Darienite (https://darienite.com/tag/darien-obituary-february-2016)
Marilyn Mangney Chapman, age 91, died peacefully Feb. 22, 2016 in Houston. A former Darien resident, she was active in Presbyterian organizations. Born July 28, 1924 to Elmer J. and Helen Mangney in Minneapolis, Marilyn grew up in that city and graduated from the University of Minnesota with a bachelor’s degree in home economics. She soon moved to Mullin, Tex.
Helen (Jockers) Bradley passed away peacefully on Friday, Feb. 19, 2016 at her home in Tuftonboro, N.H. She had just turned 86. Known for her graciousness and kindness, Mrs. Bradley was with family during her brief illness. Mrs. Bradley was born Feb. 3, 1930 in Flushing, N.Y. to Harold and Helen Jockers and spent her childhood in Darien. She graduated from Greenwich Academy and went on to earn a bachelor of arts degree from Wellesley College in 1951.
Jeanne Marilyn Toth, 79, of Stamford Ct passed away Tuesday February 23, 2016 from complications of a stoke. Beloved wife and mother, Jeanne was born in Darien on April 16, 1936 to Russell and Dorothy Harper. As a Darien resident, she was a proud member of Darien High School. In her teenage years she was a dancer until being struck down with meningitis. She fought back from that disease and overcame it.
Ralph W. Smith, 92, of Southbury, died Feb. 28, 2016 in River Glen Healthcare. He is survived by his wife of 30 years, Elizabeth Waterbury Smith. He was born Aug. 25, 1923 in New Canaan to the late Charles G. and Annie Simon Smith. Ralph lived in New Canaan, Darien, Norwalk, and most recently Southbury.
Charles Lee Burwell, 98, of Millwood, Va., a former Darien selectman and teacher at Darien High School, passed away peacefully on Feb. 26, 2016 at Westminster Canterbury, surrounded by his family. He was born Sept. 24, 1917 at Carter Hall in Millwood, the son of John Townsend Burwell and Rosalie Leslie Wheat Burwell. Mr. Burwell earned a B.A. in history and literature at Harvard College in 1939, and later, in 1975, an M.A. in education at Fairfield University.
Bennett Wood of Darien passed away peacefully on February 27, 2016 surrounded by the family that cherished him. Ben was born on July 15, 1992 in Norwalk. He graduated from Darien High School in 2010 and attended Bucknell University for two years before transferring to Fairfield University, where he was scheduled to graduate in May. He was a biology major who loved animals and the outdoors. An enthusiastic reader, rock climber and mountain biker, Ben particularly enjoyed fly-fishing and had become very skilled at fly casting and fly tying.
Ann Elizabeth Hickey Sollas of Point Pleasant, N.J., passed away peacefully in her home with her husband by her side on Feb. 21, 2016 after a short struggle with cancer. She was 85 years old. Ann was born in Plattsburgh, N.Y., on Feb.6, 1931 was raised by her parents, Roger and Elizabeth Ann Hickey in Plattsburgh. As a young girl she attended St.
Virginia Wayne Talbot Harbaugh died Feb. 10, 2016, in Charlottesville, Va., with her daughter Lyn at her side. Known as Wayne, she was born Dec. 15, 1930 in Savannah, Georgia, the eldest child of Jeannette Butler Strong Talbot of Savannah and Adrian Bancker Talbot of New York City. She grew up in Darien. After graduating from Smith College in 1952 she moved to Washington, D.C. to work as a research analyst for the National Security Agency.
Sanford Procter Young died on Jan. 28, 2016 in Hendersonville, N.C. A former Darien resident, he was active in state and national golf associations. Sandy, as he was best known, was pre-deceased in 1980 by his first wife, Georgia Childs Young, his college sweetheart at Middlebury. Sandy was born in Boston, the son of Leroy Merrill Young and Evelyn Procter Young. He graduated from Governor Dummer Academy in South Byfield, Mass. and Middlebury College in Middlebury, Vt. and did graduate work at Harvard College.
Joseph R. Sexton of Stamford passed away on Feb. 15 at the age of 90. He was a member of Darien Senior Men’s Association, the Darien Cotillion and Woodway Country Club. He was preceded in death by his parents, Elizabeth and Romeo Sexton, his sister, Eileen, his brother Jim, and his first wife, Barbara MacLea. Joe was born on March 1, 1925 in Litchfield, Minn.
Barbara Chase Fenton Minahan died peacefully in Hospice of Palm Beach County in Florida on Sunday, Feb. 14. Barbara was born on Oct. 27, 1931 in Buffalo, N.Y. to Charlotte Sawyer Chase and George Stevenson Fenton. Barbara graduated from the Graham-Eckes School in Palm Beach and Smith College in Northampton, Mass.
Along a once-thriving stretch of Route 66 in Afton, Oklahoma, is a vintage service station where visitors from around the world would find, and later seek out, a welcome and a smile from Laurel Kane. The modest ’30s-era building was purchased by Laurel and her then-husband, David Kane, in 1998. In 2001, Laurel and David reopened Afton Station as a welcome center for tourists, including a museum displaying Laurel’s Route 66 memorabilia and David’s collection of restored, vintage Packard automobiles. Afton Station quickly became a mainstay on Route 66 and is featured in most guidebooks that highlight Route 66’s top attractions. Laurel, a resident of Tulsa, passed away at the age of 69, on Jan.
Eleanor C. Snow of Brewster, Mass., and a Darien High School graduate, died peacefully on Feb. 2. She was 81 years old. Born on April 3, 1934 in Bronxville, NY, after she graduated from high school in Darien, Ellie went on to Central Connecticut State University, where she received her bachelor’s degree, then the State University of New York at New Paltz, where she earned her masters degree. Both degrees were in elementary education.
Leo Van Munching, Jr. of Darien, who guided Heineken’s decades-long dominance in the U.S. imported beer market, died February 14 after a long illness. He was 89. Born in 1926 in Rotterdam, Netherlands, Leo and his family immigrated to the United States after the repeal of Prohibition in 1933. His late father, Leo Sr., came as a representative of the Heineken brewery and eventually established the independent Van Munching & Company as the sole U.S. importer of Heineken brands. Leo served as a ‘Seabee’ in the 35th Special Naval Construction Battalion on Oahu, Hawaii from 1944 to 1946.
Marion Morse Hoffman, 87, passed on peacefully on Jan. 28 in her Manchester, Vt. home in the company of her husband of 64 years, Alexander Carr Hoffman, and her children Susan Duane Hoffman and Peter Morse Hoffman. She is also survived by her three grandchildren, Alexander Rhys Butterfield and Luke Morse Butterfield, and Serena Skye Hoffman. She was a person of exceptional kindness and compassion, traits you could see in her lovely smile and eyes.