Leon Berard
Leon Otis Berard passed away peacefully on March 13, 2022 at Advent Health in New Smyrna Beach, Florida surrounded by his loving family. Born April 11, 1937 in Willimantic, Leon graduated from Windham Regional Technical School in 1955, served his country in the US Army from 1955-1962, and then established Berard Builders here in Hampton, a company he retired from in 1998.
Leon was a life member of both the Hampton Volunteer Fire Department and the Hampton-Chaplin Ambulance Corp, and held many offices in each organization. For many years he was a communicant at Our Lady of Lourdes Catholic Church. He also served his community on the Zoning Board and the Building Board of Appeals. As a volunteer, Leon also worked with the Hole in the Wall Gang Camp in Ashford. Leon was such a fixture in our lives here – in church, in the fire department, on the porch of the General Store where he always had a friendly word for everyone. It’s not surprising to those of us who knew him, and benefited from his charitable spirit of volunteerism, that after retiring to Florida, he continued to give of himself, with the Port Orange Florida Family Days Community Trust, and along with his wife, with the Children’s Miracle Network, the American Cancer Society and Wal-Mart Super Center #582 activities.
Predeceased by two brothers and a sister, he is survived by his wife of 63 years, Lillian, his children John and wife Laurie, Michael and wife Brenda, and Jackie Moffitt and husband Milton, as well as eight grandchildren. Our condolences to them all.
Carolyn Gaines
Carolynn Levin Gaines passed away on February 9, 2022 in the 99th year of her life. She and her husband, Tom Gaines, who survives her, recently celebrated their 75 years together.
Born on December 29, 1922, Carolyn grew up a first generation child of Jewish immigrants in Chicago. Throughout her life, she embraced the same empathy her family exhibited during the Great Depression, when the back gates of neighborhood homes willing to share food were marked. Her home was so indicated. Graduating as valedictorian of her high school class, Carolyn majored in Journalism and Home Economics at the University of Wisconsin. After graduation, she obtained employment with the Chicago Times, the Woman’s Home Companion and as a publicist for Borden. While visiting Tom in Hawaii, where he was stationed during World War II, she wrote an eyewitness account of a tsunami that devastated Hawaii in 1946. Throughout her life she would write articles in a wide range of publications, and in 2005, she published “The Modest Memoir of a Yankee Yenta”.
Carolyn and Tom lived in New York City, and in South and Central America, where they resided in the housing development they built in San Jose, Costa Rica with then President Jose Figueros, before retiring to Hampton where Kay, as she was known here, was involved in many facets of our community. A founding member of The Hampton Gazette, she contributed to the monthly column “EarthCare” for decades. Our condolences to Tom and their children, Gary and wife Bonnie, Elizabeth and husband John, Andrea and husband, Hugh, and three grandsons.
Carl Kaufman
Carl Kaufman passed away on March 18, 2022 at his home here in Hampton surrounded by family, and the song, “Oh, Come Angel Band”, in the 66th year of his life. Born on April 22, 1955, Carl was from Bird in Hand, Pennsylvania, where he worked for Kaufman’s Fruit Farm for 42 years, helping with the harvest in summer and fall and driving a truck for the wholesale department in the winter. After moving to Hampton, he worked for Willimantic Waste and Kahn Tractors until cancer took his strength. Diagnosed in June of 2021, Carl’s battle with the disease that would take his life was a brave one. His family was grateful to have a last Thanksgiving and Christmas with him.
Carl loved the outdoors, hunting and horticulture. He loved meeting new people and made many friends on his truck routes for Kaufman’s Fruit Farm. He also went on many of the Christian Assistance Ministry’s disaster relief work projects. His daily routine of reading his Bible in the morning before work was a constant reminder to everyone around him to draw near God. Though he lived in Hampton for only a few years, Carl was a member of the Hampton Fire Company, whose uniformed members greeted those who attended his services. Carl made a strong and lasting impression here; he will be missed.
Our condolences to Carl’s wife, Judy, their three sons, Albert of Pennsylvania, and Marcus and Wendell of Hampton, three daughters, Sabrina, Carla and Willy Leinbach, of Hampton, Alice of Ohio, and three grandchildren, Wyatt, Charlotte and Dominic.