Entering the next chapter of Bearcat athletics

Dempsey Quinn took over as athletic director at The Hotchkiss School in 2023 and set the bar high for year two.
Copey Rollins
Dempsey Quinn took over as athletic director at The Hotchkiss School in 2023 and set the bar high for year two.
LAKEVILLE — Team huddles at The Hotchkiss School often break with, “‘Big Blue’ on two. One, two, Big Blue!”
Entering his second year as athletic director this fall, Dempsey Quinn has spent the summer preparing for a “Big Blue” year two.
His first year was met with success in every season. In fall sports, Hotchkiss mountain biking went undefeated to win its league title and boys cross country won the Founders League. In winter, boys diving and boys and girls squash each won their Founders League tournaments. In spring, girls lacrosse won its third straight Founders League title and two golfers (one male and one female) took home first prize in the end-of-season tournaments.
The bar is high for Quinn’s second year as athletic director. In the off-season, two fifth-year basketball recruits were added to the boys varsity team: a 6’8” forward from Brooklyn and a 6’6” guard from Seattle. Additionally, Hotchkiss athletics was represented at the 2024 World Junior Squash Championships by rising senior Oscar Okonkwo.
“It was a big, big learning experience,” said Quinn about his first year in the new job. “A lot of revamping the department and taking a look at what the vision is.”
The son of a coach, Quinn, has been playing sports his whole life. “My earliest memories as a three-year-old were running up and down the sidelines with my father’s high school football team,” he remembered. Quinn attended Avon Old Farms, where he played football, basketball, and baseball. He went on to play Division 1 football at Cornell University.
Immediately after graduating, Quinn went straight into the world of school sports with a job at the Berkshire School, where he worked for four years before deciding to go to Brown University to coach football. At Brown, Quinn got to see a different side of coaching and got a deeper look into the college recruiting process.
But he wasn’t able to stay away from high school sports for long. After a brief stint at the Kent School, he joined the Hotchkiss community in 2020. It was a difficult time, right at the start of Covid. “We were doing remote classes and meals were being delivered,” he recalled. After a second year at Hotchkiss working as a math teacher, football coach, and girls JV basketball coach, Quinn realized that he wanted to try a more administrative role in order to have greater impact on the inner workings of the school and a deeper connection to students.
He became class dean for the seniors of 2024. “That was the most rewarding,” he said. “You learn a lot about how a school is run.” And then, just two years later, the job of athletic director opened up. “Athletics had always been my passion, and I felt it was the area that I had the most impact both on policy and students,” he explained. Quinn decided to go for the position.
In his first year Quinn’s main focus was fixing issues with staffing. Along with that, he developed a new program for coaches, making sure they are supported and developed with the help of student feedback. “The first year is just laying the groundwork,” he said. With that came a key new hire.
“We have recently hired a director of athletic performance,” Quinn noted proudly. Seth Diters, a strength and conditioning coach from Virginia Tech, has joined Quinn’s team. “He has very high-level Division 1 experience and he will have an impact on every program,” Quinn says.
Hotchkiss has sent many players to Division 1 colleges for a multitude of sports. Quinn believes it’s important that Hotchkiss “continues to improve how they present student athletes to the outside audience,” and that it is also imperative that an athlete’s parents and coaches have as much information as possible about the recruiting process.
A goal of Quinn in year two is to welcome the local community to Hotchkiss. The athletic program does things such as host open swims, let nearby schools use facilities, and host camps. “It’s giving back and paying it forward,” Quinn said.
Quinn hopes that more locals will come watch Hotchkiss athletic events, too, from football under the lights to soccer played on gorgeous fall afternoons, “If you are looking for something to do, bring your kids over!” said Quinn, who noted that Hotchkiss is hosting the New England Championship for swimming and cross country along with the Founders League Championship for track and field in the coming school year.
Looking ahead to the next few years, Quinn wants to, “Continue to be available and approachable for students and faculty alike.” Most of all, he wants the Hotchkiss Athletics Department to be supportive of the students who study at the school and the community at large. “I want people to leave thinking that that is an operation that does things well and treats us with respect.”
LAKEVILLE — Barbara Meyers DelPrete, 84, passed away Tuesday, Sept. 30, 2025, at her home. She was the beloved wife of George R. DelPrete for 62 years.
Mrs. DelPrete was born in Burlington, Iowa, on May 31, 1941, daughter of the late George and Judy Meyers. She lived in California for a time and had been a Lakeville resident for the past 55 years.
Survivors, in addition to her husband, George, include son, George R. DelPrete II, daughter, Jena DelPrete Allee, and son Stephen P. DelPrete. Grandchildren; Trey, Cassidy, and Meredith DelPrete, Jack, Will and Finn Allee, and Ali and Nicholas DelPrete.
A Funeral Mass was held at St. Mary’s Church, Lakeville, on Saturday, Oct. 4. May she Rest in Peace.
Ryan Funeral Home, 255 Main St., Lakeville, is in care of arrangements.
To offer an online condolence, please visit ryanfhct.com
SHARON — Shirley Anne Wilbur Perotti, daughter of George and Mabel (Johnson) Wilbur, the first girl born into the Wilbur family in 65 years, passed away on Oct. 5, 2025, at Noble Horizons.
Shirley was born on Aug. 19, 1948 at Sharon Hospital.
