RENSSELAER — Patricia Sperry was both a warm and loving person who cared about her family and a “spitfire,” fighting until the end. She died surrounded by her family on Tuesday, Nov. 6, 2018. She was 78.
“She was always there for us,” said her sole surviving sister, Kathleen O’Neill-Perry. “She was very caring.”
BERNE — Elsie Janis Willsey Pearson was a joyful person who was always willing to help others. She died on Saturday, Nov. 24, 2018, at the Daughters of Sarah Nursing Center in Albany. She was 92.
LAKE KATRINE — John E. Donaldson, whom his family describes as generous and compassionate, was sensitive to needs of the less fortunate. Formerly of Berne, Mr. Donaldson died on Monday, Nov. 19, 2018, after a short illness. He was 54.
VOORHEESVILLE — Frederick Blackman was a loving, caring man, who “always took care of his family; always put his family first,” his daughter Sharon Youmans said.
Mr. Blackman died on Tuesday, Oct. 16, 2018, in Seneca, South Carolina. He was 96.
VOORHEESVILLE — Michael A. Ricci was a giver. The owner of Ricci’s Market, an old-time grocery store, he put off charging customers that couldn’t pay, delivered food to the elderly, and opened his store off hours whenever someone needed it.
Sarah “Sally” Lidell — whose daughter described her as “a consummate caregiver” — died peacefully on Saturday, Nov. 17, 2018, at Chase Nursing Home in New Berlin, New York. She was 93.
SOUTH WESTERLO — Clara V. Waldron lived her entire life in south Westerlo where she was active in the church and famous for baking “Clara’s Rolls.” She died on Monday, Nov. 12, 2018, at Albany Medical Center. She was 88.
NEW SCOTLAND — James Russell Loder had a fondness for all things technical that allowed him to found three companies and to help people in need. He died on Wednesday, Nov. 7, 2018, with his loving family by his side. He was 71.
ALTAMONT — In 1943, the world was at war. Joseph Solomon Levinger was 25 years old and a junior physicist at the Metallurgical Laboratory at the University of Chicago — part of the Manhattan Project — researching the creation of the atomic bomb.
June (née Catalfu) Kinisky, who worked as a nurse and loved being with her grandchildren and great-grandchildren, died on Friday, Oct. 26, 2018, surrounded by her children. She was 83.
EAST BERNE — Earl W. Wagoner was a man who would work hard all day and play hard at night, whether that was square-dancing, fiddling, snowmobiling, or spending time with his large and loving family, who surrounded him when he died on Sunday, Oct. 28, 2018. He was 96.
ALTAMONT — Anne Vlahos was “a wonderful, one-of-a-kind woman, possessed of an irrepressible, effervescent personality and sense of humor,” wrote her son, Harvey Vlahos, in a tribute.
