Bennington County Vermont Obituaries and Death Notices

Barbara Howes

BENNINGTON, Vt. -- Barbara Howes, 81, a poet who was one of five finalists for the National Book Award in poetry last year for her book Collected Poems 1945-1990, died in her sleep early yesterday at the Southwestern Vermont Medical Center in Bennington, Vt.

She died after a long illness, said her son, Gregory Jay Smith. Miss Howes, who was also a short-story writer, essayist, translator and editor, was the author of eight books of poetry and was a finalist for the poetry award in two earlier years.

Her Collected Poems 1945-1990 (University of Arkansas Press, 1995) was praised in December by Robert Richman, the poetry editor of The New Criterion, in a review in The New York Times Book Review. --Lexington Herald-Leader (KY) - February 25, 1996; contributed by A. Newell.

R. KOSLOFSKY, 80; OF BENNINGTON, VT.

Raymond J. Koslofsky, formerly of the Warehouse Point section of East Windsor, died Monday at his home in Bennington, Vt. He was 80.

Born in Hartford, he lived most of his life in Warehouse Point. He later lived in Enfield and Springfield before moving to Bennington, Vt.

Mr. Koslofsky was employed for 35 years at the State Receiving Home in Warehouse Point, retiring several years ago.

He was a U.S. Army veteran of World War II and a communicant of Sacred Heart St. Francis de Sales Church in Bennington.

He leaves four nephews and a niece, Kenneth and Ronald Hurlburt, both of Enfield; Gerald Hurlburt of Rocky Hill; Gordon Hurlburt of Merced, Calif., and Sandra Vining of Enfield. His sister and her husband, Ann and Maynard Hurlburt, and a nephew died previously.

The funeral will be Thursday at 9:30 a.m. at the Leete-Stevens Enfield Chapels, 61 South Road, followed by a Mass at 10 a.m. in Holy Family Church. Burial will be in the Hazardville Cemetery, Enfield. Calling hours are Thursday from 8:30 to 9:30 a.m. at the funeral home.

--Hartford Courant, The (CT) - January 21, 1998; contributed by A. Newell.

HENRY VAN LOON, 87; INSTRUMENTAL IN EUROPE'S WWII RECONSTRUCTION

Henry Bowditch van Loon, an architect, economist and planner involved in the reconstruction of Germany and the Netherlands after the devastation of World War II, died of heart failure Sunday in his home in Dorset, Vt. He was 87. From 1944 to 1946, Mr. van Loon worked with the US Foreign Economic Administration and was placed in charge of the reconstruction of housing and industry in the Netherlands before becoming chief of the Berlin office of the West Berlin Economic Advisory Committee.

Born in Warsaw, he studied architecture at Columbia University in New York and with the firm of Pierre Cuypers in Amsterdam. In the years before World War II, he was an architect with the firm of Kastner & Hibben, for whom he developed plans for expandable homes and construction with soil cement under contract with the Public Works Administration.

After WWII, he designed and built a passive solar home incorporating many features that would become common in the energy-saving designs of the 1970s and conducted investigations into waste management in New York under Gov. Nelson Rockefeller.

In the late 1950s he was executive director of the Pennsylvania State Planning Board under Gov. George M. Leader before becoming chairman of the Bennington County (Vt.) Regional Planning Commission and establishing a private architectural practice in Vermont.

He was co-author of "The Urban Development Guidebook." At the time of his death he was working on a book examining the relationship between humans, their cultures and the environment.

He leaves a daughter, Jane of Santa Monica, Calif; three sons, Hendrik W. of South Newfane, Vt., Jan. H. of Plymouth, N.H., and Dirk of Nova Scotia; his longtime companion, Lea Ehrich of Dorset, Vt.; 11 grandchildren and nine great-grandchildren.

A memorial service will be held at 11 a.m. Saturday in Dorset (Vt.) Congregational Church. --Boston Globe, The (MA) - September 15, 1994; contributed by A. Newell.

Mary E. Mathers

Mary E. Mathers, Bennington, Vt., resident; active in church

Mary Elizabeth Mathers, 76, of 227 Dewey St., Bennington, Vt., died Monday morning, July 29, 1996, at Bennington Health and Rehab after an extended illness.

In her earlier years, Mrs. Mathers was employed at BenMont paper and Union Carbide.

She was a devout communicant of Sacred Heart/St. Francis de Sales Church in Bennington.

She was a 1938 graduate of Bennington High School.

Mrs. Mathers was born in Syracuse, N.Y., on April 15, 1920, daughter of the late August J. and Mary (Baker) Smith.

Survivors include her husband, Francis K. Mathers of Bennington, whom she married on May 1, 1943; a daughter and son-in-law, Diane and George Fox of Wilton; three grandchildren, Erik Fox of Wilton, Kyle Fox of Concord and Deirdrea Rust of Clarksville, Tenn.; and cousins.

The Hanson-Walbridge Funeral Homes in Bennington, Vt., is in charge of arrangements.

--Telegraph, The (Nashua, NH) - July 30, 1996; contributed by A. Newell.

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