AMENIA — If there was one man known to have made a mark on the Harlem Valley community of Amenia, that man was John Segalla. Born Giovanni Alfred Segalla in North Canaan, Conn., 88 years ago, the Amenia businessman and local stalwart died from bone cancer at Sharon Hospital on Thursday, June 2.“That man was literally a legend for Amenia for a long time. He did a lot of things to help a lot of people,” said Dale Culver, a friend of the Segalla family who said he was shaken by the news of the patriarch’s passing. “He was just as nice a guy and as helpful and as generous as you’d ever met, although he could be firm, but he had a heart of gold when somebody was down on their luck and needed a little help.”Segalla leaves behind a loving family that includes his wife of 63 years, Amelia, known as “Sis,” along with their two daughters, Linda and Arlene. He is also survived by brothers Dr. Louis Segalla and Francis Segalla and many nieces, nephews and cousins in both the United States and Italy. He was predeceased by brothers Armondo, Anthony and Stanley.According to Segalla’s close family friend, former Salisbury Bank & Trust CEO and Chairman John Perotti, he always referred to his wife and daughters as his “girls.” “Family was first for John. He loved his girls and thought of his wife just as he did his two daughters — he thought of them as his girls,” Perotti said. “He was a devout Catholic and really believed in people. He always wanted his employees to be the best they could be, too, and provided them with uniforms at his expense.”Perotti said his friend made sure everyone and everything he was involved with was well taken care of. His company, Amenia Sand & Gravel, had the best equipment and was kept at the “highest standards.” It operated for nearly 60 years until Segalla retired in 2004. So, too, was Segalla’s Country Club, which later became Silo Ridge Country Club. The self-made businessman also took on the project of creating the Harlem Valley Landfill, because he saw a need for it that he believed he could address.“I tried to talk him out of it, but he went ahead and did it and it was a complete success,” Perotti said. “He was a visionary. He was a born leader — you can’t teach that. Either you have it or you don’t. He understood risk and knew when to take it and when to execute [a plan]. He enjoyed a challenge and worked quite effectively as a committee of one in many instances. But most importantly, he cared about people.”Which is what lead to his involvement at Maplebrook School, where he spent time on its school board, along with current Maplebrook President Roger Fazzone.“I knew John pretty well. We served on the board together in the mid-’80s,” he said. “I just thought he was a terrific guy, concerned about people, dedicated and intense in many ways, and I was saddened to hear he passed away. He was a hard-working guy and was always very concerned for others.”Some of the ideas Segalla pursued exemplify that concern. He not only brainstormed the idea but also donated the funds to start the Lifestar emergency helicopter program at Sharon Hospital. He also served on the Sharon Hospital board. Likewise, he served on the New York Council Knights of Columbus, the board of the Salisbury Bank & Trust Company and the Dutchess County Liquor Board.A real baseball fan, Segalla played shortstop for the Amenia Monarchs and also managed the Interstate League; he was also a true-blue Yankees fan. His collection of memorabilia afforded him much pleasure during his lifetime.“To me, he was just a true American,” Perotti said. “He did things the right way and he supported his family to the best of his abilities; in the end it doesn’t get much better than that. If we could all say that we should be proud of ourselves.”Donations in John Segalla’s memory may be sent to Lifestar, PO Box 5037, 80 Seymour St., Hartford, CT 06102-5037 or to St. Joseph’s Church, PO Box 845, North Canaan, CT 06018.
Latest News
Greg Fricke and James Boehmer, co-owners of Peggy Mercury in Kent, recently launched their first fashion line, “Imaginary Concerts.”
Provided
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.
Want more of our stories on Google? Click here to make us a Preferred Source.
