Charles Dearden Vernon was born on November 4, 1944, in Worcester, Massachusetts and died peacefully on October 18, 2024 in Hartford, Connecticut from medical complications. He was the son of the late Hollis and Jean Dearden Vernon.

Chuck grew up on the campus of the Williston Northampton School in Easthampton, Massachusetts. At Williston, he stood out as an inspiring leader of the student body as president of the Student Council and as a gifted, determined athlete who exceled in football, hockey and lacrosse, serving as captain of the latter two. In a remarkable tribute to Chuck and his leadership abilities, a teammate’s family donated a Victory Bell to the school in his honor. Dedicated to Chuck, the inscription reads that he proved to all that “sportsman is the true victory.” Chuck was elected to the school’s Athletic Hall of Fame in 2023.

After Williston Chuck attended Dartmouth College, graduating in 1966. At Dartmouth he was once again a campus leader and recognized athlete, captain of the men’s lacrosse team and named as an All-American for his sportsmanship and love of the game.

Following graduation from Dartmouth, for a brief time Chuck managed a Dixieland-motif restaurant, Your Father’s Mustache, first in Bay Head, New Jersey during the summer and then in New York City the following winter. It was in Bay Head that he met the love of his life, Jamie Sandra Gardner, whom he married in 1968.

In 1968 Chuck began his illustrious career at the Loomis Chaffee School in Windsor, Connecticut, serving on the faculty in myriad roles throughout his career in secondary school education, but primarily as the head of the Community Work Program, which he established shortly after his arrival. Again, Chuck’s commitment to athletics and his ability to engage and lead others to perform at their highest level were evident as he coached 135 teams for over 40 years. To honor his outstanding contribution to girls’ ice hockey, the New England Preparatory Schools Athletic Conference named the Elite Division championship tournament in his honor.

When he wasn’t coaching during the school year, Chuck, along with Jamie, spent every summer at the Jersey Shore hosting gatherings for family and friends, making furniture in his shop and body surfing at Bridge Avenue Beach.

Throughout his quasi-retirement, Chuck continued and expanded his passion for woodworking and his commitment to walking, engaging friends and neighbors to join him. In this latter realm, as in other forums, Chuck’s effervescent personality, punctuated by forceful insistence and a quick wit, brought people into his orbit, summoning them to action and enriching their lives.

Throughout Chuck’s life, he was fiercely committed to his family and friends as they were to him. In his eyes, his wife Jamie, who predeceased him, was the most incredible person on the planet. A loving and present father to Jill and Andrew, he also leaves his special GrandGirls Lila, Jenna, Hannah and Tatum; Jill’s husband Todd and Andrew’s wife Adrianne, along with many friends, especially Ginny Drapeau who was a constant source of care and strength the past two years. Predeceased by his brother Kirke, Chuck also leaves several cousins and their children.

There will be a Celebration of Life for Chuck at the Loomis Chaffee School on Sunday November 24th at 10:00 a.m. with luncheon to follow.

Donations in his memory can be made to The Loomis Chaffee School, for the Charles D. Vernon Teaching Fund, Alumni/Development, 4 Batchelder Road, Windsor, CT 06095

Richard Payson Shepardson, of Clearwater, Florida, passed away May 2, 2023.

In loving memory of John A. Ernst of Brookhaven, GA, his family is saddened to announce his sudden passing on November 11, 2022 at Emory St. Joseph’s hospital. A man of deep Christian faith, John lived a full life guided by John 13:34 “Jesus said, ‘Love one another even as I have loved you”.

John was predeceased by his parents, Anne and Arthur Ernst; and sister, Judith Ernst. He is survived by his wife of 51 years, Suzanne Ernst; and three children, Mayor John A. Ernst, Jr. (Monica Vining) of Brookhaven, Elizabeth S. Ernst of Brookhaven, and Timothy J. Ernst (Bobbi) of Chamblee. John is also survived by his sister, Barbara Plezia (Norman) of East Aurora, New York; four grandchildren, John A., III (Jack), Evan, Norah and Ellie Ernst; and numerous in-laws, nieces, nephews and cousins.

Visitation and Vigil will be held on Thursday, November 17 at H.M. Patterson and Son Oglethorpe Hills Chapel in Brookhaven from 6:00 PM to 8:00 PM with the Vigil beginning at 7:30 PM. A Funeral Mass is planned for Friday, November 18 at Our Lady of the Assumption Church in Brookhaven at 1:00 PM followed by inurnment and reception at Moylan Hall. Gifts may be made in John’s memory to the St. Vincent de Paul Society Conference at OLA Church, 1350 Hearst Drive, NE, Brookhaven, GA 30319, or to the charity of your choice.

