James N. Mason Jr., 84, of Windsor, Conn., died June 28.

Mason served in the U.S. Army for four years, where he used journalism skills, which he learned at a school newspaper, during his assignment as the 8th Infantry Division’s public information officer in Bad Kreuznach, Germany.

During his 12-year journalism career, Mason was employed at the former Wallingford (Conn.) Press, the then-Springfield (Mass.) Union, and the former Hartford (Conn.) Times. Mason covered the civil rights movement and urban issues in the 1960s for the Hartford and Springfield newspapers. He later became business editor at the Hartford Times, where he also had covered labor-management relations.

In 1971, Mason began his second career in public relations and civic affairs at The Connecticut General Life Insurance company in Bloomfield, Conn.

He leaves his wife, Marsha; three daughters, Elizabeth, Jessica and Peri; four grandchildren; a brother; his former wife, Nancy.

The obituaries were written, at least in part, from published reports by Bulletin correspondent Nimra Aziz, an undergraduate student in the Northeastern University School of Journalism.

Gustave A. “Gus” Senkbeil Jr., 89, of Manchester, Conn., died June 29 in Crestfield Rehabilitation Center in Manchester.

Before his retirement in the early 1990s, Senkbeil was employed, including as a color separater, at The Hartford (Conn.) Courant for more than 50 years.

He leaves his wife, Joyce; a son, G. George; a daughter, Janette; a stepson, James; three grandchildren; two great-grandchildren.

The obituaries were written, at least in part, from published reports by Bulletin correspondent Nimra Aziz, an undergraduate student in the Northeastern University School of Journalism.

Martin John Lauer, 72, of Port Charlotte, Fla., died July 1 in Port Charlotte after suffering from cancer for 15 years.

From 1970 until his retirement in 2002, Lauer was a reporter for the company that now publishes The Republican and its sister Sunday newspaper in Springfield, Mass. After retirement, he moved to Port Charlotte.

He leaves his wife, Nancy; his mother, Evelyn; five children, Deborah, Michael, Kathleen, Kevin and Maryellen; 10 grandchildren; five great-grandchildren; a brother; a sister.

The obituaries were written, at least in part, from published reports by Bulletin correspondent Nimra Aziz, an undergraduate student in the Northeastern University School of Journalism.

Robert Choate Shepherd, 81, of Brunswick, Maine, and Prouts Neck in Scarborough, Maine, died July 11 in Maine Medical Center in Portland.

After graduating from Bowdoin College in Brunswick, Shepherd was a journalist for the Guy Gannett Communications’ newspapers in Portland, which then included the Portland Press Herald, the Evening Express and their sister Sunday newspaper, the Sunday Telegram.

From 1964 to 1971, he was press secretary in Washington, D.C., for U.S. Sen. Edmund Muskie, a Maine Democrat, before returning to Maine.

He then served in Maine Gov. Ken Curtis’ administration.

He spent 12 years, the last three as chairman, on the Brunswick Town Council.

Shepherd leaves his wife, Joan; a son, Jonathan; three daughters, Rebecca, Anne and Catherine; 11 grandchildren.

The obituaries were written, at least in part, from published reports by Bulletin correspondent Nimra Aziz, an undergraduate student in the Northeastern University School of Journalism.

Florence Mildred Pallotto, 90, of Milford, Conn., died June 26 in her home.

She was a librarian and proofreader at the then-Cape Cod Standard-Times of Hyannis, Mass. She also had been a proofreader at the former Waterbury (Conn.) Democrat.

Pallotto leaves three daughters, Patricia, Carol and Nicola; eight grandchildren; eight great-grandchildren.

The obituaries were written, at least in part, from published reports by Bulletin correspondent Nimra Aziz, an undergraduate student in the Northeastern University School of Journalism.