NEW HARTFORD — Arlene Swift Jones, a clairvoyant poet and writer, died at home in Bloomfield, Conn., surrounded by her three daughters and granddaughter on the last day of 2013. She died of sepsis after a life of pain from rheumatoid arthritis and complications of late onset peripheral vascular disease. In her last hours she courageously spoke of The Word, “the word that no one dares to say, the word Death”, and she spoke of “Time and of Eternity.”Arlene was a courageous intellectual, who led an adventurous life. She was born in Grinnell, Iowa, on Jan. 3, 1928, and raised on a family farm in a Norwegian Quaker community. Passionate about poetry and literature from a young age, she was determined to explore the world. In 1949 she graduated from Cornell College in Iowa and earned a master’s degree in English from Columbia University in 1951. She sailed to Norway in the summer of 1951 to attend the University of Oslo and discover her origins, and then bicycled through England, France and Germany. She found employment with the U.S. Army in Salzburg, Austria, where she met and married Major Frank William Jones Jr. of New Hartford, Conn., in 1952. With her husband, who first joined the OSS and then the CIA, she served in multiple countries, raising three daughters in Germany, Poland, Cyprus, Norway and Switzerland. During the hostilities in Cyprus in 1964, Arlene was evacuated with her daughters to Greece, Lebanon and Israel.As a teacher, lecturer and educator, Arlene worked at the elementary, high school and university levels at numerous institutions in many countries. From 1959 to 1962 she served as the principal of the American School of Warsaw, Poland. In the late 1970s she was the assistant academic dean at the Ethel Walker School in Simsbury, Conn. She earned a second master’s degree from the Warren Wilson MFA Program in 1995. She was the winner of fellowships from both the Ragdale Foundation (Frances Shaw Fellow) and the MacDowell Colony. She is published in literary publications: Prairie Schooner, Wind, Green Mountains Review, Kansas Quarterly, Tar River Poetry, Cimarron Review, Kestrel, Kalliope and Commentary of the Hartford Courant. Her work is anthologized by Calyx in Women and Aging and in A Wider Giving. She received an Academy of American Poets Prize and a Denny Prize.She published three books of poems: “The Insisting Thistle, Deenewood,” “A Sequence” and “Pomegranate Wine.” Her most recent publication, “God, Put Out One of My Eyes; A Cyprus Diary 1962-1965,” was awarded honorable mention by The Eric Hoffer Award for Books. In 1975 Arlene and her husband retired from foreign service to live in the family home in New Hartford. Arlene galvanized the creation of the new modern library facility that New Hartford residents enjoy today.Arlene just completed her final book, “No Stones in Heaven.” The intergenerational saga weaves together history, fiction and autobiography, telling a story of love, hard work and integrity of those who find and live the quintessential American dream. Until her last day, Arlene was an avid reader with a keen memory, a library of knowledge and inspiration. Her spirit is alive in her written works and in those she loved and taught; but her presence will be dearly missed.Arlene is survived by three daughters, Jeanne R. Jones of Colebrook, Robin M. Jones of Weston, Mass., and Kristin A. Jones of New York and Rome; two grandchildren, Michaela and Jonathan Slavid; and many nephews, nieces and cousins.The family is extremely grateful to all her physicians, nurses and caregivers at The Duncaster and to hospice (VNA HealthCare) whose excellent care aided her peaceful release. Memorial services will be held on April 12 at 4 p.m. at the Licia & Mason Beekley Community Library, on Central Avenue in New Hartford. Montano-Shea Funeral Home in New Hartford has charge of the arrangements.In lieu of flowers, memorial donations can be made to the Beekley Library, where a fund will be created in Arlene’s memory (www.beekleylibrary.org ). Visit an online guestbook at www.Montano-shea.com.
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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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