Obituaries May 2018

Ruth Poger

Ruth Poger, 80, of Shelburne, Vt., died April 6 in Burlington, Vt.

Beginning in 1977, Poger was a founding member, editor, and later publisher of The Other Paper in South Burlington, Vt.

She was a member of the South Burlington (Vt.) Democratic City Committee, on which she eventually was chairwoman. She became active in the state Democratic Party, and was its executive director. She later was a Democratic national committeewoman. In 1974 and 1978, she was the first woman to chair a Vermont gubernatorial campaign, and in 1980 she directed the U.S. Census in Vermont.

She leaves her husband, Sid; two daughters, Julia and Toby; two grandchildren; a brother.

James F. ‘Jim’ Berry

James F. “Jim” Berry, 88, of Hudson, Mass., died March 15 after a long period of failing health.

He was employed in advertising sales for The Beacon of Acton, Mass., and the former Enterprise-Sun of Marlborough, Mass. He was the founder of the Marlborough City Post.

Berry leaves his wife, Lorraine; three sons; Michael, Robert and Joseph; two daughters, Barbara and Elizabeth; 12 grandchildren; three great-grandchildren.

Gordon Andrews Glover

Gordon Andrews Glover, 93, of South Freeport, Maine, died April 11 at Bay Square in Yarmouth, Maine.

He was a reporter and New England news chief for The Associated Press.

He later owned a weekly newspaper, The Citizen of Morris County, based in Whippany, N.J., and was its editor and publisher.

Glover was an editorial page editor for the New York Daily News.

He also had been a speechwriter in Washington, D.C., for a U.S. senator.

Gordon leaves four children, Susan, Margaret, Barbara and William; eight grandchildren, Alison, Chloe, Charles, Riley, Reed, Margaret, Sara Jane and Ginny; two great-grandchildren.

Phyllis Baker Newton

Phyllis Baker Newton, 94, of Harwich, Mass., and Naples, Fla., died March 5 at Harbor Point in Centerville, Mass.

During her several decades as a journalist, Newton was editor of the Needham (Mass.) Chronicle for about three years. She wrote a daily advice column under a pen name for the former Boston Herald Traveler. Newton’s byline also appeared in Time Magazine, The Sun of Lowell, Mass., the Newton (Mass.) Graphic, the Dedham (Mass.) Transcript, and The Patriot Ledger of Quincy, Mass.

During her journalism career, Newton established a public relations business in 1947, marketing to schools, theaters and other businesses. She sold the business to a competitor after a few years.

She leaves two sons, Gary and John; a daughter, Beth; six grandchildren; six great-grandchildren; a brother.

Eugene Russell Donnelly Jr.

Eugene Russell Donnelly Jr., 79, of Pepperell, Mass., died Feb. 19 at home.

Donnelly was employed at the Telegram & Gazette of Worcester, Mass., until the late 1990s. He began as a reporter and later was regional editor. He then was head of marketing there, and ended his career with a second stint on the newspapers’ editorial board. He also was an outdoor columnist there, writing about hunting, fishing, camping and conservation

He leaves his wife, Helen; two sons; Benjamin and Nicholas; three granddaughters; a grandson; a brother.

Daniel Hovey

Daniel Hovey, 82, of Meriden, Conn., died April 16 in Meriden.

Hovey was an editor of the Ipswich (Mass.) Chronicle before becoming editor at the Hamilton-Wenham (Mass.) Chronicle, and finally, city editor of the former Beverly Evening (Mass.) Times.

He became director of press relations at Northeastern University in 1961, and four years later, founded and was director for four years of the Department of Public Information at the University of Hartford in Connecticut.

Hovey leaves his wife, The Rev. Diane; a daughter, Heidi; a son, Elric; two stepsons, Zachary and Geoffrey; seven grandchildren; 13 great-grandchildren; two siblings; his former wife, Nanci.

Peter Thomas Farrelly Jr.

Peter Thomas Farrelly, Jr., 65, of Shelton, Conn., died April 6.

Farrelly was a writer and editor during his career, and was employed with the Norwalk (Conn.) Hour and later the Fairfield County Catholic, based in Bridgeport, Conn., the Greenwich (Conn.) Time, and the Connecticut Post of Bridgeport.

