CORNWALL — Donald R. “Pete” Hart Jr., beloved husband of Elvira “Vera” (Horvath) Hart, died April 17, 2011. He was 93. A lifelong resident of New Britain, Conn., until late in his retirement years, he was truly part of the “Greatest Generation.”He was the first-born child of Elise (Russell) and Donald R. Hart and grew up on Hart Street in New Britain. He was one of the first four graduates of Mooreland Hill School in Berlin, Conn., and then went on to graduate from Avon Old Farms School in Avon, Conn., and Amherst College in Massachusetts. He also took courses at the Sorbonne in Paris, France.Pete was multilingual, speaking more than 13 languages (nine of them fluently), and later taught French, German, Spanish and Latin after his graduation from Amherst. At one point he was head of the language department of Avon Old Farms School.It was his innate language abilities that helped shape his military career. Drafted early in World War II he was one of 250 Americans asked to volunteer to start the OSS (Office of Strategic Services, which later became the CIA). He served with distinction, handling French sabotage operations in occupied France, running a spy “transit station” and capturing Nazi collaborators in Paris after its liberation. He was especially pleased to receive the Legion of Honor medal from the French government for his efforts, the highest award they bestow on a non-French citizen. After discharge he served in the U.S. Army Reserve for a total service of 33 years, retiring as a colonel, with top secret clearance.His government service didn’t end there. Vera, whom he married in 1979, and Pete volunteered for the disaster relief program of the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA). Being on call 24/7 they responded to more than 30 disasters between 1983 to 1999, earning nothing but expenses. From 1981 onward he was also a member of the National Defense Executive Reserve, a government organization set up to help the nation survive a nuclear attack. He was a true patriot.Pete loved the island of Martha’s Vineyard. The Hart family has had homes on the island since 1811 with most of them in the community of Hart Haven and Up-Island in Chilmark. It was there that Pete organized an annual family gathering over Labor Day.Relatives and friends from all over the island and mainland came to “The Bash” each year. His last island home was in Vineyard Haven.In addition to his devoted wife Vera, Pete is survived by a sister, Mary Jane Clark of Kent; a brother, Dr. David L. Hart of Oak Bluffs, Mass.; his three children(from a previous marriage), Peter R. Hart and his wife, Andrea, of New Britain, Christine H. Hart and her husband, William F. Morlock, of Brattleboro, Vt., and Philip D. Hart and his wife, Carol Gauthier, of Oakland, Maine; his six grandchildren, Brittany, Zachery, Ben, Alexis, Nicholas and Jennifer; and numerous cousins, nieces and nephews.He was predeceased by his brother Henry Russell Hart. Pete was a lifelong Episcopalian. A funeral service will be held at 11 a.m. on April 26 at St. John’s Episcopal Church in Salisbury. Interment with full military honors will take place on April 27 at 1 p.m. at the Bourne National Veterans Cemetery in Bourne, Mass., as per Colonel Hart’s request. In lieu of flowers, memorial donations may be made to Sheriffs Meadow Foundation, Wakeman Conservation Center, 57 David Ave., Vineyard Haven, MA 02568, online at www.sheriffsmeadow.org, or The Family Council, Noble Horizons Retirement Community, 17 Cobble Road, Salisbury, CT 06068, online at www.noblehorizons.org. Arrangements have been made through the Newkirk-Palmer Funeral Home in North Canaan. Condolences may be sent to the funeral home or email bm2hart@msn.com.We close with a direct quote from Donald R. “Pete” Hart Jr. taken from a self obit he wrote a few years ago: “Now, you have read quite enough, and so I bid you all adieu.”
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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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