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In Memoriam

  • Barry Finn
    •  FSSGB member Barry P. Finn, 58, of Derry, NH died Friday October 16, 2009 at the Elliot Hospital, Manchester, NH. Barry was born on February 5, 1951 in Boston, son of Elizabeth (Barry) Bent and the late Eugene Finn. A Derry resident for the last 22 years, he was formerly of Mission Hill, MA and Brookline, MA.

    Barry Finn met Neil Downey the mid seventies while singing and playing at the Irish Music session in the Village Coach House in Brookline, MA. They formed the duo Finn and Haddie and performed primarily a cappella songs related to heavy work and hard labor. They specialize in the performance of traditional sea songs, shanties and work songs originating in the southern prison system. Recently they joined forces with Ken Schatz of NYC and the duo became a trio.

    Barry performed individually and with Finn and Haddie throughout the United States. He was a gifted songwriter who brought his unique style, talent and experiences to his music. He performed at the Mystic Seaport Sea Music Festival, New England Folk Festivals (NEFFA), New Hampshire’s Great Bay Festival, the Gloucester (US) Maritime Festival, Boston’s First Night, the San Francisco Maritime Festival, the Salem Maritime Festival, the Boston Antique & Classic Boat Festival, for Sea Revels in Boston, at Sail Boston Tall Ships Parades 88 and 92 and at the Massachusetts State House for the “Welcoming of the Captains” during Boston’s last Tall Ships Parade. He also performed on board the USS Constitution, the USS Eagle, the USS Salem, the Unicorn, the Schooner Adventure, the Brig Carthaginian, the Polish schooner Zawisza Czarny, the Larinda, Canada’s schooner Empire Sandy, the Shenandoah & Nova Scotia’s Bluenose II.

    He is survived by his wife Justine Donovan of Derry; his daughter, Natalie Finn and his son, Gabriel Finn, both of Derry; his mother, Elizabeth Bent of W. Dennis, MA; two brothers, Daniel Bent of Walpole, MA and Earl Moore of N.H.; one sister, Cheryl Finn-Poole of Carlisle, MA. He also leaves behind countless friends in and out of the music community.

    Finn and Haddie website

    Here's an obituary written by Barry's sister-in-law Paula.

    Here's a great video of Barry singing Old Dollar Mamie. (You'll find other great videos of Barry on YouTube.)

  • Neal Gray
    • Neal was an absolutely amazing, high energy octogenarian who was singing with at least four choruses and choirs at the time of his unexpected passing in September 2009. Condolences to Neal's family during this difficult time, especially his daughter Michelle (Mimi), son-in-law Joseph, and grandchildren Melissa, Nicole and Joe, Jr.

    Please visit http://rememberingnealgray.blogspot.com to see details of the funeral and memorial service, and to leave your remembrances. (Log in as neal@fassman.com with the password nealgray if you want to add a post -- please put your name in it somewhere.) There is also a Facebook page dedicated to Neal's memory where people are posting photos and remembrances.

    Here are some lovely words from Neal's friends Chris Farrow and Dorothy Weitzman.

    Here are three PDFs compiled by Sandra Waddock, which contain text and photos emailed out by Neal to his "Angels" over the years:

  • Will Whiteley
    • I regret to inform you that William F.N. Whiteley passed over to the other side this morning [Friday, January 9, 2009] at 4:20 a.m., peacefully in his sleep at the Tremont facility in Wareham. Our family is planning a memorial/potluck and singing party; details will be sent out soon.

    We are all doing fine and choosing to see this as a wonderful cause for celebration of his life and love for his music.

    Love, Anna Whiteley Huff

    PS Here is a photo taken by my dad; not sure when. He was also a great photographer; among many other things.

    Email us for an address to send cards to his daughters Anna and Catherine: will AT fssgb DOT org .

    There will be a memorial service for Will on Sunday, April 5, 2009, 2:30-6pm, at St. John's United Methodist Church, 80 Mt. Auburn Street, Watertown. There will be a bagpiper playing for the first half hour, and then we'll sing some of Will's favorite songs, and other songs as the spirit moves us.

    Bio

    Will Whiteley was born in the 1930's in Pennsylvania. His grandfather was a cod fisher in Labrador, and Will lived there during the summer of 1944 and heard the fishermen singing sea chanteys to help them do their work. His father brought home a record in 1947 by the Almanac Singers called "Deep Sea Fishers", and heard a song from that record called "The Golden Vanity". He thought it was the lonesomest song he had ever heard, and it captured his imagination and fueled his desire for music. In 1949, he began to play the ukelele, and was told about Folkways Records the following year. In 1951 or 52, a friend played him a recording by Leadbelly (Huddie Ledbetter), which was a big moment in life for him, and he undertook to teach himself how to play the 12-string guitar. A woman at Antioch College in Ohio showed him a little bit about frailing the banjo in 1955. Around this time, Will also taught himself to play the Highland bagpipes. He played and sang ever since, and amassed a large collection of songs from all over the world. Will and his family performed many concerts in the New England area over the years. Blessed with a singular mind and a very good memory, he was a self-made folklorist.