Farrelly leaves his wife, Mary Jo; four sons, Joseph, Sean, Kevin and Brian; a daughter, Heather; two brothers; three sisters.

William L. Barschdorf

William L. Barschdorf, 84, of Pittsfield, Mass., died March 19 at Berkshire Medical Center in Pittsfield.

His career began as a reporter-photographer at the Bennington (Vt.) Banner. He was later sports editor there. He was employed at the Banner from 1953 to 1956.

He then went to the then-Springfield (Mass.) Union and covered the North Berkshire area of Massachusetts as bureau chief in 1956 and 1957. He later briefly joined the Northampton bureau before covering a variety of assignments on the Union’s city staff. He also was the Union’s business and industry editor and worked on its night city editor’s desk.

Barschdorf became community relations and employee communication specialist at General Electric Co. in Pittsfield in 1966. During 26 years there, he received several corporate communication excellence awards, most of them as writer-editor of the GE News.

He leaves his wife, Geralyn; two sons, Fred and William; two daughters, Nancy and Julie; 11 grandchildren; four great-grandchildren; a sister; a brother.

Daniel Ambrose Neary Jr. 

Daniel Ambrose Neary Jr., 77, of East Montpelier, Vt., died March 9 in Berlin, Vt., from complications of Parkinson’s disease.

Neary was a reporter for the Rutland (Vt.) Herald. He later was Associated Press bureau chief in Montpelier from 1968 to 1973.

Later in life, he wrote short stories and film reviews and took black-and-white photographs in a style described by critics as “stark” and “austere.” Neary also had two books published, “Vanishing Vermont” and “Rage in the Hills.”

He leaves twin daughters, Carla and Jessica; a grandson. Kirby; a sister

James W. Morrissey Jr.

James W. Morrissey Jr., 85, of Quincy, Mass., died April 10 at Seasons Hospice Milton (Mass.) Inpatient Center after a long battle with Alzheimer’s disease.

He was business editor for the former Malden (Mass.) Evening News.

He leaves his wife, Arlene; three surrogate children, Jacob, Andrew and Joseph; three grandchildren; a brother.

Mary Ellen (Monroe) Nihill

Mary Ellen (Monroe) Nihill, 89, died March 17 at Waterbury (Conn.) Hospital.

She was employed as a copy editor for many years at the company that now publishes The Republican of Springfield, Mass., and its sister Sunday newspaper.

She leaves two children, Michael and Joanne, and five grandchildren, Nicholas, Joey, Jamella, Yasin and Braheim.

Dave Behrens

Dave Behrens, 84, of Manhattan died March 24 after a brief illness.

Behrens began his career at the New Haven (Conn.) Register and later joined the Miami Herald.

In 1968, he was hired as a reporter at Newsday. In 1970, he was assigned by Newsday to cover the women’s movement. Not long after joining Newsday, Behrens became part of “The Heroin Trail” coverage that won a Pulitzer Prize in 1974. He ultimately became a feature writer for Newsday, and retired in 2004.

Behrens leaves his wife, Patricia.

Terry Louise Cowles

Terry Louise Cowles, 90, of Old Saybrook, Conn., and formerly of Westbrook, Conn., died Jan. 6.

She was a cub reporter at the then-Framingham (Mass.) Daily News, a columnist at The Call of Woonsocket, R.I., and an editorial secretary at the New Yorker magazine. She also had been a script writer for then-radio station WAAB-AM in Worcester, Mass., and WTVL-TV in Waterville, Maine.

Cowles leaves five nieces Priscilla, Marjorie, Nancy, Susan and Linda; a nephew, Vernon; two second cousins; many grandnieces, grandnephews, great-grandnieces, and great-grandnephews.

Phyllis Jane Nissen 

Phyllis Jane (Freeman) Nissen, 71, of Wakefield, Mass., formerly of Reading, Mass., died March 13 in her home after a brief battle with cancer.

She was a feature writer for the Reading (Mass.) Times Chronicle; Wakefield (Mass.) Times Chronicle; the Middlesex East supplement to those newspapers and others in the group whose flagship is the Daily Times Chronicle of Woburn, Mass.; and other local newspapers.

She wrote columns, including School Notes, about the local schools, and About the Towns, about activities in area communities.

She leaves her husband, Stanley; four children, Misti, Melanie, Gregory and Courtney; eight grandchildren; a brother.