. Leslie’s kindness, her love for family and friends, her wisdom, her radiant smile, her sparkle in her eyes, her enjoyment of music (classical, musicals, folk, rock and reggae), her sense of humor, her contagious laugh and njoyment of all living things will be great missed.

Arrangements were made through Furber Funeral Home and Cremation Services. A celebration of Leslie’s life will be announced at a later date. In lieu of flowers, please consider planting or caring for a tree in Leslie’s memory (she loved trees), cook for someone in need of a good meal or show a stranger kindness … this is what Leslie would appreciate.

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.

Rita Zuckerwar Ross, 103, of Delray Beach, Florida, and longtime resident of Gloversville, New York, passed away at home on August 24, 2024. Rita was born on June 24, 1921, in Gloversville, the daughter of Jacob A. Zuckerwar and Marguerite Zuckerwar.
Bud Ross, her husband of seventy-six years, died in 2021. She is survived by her children Joan Ross of New York City and Roger Ross (Jennifer) of Folsom, California; her four grandchildren Cameron Ross (Malia) of Livermore, California; Sebastian Ross (Chelsea) of Sacramento, California; Giselle Ross of Cameron Park, California; and Lindsey McGaughran (Matthew) of Acushnet, Massachusetts. She is also survived by two great-grandchildren, Sivan Ross and Silas Ross of Livermore.
Her daughter Marguerite “Meg” Ross Wass preceded her in death.

Linda Gale Ivey (née Bauer), 78, of Malvern, PA, and formerly of St. Davids, PA, peacefully departed this life on December 31, 2024. The daughter of the late LeRoy John Bauer and Dorothy Rose Perham, Linda was born on September 1, 1946 in Easthampton, MA. There she attended Williston, The Northampton School for Girls and subsequently graduated from Carnegie Mellon University and Widener University Delaware Law School.

Linda was a dynamic woman with many talents and interests that developed into jobs, hobbies, and volunteer positions. She had an insatiable thirst for literature and the arts, and consistently found ways to further her education. She was an avid reader, music lover, and gardener. Linda was also an extremely strong athlete who loved skiing, swimming, paddle, and tennis. During and after college, she was a top model for The Wilhelmina Agency. Linda graced the pages and covers of renowned publications such as People, Vogue, and Esquire; and accepted assignments that afforded her many opportunities to travel internationally. Linda was a certified cruise director, travel agent, member of the PA Bar Association, and treasurer for the Philadelphia Chapter of the Blue Star Mothers of America. Additionally and among many other things, Linda was a skilled seamstress, motorcyclist, and calligrapher.

Linda is survived by her beloved children, Meredith C. Lockhart and Tucker Ivey (Alana); her brother, LeRoy Bauer ’72; and her cherished grandchildren, Leah and Jackson Lockhart, and Maeve Ivey.