  • Ed Softky
    • We were all shocked and saddened to hear the news of the passing of Ed Softky, longtime member of the folk music and dance community in New England. He died Thursday, October 9, 2008, after being struck by a drunk driver in Brattleboro, VT. He was on his way to a hospice volunteer training and had stopped to pick up some snacks; he was putting the groceries into his car when he was hit.

    I first met Ed in 1996 at a singing party at Ellen Schmidt's house, and we discovered a common interest in traditional folk songs. We arranged to meet to work out some song harmonies, and soon thereafter were joined by Alan Field. All of us loved, among other things, the harmonies of Finest Kind; they inspired us in our own singing -- to the extent that we joked once that perhaps we should call ourselves Kindest Find! Later, when Lynn Noel moved to the Boston area, we added her to the group and renamed it Lingua Franca -- music as the common tongue.

    Ed brought a childlike enthusiasm to practically everything he did, whether adding extra flourishes to his dance steps, finding wonderful and exotic vegetables at Asian markets, cooking up a storm in advance of a potluck party, working on some funny costume for a Halloween dance, or listening to practice tapes in his car so that we could make the most of our rehearsal times. The harmonies were glorious and seemed to flow effortlessly; it was rare that we had to write down the parts or sit down at a keyboard to walk through each chord step by step.

    Ed was also very involved in the Buddhist community, and had moved to Vermont to volunteer and translate at Thosum Gephelling Institute (the name means "a place to learn to increase and expand one's virtue in Tibetan) in Williamsville. The Institute held a memorial service for Ed on October 13th, which was attended by Ed's mother, brother, niece, and nephew, as well as friends from Vermont and beyond. The web site has a lovely tribute page: http://www.thosumgephelling.com/ed_memory.shtml.

    The Brattleboro Reformer also had an obituary: http://www.reformer.com/ci_10695721

    I found Lynn Noel's blog entry on Ed’s work with her to bring Tibetan to Sacred Harp, and there’s a clip with a recording of Ed singing:

    At some point, there will be a memorial gathering in the Boston area; stay tuned for details.

    I will forever be grateful to Ed for introducing me to FSSGB and Pinewoods Camp. We shared so many wonderful times with an amazing group of people who feel like extended family to me now. When I last spoke with him, he seemed to have found the path for which he'd been searching, and he was very happy. He will be sorely missed by those whose lives he touched.

    Liz Lewis

  • Lisa Neustadt
    • Those FSSGB members who were involved in any way during the '70's and early 80's will remember Lisa who has been described as "a great presence and influence" in the Society. She passed away on March 26, 2008, after a short illness with pneumonia. Her daughter, Karuna, relates that the last week before she got sick, the facility she lived in had kareoke one day. Lisa took her turn at the mike and sang several songs, with the staff and other residents yelling "Go Lisa!" She still enjoyed singing, and they played her CDs there, which people also enjoyed.

    Ellen and Allan Schmidt hosted a memorial gathering in honor of Lisa. Karuna was here from Oregon that day and attended the gathering. We shared photographs and ephemora from the time, including old Folk Letter columns that she wrote. We played Lisa's recordings that she did with the Angel Band and others. And, of course, we Sang!

  • Panos Constant
    • We are very sad to inform you that longtime FSSGB member Panos Constant died suddenly and unexpectedly on January 7, 2007. Panos' most active years as a FSSGB volunteer were the 60's, 70's and 80's, and included service on the Board of Directors, Membership Committee and Program Committee. He also collected our mail at the Post Office for many years, as well as distributing advance tickets for our larger concerts. He was a teacher in the Wakefield school system for 35 years.

    Panos was the son of the late Bessie & Charles Constant and brother of Helen Constant of Arlington. The funeral was held at Keefe Funeral Home in Arlington on Thursday, January 11th, followed by services in St. Athanasius The Great Church in Arlington. In lieu of flowers, donations in his memory may be made to the above named church. Burial will be in Mt. Auburn Cemetery.

  • David Ingle
    • Longtime FSSGB member David Ingle died Jan. 14, 2006, of complications from coronary artery disease and an autoimmune neurological illness. He was 71 and had spent the past year engaged in the arts and his most recent scientific research. Some friends knew Dr. Ingle as a college professor and researcher in the psychology of vision. Others met him after his declining motor abilities made laboratory work too difficult, prompting him to focus instead on storytelling, songs, and poetry -- often in performances with his longtime companion, Libby Franck of Framingham. He was a scientist and a storyteller who embraced equally the loneliness of the lab and the limelight of the stage.

    A collection of materials from David Ingle has been donated to FSSGB by Libby Franck, including several books with titles like "Ozark Folksongs" and "Anglo-American Folksong Scholarship Since 1898." There are scholarly papers that he had collected and some that he wrote, such as "The Self-Image of the Irish as Hard-Drinkers: Reflections of 19th Century Pub Culture in Folk Songs" and "Images of Women in Traditional Song." There are song books and sheet music for songs of humor, fighting, drinking, temperance, outlaws and rakes, and the frontier. There are two shoe boxes of cassette tapes, mostly of drinking songs, but some of concerts and particular performers. And there are Sing Out magazines, old concert flyers, and a great photo of David playing the bodhran.