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By PATRICK ADRIAN

PLAINFIELD — Craig John Lanzim, or “C.J.” as he was known, was a role model to many for how to treat others. He had a gift for making people feel valued, whether a close friend or a stranger. He accepted others as they were and exhibited patience and...

By CHRISTINA DOLAN

HANOVER — Priscilla Sears noticed things. Whether it was unexpected natural beauty, a sublime musical performance or a quirky piece of jewelry, she was always ready to be astonished.And she noticed people, especially the ones who most needed...

By ALEX HANSON

Sometimes, a patron would come into the Polka Dot Restaurant and ask, “How much is coffee and a doughnut.”Mary Shatney knew what that question meant and would point to an open seat. Often, she’d make a plate of food — eggs, toast and home fries, maybe...

By LIZ SAUCHELLI

LEBANON — Whenever Frances “Fran” Hanchett walked through cemeteries, she’d keep an eye out for neglected stones.“She had a little kit in the back of her trunk all the time,” Hanchett’s daughter, Lisa Wentworth, said in a phone interview. Hanchett...

By JOHN LIPPMAN

CHARLESTOWN — Carol Glidden remembers the time she first saw Chris Conant.Glidden was about to enter a friend’s home in Charlestown on a Friday summer evening in 1998 when she caught sight of a guy standing on a sulky behind a lawnmower as he rode the...

By PATRICK ADRIAN

STRAFFORD — Timothy Matson, a writer and naturalist from Strafford, owed some credit for his path in life to the U.S. Army, though not in the way that some might imagine. After all, venturing to rural Vermont — where he would live for years without...

By ALEX HANSON

TUNBRIDGE — Artist and musician George Lawrence seemed almost effortlessly creative during his long life, but some examples stand out.One year, the Terami family, his neighbors on Ordway Road in Tunbridge, had some volunteer gourds grow up around...

By FRANCES MIZE

CORNISH — Ethel Nelson was much in the news.Her family, riddling through her local stardom in the months after her death, largely thinks it wasn’t that Nelson herself was attention-grabbing. It’s just that what she did, inevitably, grabbed...

By JOHN LIPPMAN

NORWICH — Bob Dean liked to ride his bicycle between his home in Norwich and work in Hanover and Etna. That wasn’t unusual — bike commuters are common around the towns.What was uncommon is that Dean was likely the only one-legged cyclist to pedal the...

By PATRICK O’GRADY

ENFIELD — When Robert Pollard was 16 years old, he was hired to work at Don’s Cash Market in his hometown of Enfield.Don Crate, owner of the market, was the Enfield’s fire chief and introduced the young Pollard to firefighting and even took him on...

By ALEX HANSON

BETHEL — Victoria Weber and Davis Dimock first met when they were in college, he at Pomona and she at Pitzer, two small liberal arts colleges in Claremont, Calif., east of Los Angeles. This was in the 1960s.After living in California and performing...

By PATRICK O’GRADY

UNITY — Early summer 2008 was a tense time for Democrats.When the year began, then-U.S. Sen. Hillary Clinton was the clear favorite to capture the Democratic nomination for president. Six months later, after a bruising primary campaign, Barack Obama,...

By BENJAMIN ROSENBERG

HARTFORD — Brian Trottier understood better than just about anyone in the Upper Valley what local sports can mean for both individuals and communities.A versatile athlete growing up in Brattleboro, Vt., Trottier spent 31 years working in athletics at...

By LIZ SAUCHELLI

ORFORD — When Hideko “Yumi” Smith taught her younger family members how to play card games, her motivation was twofold: learning how to play a game and managing money.“She wouldn’t show mercy to the kids just because they were kids,” Smith’s...

By PATRICK O’GRADY

CHARLESTOWN — Amateur historians share a few things in common. They are more curious than most, passionate and persistent in confirming their findings.They research and write for little to no financial gain, and their published works do not yield much...

By JIM KENYON

ENFIELD — During his 27 years as the town’s police chief, Peter Giese took mentoring Enfield officers to a new level. He made sure they dotted every I and crossed all Ts — literally.Giese checked officers’ investigative reports and court affidavits...

By JOHN LIPPMAN

ORFORD — The annual Orford Town Meeting would be only a couple of articles into voting on town budget items when a familiar voice would shout from his seat in the bleachers at the back of the school auditorium.“Paper ballot! Paper ballot!” came the...

By ALEX HANSON

HANOVER — For someone who devoted his life to the glitziest of businesses, Bill Pence kept out of the light.His career in film had a profound influence on the medium, but he came at it from the perspective of a fan and a theater operator, not a...

By PATRICK O’GRADY

WINDSOR — For Anthony Rocchio, human encounters and connections were more than an opportunity to forge new friendships. They were a cause for celebration.Rocchio’s natural gift for engaging others and wanting to learn about them brought him his...

By NORA DOYLE-BURR

SOUTH STRAFFORD — Robert Murray had a gruff communication style, but everyone at The Newton School, where he served as principal for 28 years, and in the community, where he served in numerous volunteer roles, recognized that he cared.Joey Hawkins,...

By JIM KENYON

Lee Cutting and John Walsh were the best of friends. Whether they were good influences on each other is arguable.But they had a bond. His name was Jim Beam. “We put away a lot of bourbon,” Walsh told me.For 10 years, Cutting, 64, and Walsh, 72, lived...