By Keeper and Executive Director Tom Hardiman
Last week we said goodbye to winter (at least according to the calendar). All-in-all, it was a winter to forget. The recent months have been sad for our Athenæum family. Just as we are planning our Memorial Concert on May 29th to honor Proprietors lost in 2024, we have lost three more good people: two former board members and our longest-standing Proprietor.
Board member Vernis Jackson was a career teacher and founder of the Seacoast African American Cultural Center. As a leader, Vernis built strong relationships between the Athenæum and the school system and our African American community, and she and her husband, Emerald, set a fashion bar at our social events that few if any could reach.
Col. Lionel Ingram followed in the footsteps of his father-in-law, Col. Henry Margeson, who served as Athenæum President in the early 1960s. Lionel taught at West Point and the National Defense University. He strongly advocated maintaining the highest standards in everything the Athenæum does.
Howard Tredennick Oedel became a Proprietor before I was born, and I am no spring chicken. I first met Howard more than 40 years ago at the NH Antiques Dealers Association Show back when it was at the NH Highway hotel in Concord. He was a great raconteur and wrote his 1960 PhD thesis on the history of Portsmouth, so he had a lot to talk about.
Vernis, Lionel, and Howard will be honored at our 2025 Annual Meeting and spring Memorial Concert. Despite a season of sadness, loss, and anger, that season is over now. As I was walking my Deerhound, Higgins, on the morning of the solstice, even though I couldn’t feel my fingers, there were crocuses peeking out everywhere getting ready for a springtime show. The flowers and birds (and potholes) of spring tell us that life and beauty have been with us all along; we only need to notice and remember and they will return.
Image: Photo of Howard Oedel by Proprietor Douglas Aykroyd.