Paul “Buck” Joseph Carroll, Jr., aged 78, died on Tuesday, April 26, 2022 in Boston of respiratory failure following a long illness. Paul was born in Springfield, January 13, 1944, the son of the late Paul and Teresa Carroll. He is survived by his wife Pamela Leary of Pinehurst, NC; daughter Cailly Anne Carroll (Daniel Serna) of Concord, MA; son Matthew L. Carroll (Jennifer McGowan) of Middleton, Delaware and children Finnegan, Teagan and Jack; his sister, Debra Carroll Packard of Lexington, MA; nephews, John Packard of North Andover, MA, Matthew Packard of Hingham, MA, Erich Carroll of Fairhaven, MA and Sydney Carroll Millette of Deerfield, MA. Paul/Buck was predeceased by his brother, Richard Carroll of South Yarmouth, MA.

A Celebration of Life at Annunciation Chapel, 85 Beacon St., Florence, MA will be held Friday, June 17 at 10 am, followed by Burial at St. Mary’s Cemetery, Northampton. In lieu of flowers, donations in Buck’s memory may be made to Pine Street Inn, Attn: Development Office, 444 Harrison Ave., Boston, MA 02118 (www.pinestreetinn.org).

Thomas William Murphy III passed away peacefully in his sleep on April 21, 2022, at the age of 78 years. Thomas was born in Washington, DC, the son of the late Dr. Thomas and Rosemarie Murphy.

A native of Washington, DC, Thomas graduated from St. John’s College High School. He later attended Williston Academy and University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. He was a competitive and nationally ranked swimmer when he was younger. For a brief time, he worked at Green Spring Dairy, which at the time was owned by his grandfather. Soon after that he moved to California to begin his career in sales, starting with NCR in San Francisco. As he got older he was an avid tennis player at Congressional Country Club where he also had served on the finance committee. He lived the last 15 years in Bethesda, Maryland near many family and friends.

Thomas was preceded by his late loving wife Heide. Thomas is survived by his son, Thomas (Kelly), and his daughter, Jennifer (Allan); and four beloved grandchildren, Patrick, Hope, William, and John. He was preceded by his late sister Michele. He will also be forever remembered by his surviving siblings, Martha, Mel, and Mark along with his beloved relatives and friends.

Visitation will be at St. Elizabeth’s Catholic Church, 917 Montrose Road, Rockville, Maryland on Wednesday, May 11, 2022 at 12:15 p.m., followed by a 12:30 p.m. Mass of Christian Burial. Interment will be at Gates of Heaven cemetery at 2 p.m. In lieu of flowers, memorial donations in memory of Thomas may be made to Catholic Charities of DC.

Richard Arthur De Angelis died unexpectedly in Marseille, France, on July 30, 2021, of pneumonia. Born May 4, 1944, he contracted polio when only 2 ½, giving him a slight limp. Rick spent three years of his early childhood in Athens, Greece, where his father worked for the American mission, later the Marshall plan. He entered Williston Academy in 1958 when his father moved with the rest of the family to Bologna, Italy, for an appointment as professor of public administration. Rick excelled academically at the prep school, becoming valedictorian of his class and editor of the school newspaper.

Rick graduated in 1966 from Harvard, where he studied under the noted sociologist Lawrence Wylie. Wylie introduced him to field research in France, and enabled his participation as one of seventeen student authors of Chanzeaux: A Village in Anjou, the portrait of a rural community in western France; the book served as a conservative counterpart to Wylie’s acclaimed Village in the Vaucluse. Rick’s Francophilia continued in graduate school, bringing him the acquaintance of his future wife Françoise and some riveting experiences of near revolution in Paris during the 1968 Events of May. His experiences then would inform his dissertation, published in 1982 as Blue-Collar Workers and Politics: A French Paradox. World politics would continue to dominate Rick’s professional life, as he gained his doctorate in political science from the University of Chicago (1979, where he studied with Nathan Leites and Aristide Zolberg. Rick went on to teach in universities in San Diego, Nancy (France), Zaria (northern Nigeria), Adelaide, and, for a three-year period, in Bologna at the School of Advanced International Studies of Johns Hopkins.

