Obituaries
• Avis Bettis, 96, of Keene, New Hampshire, formerly of Brattleboro. Died peacefully on Aug. 28, 2025. Avis was hardworking, independent, and dedicated and had a feisty side. She always wanted to be helpful all the way until the end. She lived in her own home until June of this year. She was predeceased by her husband, Landon Bettis, in 1984. Born in Springfield, Massachusetts, on April 18, 1929, Avis was the third of four children of Earl P. Collins and Mary E. (Sumner) Collins. After losing her mother at age 2, she was raised by her Aunt and Uncle Begiebing in North Adams, Massachusetts, before joining her father and stepmother, Eleanor, in Brattleboro. Avis attended Brattleboro High School and began working at an early age. She was working at the Paramount Theatre when she met her first husband, Clifton "Kippy" Stephens. Married in 1947, they settled in Hinsdale, New Hampshire, and raised two daughters, Brenda Lynne (Stephens) Finnell and Candace "Candy" Jane (Stephens) Turant. She worked many years at the Holstein Association in Brattleboro. In 1963, she married her second husband, Landon Bettis. They moved to Springfield, Masachusetts, where Avis began a career at Aetna before relocating to Concord, New Hampshire. There, she enjoyed working at the St. Paul's School library from 1968 to 1989, where she was recognized for her dedication. After retiring in 1998, Avis moved to Keene to be closer to family. She cherished time with her dear friend, Stella Nesbitt, and had a special place in her heart for Stella's children: Sharon, Donna, and Cathy. She loved luncheons, day trips, traveling to Florida in the winters, and her beloved pets - poodle Pierre and cat Gabby. She was always on-the-go and active in the Women's club, the Red Hatters, and Cheshire Walkers. Avis is survived by her daughters Brenda L. Finnell and her friend Ken Nichols, and Candy J. Turant and her husband Michael; stepdaughter June VanDewall; half-sister Elaine Davis; grandchildren Craig Finnell and his wife Denise, Lisa Finnell, Jill (Turant) Gorton and her husband John, and Jake Turant; step-grandchildren Andrew Lederer and Aaron Lederer; and great-grandchildren Megan Graham and her husband Aaron, Carter Finnell and his partner Kayla, Logan Finnell, Ansley Gorton, Hollis Gorton, and Sloan Turant. She is remembered fondly as Gram, Grammy, Grammy-Gram, and Mimi. Avis had a very close relationship with her siblings, cousins, nieces, and nephews, along with many other beloved family members. She was preceded in death by her parents, stepdaughter Jayne Lederer, siblings Wendell S. Collins and wife Jean, Sherwin Collins and wife Shirley, and Marilyn Roy and husband Derick, her grandson Timothy Turant, and her lifelong friend Stella Nesbitt. Memorial information: A graveside service will be held at Pine Grove Cemetery in Hinsdale on Sept. 20, at 1 p.m., followed by a celebration of life. Donations to the Windham County Humane Society, P.O. Box 397, Brattleboro, VT 05302.
• Earl Reginald Cabana, 83, of West Marlboro. Died Sept. 1, 2025. Born July 4, 1942, in Colchester, he attended Marlboro Elementary School and Brattleboro Union High School. He later got his GED after leaving high school early to get married. Earl was a man of many talents. He worked at Stones Typesetting and Printing in Brattleboro, Maple Farms Creamery, Cersosimo Lumber, The Book Press, and Vermont National Bank. He bought his own tractor trailer and did long-haul trucking. He was a logger and wood lots to log. He owned Squirrel's Auto Body in Marlboro and bought and restored antique autos. He also studied computer programming and auto restoration. He was a member of the National Graham Auto Club (he owned four Grahams) and the Now and Then Vehicles Club. Earl also enjoyed buying houses, restoring and flipping them for profit. He did property maintenance around the Mount Snow area for Wallace Properties. He and his wife, Virginia, delivered the Town Crier weekly around southern Vermont for 28 years. He and Virginia loved to travel, visiting nearly every U.S. state, and he hunted in Canada, from where he brought his first moose home. A month-long trip to Australia was a memorable experience for them both. They ultimately became snowbirds, wintering in Webster, Florida for the past three decades. Earl loved hunting, playing softball, farming, and playing cards with family and friends. He also built two log homes, selling one and living in the other. Earl leaves his loving wife of nearly 67 years, Virginia; daughters Wendi, Fawn, Lise, and Earlene; and 17 grandchildren, 24 great-grandchildren, and one great-great grandson. He was predeceased by his mother Lois Winchester, his father Floyd Cabana, stepfather Charles Winchester, and a grandson, Kenneth Warren Bartlett. Memorial information: A memorial service will be held on Saturday, Sept. 13.
