Notable New Hampshire Deaths: Pelham Lions Club's First Woman President, Emma Bergeron

By InDepth NH

InDepthNH.org scans the websites of New Hampshire funeral homes each week and selects at random some of our friends, relatives and neighbors to feature in this column. The people listed here passed away during the previous weeks and have some public or charitable connection to their community. InDepthNH.org is now offering obituaries through the Legacy.com service. We view this as part of our public service mission. Click here or on the Obituaries tab at the top of our home page to learn more. And if you know of someone from New Hampshire who should be featured in this column, please send your suggestions to NancyWestNews@gmail.com.

Kenneth Akerley, 88, of Salem, died June 7, 2026. A U.S. Marine Corps veteran, he was a quality control manager for Polaroid. He was a longtime member of the American Legion and a Fourth Degree member of the Knights of Columbus Bishop Peterson Council 4442 council in Salem. He was a past grand knight and organized blood drives, donating many pints of his own blood over the years. He was aformer president of the SARC and a member of the Salem Housing Authority. He was awarded theGanley Award in 2019, recognizing his volunteer service. (Douglas & Johnson Funeral Home)

Emma Mae Bergeron, 78, of Pelham, died June 6, 2026. She and her husband Jean-Guy Bergeron owned and operated Jean-Guy’s Used Cars and Parts, Inc. for more than 50 years. She was the first woman president of the Pelham Lions Club and served as the treasurer for the Pelham Good Neighbor Fund. (Pelham Funeral Home)

Everett Homer Farnsworth, 96, of Lebanon, died June 5, 2026. A U.S. Army veteran, he was a member of the Lebanon Lodge of Elks, West Lebanon VFW Post 9552, American Legion Post of Lebanon, Norford Lake Club, life member of the Grafton County Fish & Game and chairman of the soldiers memorial building in Lebanon. He worked at Clarke Distributors in Keene for 37 years before retiring. He was a coach for the West Lebanon Indians baseball team for 10 years, winning the championship every year. He also helped coach the West Lebanon youth hockey team and won the Vermont invitational championship. (Ricker Funeral Home)

Carol Hovey, 74, of Concord, died June 6, 2026. She joined the newly-created Elder Services Team at Central N.H. Community Mental Health in 1978. The agency was renamed Riverbend and she was a licensed clinical social worker and psychotherapist. She joined Womankind Counseling Center from 1986 to 2015. She was also a certified yoga trainer at Sharing Yoga in Concord. (Legacy.com)

Jennie E. (Hill) Joyce, 83, of Grafton, died June 3, 2026. She served as a Grafton selectman for many years. She had been a bus driver for many years for the Mascoma School District and also an EMT in Grafton. (Chadwick Funeral Home)

Esther Mather Leiper-Estabrooks, 79, of Gorham, died June 8, 2026. She was an accomplished poet who wrote columns for a local newspaper and became poetry editor for The Inkling Magazine, which expanded to Writer’s Journal, for which she wrote for 30 years. Her first book was an epic in rhyme royal, titled “The Wars of Faery,” serialized in 12 episodes by Amelia Magazine. She was the author of more than 18,000 poems during her lifetime. (Bryant Funeral Homes & Crematory)

Frederick C. Lewis Jr., 84, of Portsmouth, died June 6, 2026. He earned a Ph.D. in communication disorders from Ohio University and joined the faculty of UNH in 1976, retiring in 2009. He was a member of the Portsmouth Athenaeum and the Portsmouth Historical Society, where he volunteered as a walking tour guide. (Remick & Gendron Funeral Home & Crematory)

Francis Aaron Muzzey, 84, of Wentworth, died June 7, 2026. A U.S. Army veteran, he taught mathematics at Hopkinton High School, retiring in 1994. He was a real estate broker and founded "Model A Realty" in 1991. He was known as a local historian who wrote and published several articles and books. He was a member of the Wentworth School Board and a selectman for several years. (Mayhew Funeral Homes)

Brian Thomas Oschwald, 73, of Concord, died June 4, 2026. He was a painter, a former architect, and preservationist. He was also a Celtic musician who played the Irish harp, tenor banjo, octave mandolin, mandolin, tin whistles, wooden flute, various bagpipes, and bodhrán drum. (Legacy.com)

Mary Hope Digby Plante, 73, of Candia, died June 7, 2026. She was the first female state president of the New Hampshire Jaycees. She raised donations for St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital. She took great pride in helping raise funds for the hospital and treasured her visits to Nashville. (Legacy.com)

Dr. Mary Orr Douglas Singer, 75, of Londonderry, died June 9, 2026. She had a Ph.D. in education and was an English teacher and administrator in the Goffstown and Salem school systems. After retiring, she taught part-time for Southern New Hampshire University's online program. (Legacy.com)

Kathy Soulios, 76, of Manchester, died June 5, 2026. She assisted with English as a second language classes at Central High School in Manchester. She then taught at Raymond High School, returning to Manchester at Memorial High School, where she taught Spanish for 30 years, retiring in 2023. (Legacy.com)

WORDS OF WISDOM: “You must be the change you wish to see in the world.” - Mahatma Gandhi, Oct. 2, 1869, to Jan. 30, 1948

This article first appeared on InDepthNH.org and is republished here under a Creative Commons license.