She was raised on her parents’ poultry farm (Odge’s Eggs, Inc.).
After graduating from Housatonic Valley Regional High School, she worked at Litchfield County National Bank and Colonial Bank.
She married the love of her life, John, on Aug. 16, 1969, and they lived on Sharon Mountain for more than 50 years.
Shirley enjoyed creating the annual family Christmas card, which was a coveted keepsake.She also enjoyed having lunch once a month with her best friends, Betty Kowalski, Kathy Ducillo, and Paula Weir.
In addition to John, she is survived by her three children and their families; Sarah Medeiros, her husband, Geoff, and their sons, Nick and Andrew, of Longmeadow, Massachusetts, Shelby Diorio, her husband, Mike, and their daughters, Addie, Lainey and Lyla, of East Canaan, Connecticut,Jeffrey Perotti, his wife, Melissa, and their daughters, Annie, Lucy and Winnie, of East Canaan. Shirley also leaves her two brothers, Edward Wilbur and his wife Joan, and David Wilbur; two nieces, three nephews, and several cousins.
At Shirley’s request, services will be private.
Donations in her memory may be made to the Sharon Woman’s Club Scholarship Fund, PO Box 283, Sharon, CT 06069.
The Kenny Funeral Home has care of arrangements.
MILLERTON — Veronica Lee “Ronnie” Silvernale, 78, a lifelong area resident died Tuesday, Oct. 7, 2025, at Sharon Hospital in Sharon, Connecticut. Mrs. Silvernale had a long career at Noble Horizons in Salisbury, where she served as a respected team leader in housekeeping and laundry services for over eighteen years. She retired in 2012.
Born Oct. 19, 1946, at Camp Lejeune, North Carolina, she was the daughter of the late Bradley C. and Sophie (Debrew) Hosier, Sr. Following her graduation from high school and attending college, she married Jack Gerard Silvernale on June 15, 1983 in Millerton, New York. Their marriage lasted thirty-five years until Jack’s passing on July 28, 2018.
Ronnie is survived by her daughter, Jaime Silvernale (Wm. MacDaniel, Sr.) of Millerton, her beloved grandson, Wm. MacDaniel, Jr.; two special nieces, Shannon and Rebecca and a special nephew Sean Hosier. In addition to her parents and husband, she was predeceased by her brother, Bradley C. Hosier, Jr. and her dear friend Ruth Fullerton of Millerton.
Visitation was private. A celebration of Ronnie’s life will be held in the future. Arrangements have been entrusted to the Scott D. Conklin Funeral Home, 37 Park Avenue, Millerton, NY 12546. To send an online condolence to the family or to plant a tree in Ronnie’s memory, please visit www.conklinfuneralhome.com
Christine Gevert, Crescendo’s artistic director, is delighted to announce the start of this musical organization’s 22nd year of operation. The group’s first concert of the season will feature Latin American early chamber music, performed Oct. 18 and 19, on indigenous Andean instruments as well as the virginal, flute, viola and percussion. Gevert will perform at the keyboard, joined by Chilean musicians Gonzalo Cortes and Carlos Boltes on wind and stringed instruments.
This concert, the first in a series of nine, will be held on Oct. 18 at Saint James Place in Great Barrington, and Oct. 19 at Trinity Church in Lakeville.
For those unfamiliar with Crescendo, the award-winning organization was founded in 2003 and brings lesser-known works from the Renaissance and Baroque periods — along with contemporary fusion pieces — to new life. Its performances often blend classical composition with nontraditional instrumentation for a refreshing new take on an established body of work.
Gevert, who is German, Chilean and American, is a conductor, keyboardist and musical scholar. As the multi-national, multi-lingual (German, Spanish and English) creative director, she is a veritable whirlwind of talent, professionalism and inspiration who conceives of new musical treats for her audiences. She also hires and nourishes local talent, sources internationally known vocal and instrumental professionals, and provides her audiences with well-researched program notes for each concert, packaged in lush, full-color programs that resemble illuminated manuscripts.
“It is the excitement about and dedication to the music, along with the prerequisite vocal and instrumental talent, that characterizes a Crescendo member,” said Gevert. “I don’t care about things like how old or young you are or where you’re from — it’s all about bringing these performers together to provide unforgettable musical experiences for its audiences.”
“Traditional audiences for classical music performances tend to skew older,” Gevert continued. “For that reason, I’ve embarked on an effort to reach younger listeners, and have done things like taken a Crescendo choral group to perform at Housatonic Regional High School. I’ve also launched an effort to recruit and train young singers in Baroque singing techniques so they can perform with our existing choral group.”
The upcoming 2025-26 season includes, among other performances, a solo recital and benefit concert on Nov. 22 by the international Baroque opera star and countertenor Nicholas Tamagna. The curated program will include works by Handel, Vivaldi, and Monteverdi.
Two dazzling Christmas concerts follow: on Dec. 6 and 7, Crescendo presents J.S. Bach’s “Sweet Comfort” cantata and Mass in G minor, featuring the full chorus and soloists with a period instrument orchestra. On Dec. 21, the annual Holiday Concert will be presented: “A Tapestry of Traditions: Unraveling the History of Christmas Carols,” with the entire Crescendo vocal ensemble and Gevert on organ.
For the full schedule, concerts details and ticket information, visit: www.crescendomusic.org