• Elizabeth Crispe, 79, of Brattleboro. Died peacefully in her sleep at home on Aug. 20, 2025. She was nearly 80 years old. Born in Cresson, Pennsylvania, on Nov. 24, 1945, she had a difficult upbringing. Her most remarkable achievement is that despite the circumstances of her childhood, she was a wonderful, caring mother who did the best she could and loved her two children profoundly. She worked for the Peace Corps in Washington, D.C., in the late 1960s. Lawrin Crispe asked her to dance to a Beatles song, and they began seeing each other. The two went on to marry in 1969. The couple moved back to his native Vermont when he returned home to practice Law at Crispe & Crispe in Brattleboro in 1972. They divorced in 1986. They had two children: Asher Crispe, born in 1972, and Spencer Crispe, born in 1978. Elizabeth loved antiques, Diet Coke, Beatrix Potter, paddling on tranquil lakes throughout the region, The Beatles, Tasha Tudor, and England (where she traveled in 1979). She had a deep connection to the Christian faith and her church at Green Mountain Chapel in Brattleboro. She is survived by her two children, Asher and his wife Sara of Danby, and Spencer and his partner, Rachel, in West Brattleboro. She is also survived by her four grandchildren, N.C., Nessia, Netanel, and Ayden, whom she could not have been more proud as the wonderful, accomplished young adults they have become. Memorial information: Committal services and burial took place in Meeting House Hill Cemetery in Brattleboro. Donations to Interaction: Youth Services, P.O. Box 6008, Brattleboro, VT 05302. To offer condolences, visit atamaniuk.com.
• Howard Elwin Haskins Sr., 93, of Brattleboro. Died Sept. 1, 2025. He was born in Dover on Jan. 24, 1932, to the late Carroll and Adella (Goodell) Haskins. Howard came from a family of 16 children. He was an Army veteran who was stationed on the front lines in the Korean War and was very proud to serve his country. Howard worked for 22 years at Bolster Movers, many years as a mail route carrier, and as a custodian at Newfane Elementary School. After leaving the school, he was a crossing guard at the 5-way stop at the bottom of Union Hill, where he was well known and loved by children and parents. Due to his declining health, he had to leave after many years in the position. He was a past Post Commander and a lifetime member of VFW Post 1034 and a member of American Legion Post 5. He enjoyed country music, playing Pitch, and going to Lake George for vacations. On January 22, 1982, he married Bernadette (Thompson) Bratton. He was predeceased by his son Howard Jr.; brothers Stewert, David, Jamie, Dan, and Philip; sisters Shirley Scarborough and Jean Goddard; his son-in-law Arthur Jacobs III, and his grandson Curtis Songer. Besides his wife, he is survived by four children from a previous marriage: Sondra Haskins of Brattleboro, Katrina Jacobs of Brattleboro, Alice Graham and spouse Wesley of Westminster, and Raymond of Brattleboro; stepdaughters Christie Thereault of Brattleboro and Brenda Noyes and spouse Jonathan of Bellows Falls; stepson John Bratton and spouse Janet of Guilford; daughter-in-law Lisa Haskins; sisters Rachel Haskins, June Doucette, and Rebecca Edson; brothers Davin, Sam, Stephen, Gary, and Thomas; and a large blended family of 20 grandchildren, 16 great-grandchildren, and one great-great-grandson, as well as many nieces and nephews. Memorial information: Calling hours will be held at Phaneuf Funeral Home in Brattleboro on Saturday, Sept. 13, from 9 to 11 a.m. Burial with military honors to follow at Mather Cemetery. A reception will be held after at American Legion Post 5 on Linden Street. Guests are encouraged to dress casually. To send condolences, visit phaneuf.net.
