Jan "Jano" Fairservis

SALISBURY — Jan (Jano) Bell Fairservis, 96, a creative force in the Northwest Corner passed away July 11th at Sharon Hospital surrounded by her loving family.
Born in Greenwich Village, New Yorki, in 1927 to gem engraver Beth Benton Sutherland and artist/teacher Charles Mosely Sutherland, Jano grew up to live an extraordinary life.
In 1948 at Camp Sloane in Lakeville, Jano met her future husband, renowned archeologist, Walter A. Fairservis Jr. After graduating from Skidmore College, Jano married Walter and they spent their honeymoon on Mt. Riga in Salisbury, then headed out on a year-long archeological expedition seeking ancient civilizations in Afghanistan. Jano broke her ankle leaping from one level to the next in the catacombs of the Giant Buddha statues at Bamiyan. Ever intrepid, she laced her boot tighter and continued exploring. The couple later excavated predynastic archeological sites in Egypt and Pakistan where Jano drew artifacts discovered at the sites.
As a professional artist Jano lent her talent to famed anthropologist Margaret Mead, illustrating People and Places as well as several children’s books by other authors. She met Ms. Mead while working at the American Museum of Natural History in New York where Walter became the director of the Gardner D. Stout Hall of Asian Peoples, the museum’s largest cultural hall. She designed and painted artwork for many of the hall’s exhibits.
When the Fairservis family moved to Sharon in 1967, Jano peppered the Northwest Corner with her prodigious talents. She became indispensable at the Sharon Playhouse designing sets, creating costumes, building props, making posters, and directing and performing in numerous plays. Later, her daughter Teviot created East West Fusion Theatre Company, which mounted plays in a Kabuki theatre in the backyard. Before the shows, Jano cooked Asian food for 100 audience members and hosted a menagerie of actors during rehearsal periods.
For the 1976 Bicentennial, Jano collaborated with the Sharon Historical Society to write and produce a pageant celebrating the Revolutionary War. She costumed more than 95 Sharonites who participated in the joyous re-enactment of life in 1776 on the town green. Also for the Bicentennial, she wrote, directed, and performed in a musical review titled Sharon Plain and Fancy at the Sharon Playhouse.
Her gifts were tapped for many, many other local projects. When the Sharon Historical Society wanted a quilt depicting the town, she designed it; when an actress was needed for the part of Dr. Jo Everetts, one of the first women in the state to practice medicine, Jano performed it; when Noble Horizons held its annual Festival of Trees, she painted murals to decorate the entrance; and when the Congregational Church of Salisbury agreed to a performance of Amahl and the Night Visitors, she, at 90 years old, created the sets, made the costumes, and directed the production.
In 2001, after her husband’s passing in 1994, Jano moved to her ideal home in Salisbury with her daughter Jenny. The Covid lockdown gave Jano time to concentrate on her own painting. Inspired by dreams, she created a series of 36 paintings of angels, each with its own backstory. With the help of her youngest daughter Beth, she collected her celestial portraits in a book titled, Angels of Our Better Nature. At the Sharon Historical Society’s gallery in 2022, she had a highly successful showing of the angel paintings as well as other works depicting landscapes and animal portraits.
A vibrant creative force until a few days before her death, Jano constructed an eight-foot-long “Rainbow Dragon of Peace” puppet for Beth that was featured in the Green River Festival Parade in Greenfield, Mass., and a week before her passing, she taught her regularly held elder “Limbering Up” exercise class at the Lakeville Town Grove.
Jano is survived by her four daughters Teviot Fairservis, Elf Ahearn, Jenny Fairservis, and Beth Fairservis Katz as well as her grandson, Olin Fairservis Katz. She will be greatly missed by her family and many friends. Please feel free to join the family in a celebration of her life at 1 p.m. on November 2nd, 2024 at the Congregational Church of Salisbury. In lieu of flowers, donations can be made via PayPal to Teviot’s cat sanctuary in Malaysia at www.catbeachpenang.com/donate/ or www.paypal.me/catbeachsanctuary
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