Dec. 30—This 12 months noticed the deaths of beloved icons from the worlds of politics, sports activities and the humanities.
However for a lot of households in New Hampshire, it is going to be the lack of pricey ones that depart the deepest void as 2021 involves an finish.
13 individuals died in home fires, 16 had been victims of murder, and 114 died in visitors accidents in New Hampshire in 2021. And greater than 1,000 New Hampshire residents died from COVID-19.
State police Workers Sgt. Jesse Sherrill of Barrington died on Oct. 28 after a tractor-trailer truck crashed into his cruiser whereas he was working an in a single day security element in a development zone on Interstate 95 in Portsmouth.
Sherrill, 44, was married and the daddy of two kids. State Police Col. Nathan Noyes referred to as him “a trooper’s trooper, a consummate, devoted skilled and a real household man.”
A crowd of about 3,500, together with a whole lot of uniformed law enforcement officials, attended a celebration of his life on the Southern New Hampshire College Enviornment in Manchester.
The sector was additionally the positioning of a group memorial service for 2 brothers from Bow who died in a freeway crash on Sept. 10.
Nicholas Ouellette, 16, and his 6-year-old brother, Gavin, died after a automobile pushed by their father, a Bow police officer, drifted into the breakdown lane and struck the rear of a disabled tractor-trailer that had stopped on Exit 89 of their hometown.
The service for the Ouellette boys drew a whole lot of classmates, teammates and law enforcement officials.
After a Jefferson couple, Michael and Jacqueline George, had been killed in a motorbike crash on Aug. 29 in Bethlehem, the area people rallied to lift funds for his or her six kids who had been left orphaned.
Capt. Chris Vetter, commander of the Workplace of Freeway Security on the state Division of Security, mentioned each a type of visitors deaths has an exponential affect. “That is the rock that hits the water, however consider the ripple impact,” he mentioned. “Each a type of individuals has relations and associates.”
Vetter mentioned pace continues to be a think about many crashes. “It was not frequent to get vehicles over 100 miles an hour,” he mentioned.
Now, he mentioned, “It is only a matter of what number of instances a day it occurs.”
New Hampshire brothers “Tonny” Khiev and Reachsieh “Johnny” Khiev died Dec. 26 in a fiery crash at a New Jersey toll plaza. That they had simply spent the day visiting their youthful sisters and brother. Their 14-year-old sister was additionally killed within the crash.
Leaders
Among the many leaders New Hampshire misplaced in 2021:
Former congressman and innkeeper Invoice Zeliff, who was 85.
Retired Roman Catholic Bishop John B. McCormack, 86.
The Rev. Peter John Joseph Guerin, O.S.B., the previous dean of Saint Anselm School, 85.
Former Nashua Mayor Don Davidson, 82.
Former Nashua Mayor and Government Councilor Bernie Streeter, 86.
Doctor and philanthropist Dr. Horace Shepard Blood, 98.
Longtime Manchester Alderman and state Rep. Barbara Shaw, 79.
Former state Sen. Robert Preston of Hampton, 92.
Former state Security Commissioner Richard Flynn, 94.
Longtime educators William H. Marston, 90, and Nancy Tessier, 80.
Homicides
Of the 16 homicides in 2021, one that is still unsolved is the capturing demise of 20-year-old Thamba Mbungu, whose physique was discovered the morning of Oct. 24 in Derryfield Park in Manchester.
Mbungu, a local of the Democratic Republic of the Congo, had been captain of his soccer workforce at Central Excessive College, main the workforce to a state last. His former coach, Chris LaBerge, referred to as him “one of many biggest gamers I’ve ever had during the last 22 years.”
However Mbungu was additionally “an awesome gentleman” off the sphere, serving as a mentor to different gamers, LaBerge mentioned. His dream was to show professional, and he had been attempting out for groups in Africa.
Maybe most heartbreaking was the demise of 5-year-old Elijah Lewis of Merrimack, whose physique was discovered on Oct. 23 in a Massachusetts park after a 10-day seek for the lacking baby. The little boy died from “violence and neglect,” malnourishment and acute fentanyl intoxication, based on the medical expert’s workplace in Massachusetts.
Elijah’s mom and her boyfriend had been arrested in New York Metropolis on baby endangerment and witness tampering costs earlier than the kid’s physique was discovered.
Fires
The 13 victims of home fires included 89-year-old Virginia Higgins, who lived in a Laconia duplex, downstairs from her daughter and son-in-law, Sue and Gregg Hough.
“Ginnie” Higgins had moved in along with her household when her eyesight started to fail. Her backyard “was the envy of the neighborhood,” based on her obituary. Equally gifted at stitching and crafts, she bought her wares at craft gala’s and in entrance of the household dwelling on Motorbike Weekend; one specialty was her crocheted poodle bottle covers.
State Rep. Gregg Hough realized of his mother-in-law’s demise whereas attending a legislative session at a Bedford sports activities enviornment.
COVID-19
As 2021 involves an in depth, the coronavirus continues to devastate households right here, throughout the nation and around the globe.
The Rev. Robert Haynes, 54, the senior pastor at Harvest Christian Fellowship in Berlin, died on Oct. 20 at Harmony Hospital after weeks of battling COVID-related pneumonia. He and his spouse Wendy beforehand had served as lead pastors at Manchester Foursquare Church.
Haynes was working for mayor in Berlin when he fell ailing. On Nov. 2, he acquired 771 write-in votes, simply 134 fewer votes than the incumbent mayor. His title had been faraway from the poll after his demise however supporters launched a write-in as a tribute to his imaginative and prescient for the town he served and cherished.
Haynes had additionally served his nation, deploying to Operation Desert Storm in 1991 and with the Nationwide Guard in 2004 with Operation Iraqi Freedom.
The day he was buried on the New Hampshire State Veterans Cemetery, his daughter, Savannah Nemiccolo of Loudon, posted a brief video clip on social media of her dad fishing.
“I might do completely something for yet another fishing journey with you,” she wrote. “Another automotive journey to the farm. Another cellphone name. Another hug. Simply to listen to your chortle one final time. I like you dad.”