• David Frederick Hayden, 74, died on Aug. 23, 2025. Born on May 11, 1951, he was a man of ideals, discipline, passions, and firm convictions that were shaped during his childhood at The Meeting School, an alternative Quaker Boarding School in Rindge, New Hampshire, co-founded by his parents, Ruth and Joel Hayden. Dave was introduced to many of his lifelong interests: music, chess, soccer, carpentry, and handicrafts, along with simple living close to the land and the pursuit of a rich spiritual life. As a young man Dave studied violin in and around Oberlin College, the University of New Hampshire, and Yale University. He settled in Cambridge, Massachusetts, in his 20s, earning his living through music: playing in the Portland Symphony Orchestra, gigging in chamber ensembles in the Boston area, teaching violin and, most lucratively, playing Bach solo violin pieces in the Harvard Square subway station, much to the surprise and delight of T riders. For many decades, Dave was unhoused. In those years he spent time in Cambridge and even more time in rural areas of New England: Maine, New Hampshire, and in Brattleboro. He developed excellent carpentry, painting, and stoneworking skills and worked at farms or for families who might need a house painted or a driveway repaved with bricks, a hillside cleared of brush, or a cord of wood meticulously stacked. For his exacting workmanship, Dave charged a whopping $6 an hour. To be in Dave's presence while he was working was to see his commitment to high standards - whether boiling up maple syrup from sap he had collected on foot with buckets the old-school way, making a brush pile for a bonfire, frying up a batch of pancakes, or even sweeping the floor with elegant precision. Dave found great comfort attending the West Brattleboro Friends Meeting and the Brattleboro Christian Science Church, and singing and leading prayer meetings at St. Michael's Episcopal Church. In the last decade or so, if people driving over the Route 9 bridge between Chesterfield, New Hampshire, and Brattleboro had stopped to listen, they may have heard him at his campsite singing hymns, rounds, or his own arrangements of classical instrumental works. Dave left this world as he had lived in it. Despite suffering an excruciatingly painful illness, he sought out no medical treatment and died at home, tended lovingly by his beloved friend Teresa Savel, and other friends and members of his family. Dave is survived by his sister Rebecca and her husband Scott Ruescher; his niece Kailah Carden and her family; his sister-in-law Joan Karp; Teresa Savel; and a circle of friends in the Brattleboro area and all around New England. His family is grateful to the Chesterfield Police Department and the Windham & Windsor Housing Trust for their caring presence in his final years, and to all those who extended kindness to him. Memorial information: None provided.
• Ronald A. Majer, 84, of Keene, New Hampshire, formerly of Hinsdale, New Hampshire. Died peacefully, surrounded by his loving family, on August 30, 2025. Born in Hinsdale on Aug. 5, 1941, Ron was the son of the late Francis W. and Anna M. (McGrath) Majer. A lifelong resident of Hinsdale until recently relocating to Keene, Ron graduated from Hinsdale High School with the Class of 1959. He dedicated more than 34 years of service as a chief lineman at Central Vermont Public Service in Brattleboro, retiring in 1999. Deeply committed to his community, Ron served more than 20 years as a volunteer firefighter and assistant fire chief with the Hinsdale Fire Department. He also gave his time to the St. Vincent De Paul food pantry, coached youth baseball at the Little League level, and proudly served as a lake host for the Spofford Lake Association. A man of faith and service, he was also a devoted member of The Parish of the Holy Spirit, St. Joseph Church, and the Knights of Columbus, St. Joseph's Court 6921 in Hinsdale. An avid outdoorsman, Ron enjoyed fishing, hunting, and sharing his knowledge through the New Hampshire Hunter Safety Courses. He found joy in tending his garden and cherished every moment spent with his grandchildren. Ron is survived by his loving wife of 62 years, Patricia Majer of Keene; his sons, Ronald Majer of Wrentham, Massachusetts; Jay Majer and his wife Iris of Charleston, South Carolina; and Todd Majer and his wife Elizabeth of Hudson, Massachusetts. He is also survived by his brother, John E. Majer and his wife Judy of Hinsdale; sisters Carole Akeley of Hinsdale and Martha Filippone of Leominster, Massachusetts; and his five beloved grandchildren: Charlotte, Lauren, Sarah, Griffin, and Ainsley Majer. In addition to his parents, Ron was predeceased by his sister, Margaret Nolan, and his brother, William Majer. Memorial information: Calling hours will be held on Friday, Sept. 12, from 4 to 7 p.m. at Cheshire Family Funeral Home, 44 Maple Ave., Keene. A funeral Mass will be held on Saturday, Sept. 13, at 10 a.m. at St. Joseph Church, 35 Brattleboro Rd., Hinsdale. Burial will take place privately. Donations to the Hinsdale Fire Department, 13 Depot St., Hinsdale, NH 03451.
• Barbi Schreiber, 71, of Saxtons River. Died peacefully in the early morning hours of Aug. 22, 2025. Born in 1954 in Brooklyn, New York. Barbi earned her BFA at SUNY-Fredonia, and her MFA at San Francisco State University. Barbi was a published photographer in the San Francisco Bay Area and her work is archived at the Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual, Transgender Historical Society of Northern California. After relocating to Vermont in 2001, she devoted a majority of her time working with local advocacy groups promoting sustainable and organic farming practices including protecting farmers' rights. She was co-publisher of Vermont's Local Banquet magazine. She leaves behind her partner of 41 years, Meg, and her mountain of friends and caregivers across the country. Memorial information: Barbi's body was returned to the earth on Aug. 24 in a joyful celebration at the Vermont Forest Cemetery where she will nourish the forests that she loved. Memorial information: To honor her memory one can make a donation to The Margaret Pratt Community in Bradford (margaretpratt.org), or the Vermont Forest Cemetery in Roxbury (cemetery.eco). Barbi also invites you to take a walk in the woods and reflect on the wonder around you.
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