Rick spent the bulk of his academic career at Flinders University in Adelaide, South Australia, where he found the academic community intellectually congenial, the climate ideal, and the landscape endlessly appealing (in a brief autobiography he called his time in Australia “almost paradise”). In later years he fought a rearguard action against the Australian government’s educational reforms, propelled by a belief that privatization, bureaucratization, and the elimination of intermediating review bodies undermined the unusual progressive, international character of Flinders. In 2009 he retired to live with his wife in the Provençale village of Sérignan, where he worked on a French version of his political thriller, The Adler Tape. Rick’s wife of 52 years, an accomplished poet with a compelling predilection for the natural world, suffered a severe stroke in January, 2020 and died after a prolonged, hospital-bound illness just two days before Rick.

Predeceased by his wife, Rick is survived by his daughters Cybèle Coquis and Christina De Angelis; his son-in-law Eric Coquis; two grandsons, Antoine and Alexandre Coquis—all in France; his sisters Nancy Morgan and Anita De Angelis; and his brother Paul.

Arthur Kaiser, loving husband and father, unfortunately passed away suddenly in Kennett Square on July 1, 2021. Art was born in Brooklyn NY, November 27, 1943, the oldest of five children; four boys and one girl. His father was an attorney who graduated from Columbia Law School and his mother graduated from Hunter College with a degree in math. As the family grew, they moved from Brooklyn to the North Shore of Long Island. From an early age Art played sports. He played doubles tennis with his father as well as playing baseball and squash.
Art graduated from Williston Northampton School in Easthampton, MA followed by Wesleyan University in Middletown, CT where he majored in European History and was captain of the squash team. After college, Art began an MBA program at Columbia University, but left before graduating to join the US Army where he served in Vietnam as a First Lieutenant. He tried love a second time when he met Connie Lotz in 1984. They met on a Appalachian Mountain Club cross-country ski trip in Vermont through a friend of Connie’s who was Art’s rock climbing partner. Art always said he was attracted to the red sweater Connie was wearing. Connie was attracted to his sweet demeanor and cute face. Her only concern at the time was that he was at least 35 years old. Lucky for both of them he was forty! They married in June 1985 and in 1986 their son Gavin Lotz Kaiser was born. After the military, Art worked as a lending officer in a bank and later joined the staff at his family’s store, Kaiser’s Men’s Apparel in Greenwich Village New York, where he worked until 1989. Together Art and Connie moved to Powelton Village in Philadelphia. The neighborhood’s close proximity to 30th Street Train Station enabled Art to commute to New York and Connie to her office in West Philly.
Art loved being a father. In an attempt to calm baby Gavin and reclaim sleep, Art would try anything including browsing the “colicky baby” shelves at the NYC Tower Records store. As Gavin grew, it was clear that Art’s love of sports and fierce competition was visible in Gavin. Art loved coaching Gavin’s baseball and soccer teams. He loved coaching and interacting with his young pupils. One of his favorite coaching sessions was when he held a parents versus players’ game. Middle and High School ended Art’s sports coaching career, but he continued attending all of Gavin’s baseball, soccer, lacrosse and basketball games. In addition to coaching sports, Art taught Gavin how to drive stick shift in Kennett Square with only one casualty the mailbox. He was a terrific father who loved to share his love of the outdoors with his family. These included planning extreme trips to the Alaska frontier and mountains of Maine. Later in life he made multiple pilgrimages to the Everglades, surviving with little more than his kayak, map and compass. While Art majored in European history in college it turned out that his real love was finance. He read voraciously to understand what was happening in the world, which he felt was crucial to making informed decisions. His curiosity of the world enabled him to connect with anyone. Art loved to travel and hike. His favorite trips were always with Connie and included Big Bend National Park, Canadian Rockies, Namibia and Botswana. In addition, Art admittedly took too frequent of trips to his favorite store for free samples and bulk purchases, Costco. His favorite Costco items were the rotisserie chickens and Aussie Bites.
Art is preceded in death by his brother Jonathan Kaiser (Blair). He is survived by his loving wife, Connie Lotz; son, Gavin Lotz Kaiser (Ashley); a sister, Katha Clark (Ted); two brothers: Steven Kaiser (Jennifer) and William Kaiser; two nieces and two nephews. Art will be dearly missed. To those who knew him well, he will always be remembered as adventurous, athletic and curious.
The memorial service will be held at Washington Crossing National Cemetery, 830 Highland Rd. Newtown, PA 18940 on Monday, August 2, 2021 at 11:15 sharp, it’s the military. A luncheon will be held immediately following the service. We appreciate all your kind thoughts; they bring great comfort to us. Should friends desire; contributions in memory of Art may be sent to Powelton Village Civic Assoc. PO Box 7616 Philadelphia, PA 19101-7616