FALLS VILLAGE — This week, friends and colleagues shared their thoughts about Jack Mahoney, who died Saturday, May 14. (For a full obituary, turn to Page A10.)“He was wonderful,” said Town Clerk Mary Palmer at Town Hall. “I think they should name the tennis courts after him.” Mahoney, an avid tennis player and instructor, was instrumental in getting the tennis courts near Housatonic Valley Regional High School built. And in fact, the courts are named after Mahoney, who was a longtime principal at Housatonic Valley Regional High School. They are also named for Roland Chinatti, who was the school’s athletic director for many years.Mahoney remained devoted to the high school in the years after he retired. In addition to traveling around the United States to visit other schools and study “best practices” in education, he was also tirelessly devoted to the school’s 21st Century Fund.Louis Timolat called Mahoney “one of the good guys in life. He left Housatonic, but he didn’t. That’s the sign of someone who doesn’t just have a job and punch out.”Mahoney was famous for a puckish twinkle in his eye and his quick wit. He was a wizard with language and, as a former English teacher, liked prose that was tight and clear. “The only thing I ever had against him,” Timolat quipped, “is he accused me of speaking only in paragraphs.”Region One School District Superintendent Patricia Chamberlain, who started as principal at Sharon Center School when Mahoney was principal at Housatonic, said, “He was a catalyst for the new science and technology building [in the former Clarke Wood agricultural education building], he really got that started.”For that and for his many other contributions to the school and the district, she said, “We’ll miss him terribly.”Longtime friend and fellow teacher Woods Sinclair described Mahoney as “a good Irishman. We taught together starting in 1964 in the English department [at Housatonic]. We were good friends. I always admired him as a teacher — he put the students first.”And another comrade of many years standing, Ed Kirby, said when Mahoney first moved to Sharon in 1964, they commuted together to the high school. Mahoney was Kirby’s assistant baseball coach, and they forged a bond that lasted decades. Kirby was also a principal at the high school and then the region’s superintendent.Kirby remembered when then-Superintendent Bill Nolan put the two men together to design and teach a summer school course on the history and literature of the upper Housatonic Valley. “That was the genesis of the Upper Housatonic Heritage Area we have today,” Kirby said.Mahoney was “a superior teacher,” Kirby added. “This is a rough one. He was a good man, and a great and loyal friend.”A memorial service has been planned at the high school on Friday, June 10, at 5 p.m. in the auditorium. A memorial tennis tournament is being tentatively planned for that evening, following the service. Anyone interested in participating should email Cynthia Hochswender at cynthiah@lakevillejournal.com to get the time and details and to confirm the tournament will be held.The tournament will be a fundraiser for the 21st Century Fund and will be held on the Mahoney/Chinatti courts at the high school. This article originally indicated the time of Jack Mahoney's memorial service at Housatonic Valley Regional High School would be at 3 p.m. on Friday, June 10. The service as indicated above and in the comment below will be at 5 p.m.
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Greg Fricke and James Boehmer, co-owners of Peggy Mercury in Kent, recently launched their first fashion line, “Imaginary Concerts.”
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Fricke and Boehmer are not there to stock their shelves with the same products customers find at standard makeup retailers. They’re there to help customers find what works for them. That usually means asking customers about themselves and learning about their beauty habits, skin, style and the way they like to present themselves. Fricke and Boehmer believe it’s their job to help customers bring out the qualities that suit them and determine what works best for their look.
So much of the Peggy Mercury world is about emboldening people to become more creative, and possibly bolder, versions of themselves. Some of this comes through the store’s creative collaborations with artists, designers and stylists.
It’s part of an ethos that encourages them and their friends to use the shop as a kind of laboratory, trying out new creative experiments without knowing how they might turn out. Whether in fashion, painting, fiber arts or photography, the projects almost always turn out marvelously.
A line of sterling silver charms they sell started as a small project by their friend Nolan Percival. In the beginning, the pieces were for close friends and loved ones. But Boehmer and Fricke encouraged Percival to get a little more serious about the project and create a whole line for the store. Today, it’s one of their top-selling collections.
Classic styles, bold colors, and creative concerts make up the “Imaginary Concerts” line at Peggy Mercury.Provided
“Imaginary Concerts” has the duo taking their own advice.
The project started as a way for Boehmer to connect with his mother, who had been diagnosed with Alzheimer’s disease. Taking old concert shirts from his own collection, Boehmer and his mother began cutting out the graphics with the idea that they would make a quilt together. Unfortunately, she died before they could complete the project in 2025. The pieces, which were ready for production, were put on the back burner as Boehmer and Fricke dealt with their loss and the whirlwind of projects that never seemed to cease at Peggy Mercury.
But the harsh winter of 2026 presented an opportunity to take some time and focus on themselves. Part of that meant revisiting and redefining the concert T-shirt project. This time, instead of looking to the warmth and comfort of a quilt, they turned to another passion — fashion.
Taking a page from their own book, they wanted to create something that felt comfortable to them. They took two disparate loves — one rooted in simple preppy style, with clean lines and classic silhouettes, and the other in the nitty gritty worlds of punk rock and pop — and blended them together to create something entirely new. Pulling from the staples of vintage Brooks Brothers and Charvet collections, they applied the graphic elements with bold stitching reminiscent of punk jackets of the ‘70s and ‘80s, but with a much more sophisticated air.
But the remixing isn’t just the pairing of prep and punk. The pieces are not canon. They take liberties with the realities of concert tours, combining one band’s dates with another band’s logos, mixing them all up until the reality is lost and imagination is the only truth.
Shirts from Peggy Mercury’s first fashion line, “Imaginary Concerts,” hang on display.Provided
Adding to the mix is an element of perpetual creativity. Art can be messy, both figuratively and literally, and many of Fricke and Boehmer’s artist friends carry evidence of their work on them at all times. As a nod to these tireless creatives, the duo added haphazard splashes of bright color, giving the line an even more distinctive feel.
For them, “Imaginary Concerts” passes the “Peggy Test.” The mythical Peggy Mercury is a fictional figurehead for the company, a character who thrives on creativity and change. The name, much like the clothing line, is a mixture of interests: Mercury is a planet, a deity and an elusive, transformative element, while Peggy is the wonderfully stylish and boundary-pushing Peggy Guggenheim.
Everything Fricke and Boehmer put in their store has to pass this test: Would Peggy Mercury approve? For their first collection, the answer is a resounding yes.
Peggy Mercury is at 9 Maple St., Unit 2, Kent.
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