Thank you!
Your support is sustaining the future of local news in our communities.

John A. Dorizzi

FALLS VILLAGE — John A. Dorizzi, 89, of Falls Village, died March 3, 2024, at the Sharon Hospital. John was born in Canaan on Jan. 4, 1935, son of the late Emil and Marie (Visini) Dorizzi.

John graduated from Housatonic Valley Regional High School in Falls Village. Shortly after that, he enlisted in the U.S. Army in 1955. He served at Fort Dix in New Jersey, then on to Fort Jackson in South Carolina. From there it was on to Jump Training at Fort Benning in Georgia and finally to Special Forces training at Fort Bragg in North Carolina. John made about 39 active jumps. While serving with the Green Berets he held the rank of Specialist 5th Class which is equivalent to a Staff Sergeant. He was honorably discharged in 1958, but continued in the Army Reserves until he was honorably discharged from the reserves on May 31, 1962.

Upon returning to Falls Village, John became a well-known and accomplished carpenter. He pursued that trade for 20 years. After that, he began a new career at the former El-Hamal Arabian Horse Farm in Salisbury. On the farm he built barns, indoor arenas, and any other project that may have been needed. He spent another 20 years at the farm. After that, he worked with his family’s business, Wright One Landscaping until he retired. John maintained his love of woodworking and gardening throughout his life. He was able to look at a picture of a project and reproduce it exactly as it looked in the photograph.

John is survived by his longtime companion Maryann Betti with whom he lived, several nieces and nephews as well as his brother Robert Mallory and his wife Pat of New Hartford. He is also survived by his sister-in-law Donna Mallory of Canaan. John was one of seven children.

Graveside service with full military honors will be held on Saturday, March 16, 2024, at 11:00 a.m. at Lower City Cemetery, Undermountain Rd. Falls Village, CT 06031.

There are no calling hours. Memorial donations may be made to either the Sharon Health Care Center 27 Hospital Hill Rd Sharon, CT 06069, or Noble Horizons 17 Cobble Rd. Salisbury, CT 06068. Arrangements are under the care of the Newkirk-Palmer Funeral Home 118 Main St. Canaan, CT 06018.

Lakeville Journal

Latest News

A life reshaped by clay in “Matin”

A life reshaped by clay in “Matin”

Left to right: Hannah Wheeler, Matin Malikzada and Yonah Sadeh.

D.H. Callahan

On Monday, Oct. 26, a group of students, teachers and local residents gathered at the Hotchkiss School in Lakeville for a screening of the new short documentary “Matin.” The film tells the story of Matin Malikzada, a seventh-generation Afghani potter making a new life in New Milford, Connecticut. The film was made by local filmmaker Yonah Sadeh, creator of the Video Wall at the David M. Hunt Library, and Berkshires-based potter Hannah Wheeler, who were both present for the screening, along with Malikzada himself.

As a member of the seventh generation of his family to master the art of pottery, Malikzada had done things the way his family had for over a century. Istalif, the village where his family has lived for generations, was known throughout Afghanistan for its pottery, with wares sent across the country for use as everyday cups, bowls, plates and other vessels. The pottery-making families of Istalif gathered clay from the same mountain, about 30 to 45 minutes away by donkey. Every July, they would head north toward the Uzbekistan border to gather ishkar, a plant they processed by hand to make their signature glazes.

Keep ReadingShow less
film

Meg Sher finds her calling among the stacks

Meg Sher finds her calling among the stacks

Meg Sher, executive director of the David M. Hunt Library in Falls Village.

L. Tomaino

When Meg Sher came to Falls Village in 2006 from Old Lyme, Connecticut, where she grew up, she never imagined she’d someday be the executive director of the David M. Hunt Library.

Although, in hindsight, perhaps it makes sense.

Keep ReadingShow less
our community

Crescendo’s 23rd season speaks to the heart and mind

Crescendo’s 23rd season speaks to the heart and mind

Christine Gevert, founding artistic director of Crescendo, conducts the audience at a performance.

Steve Potter

For Christine Gevert, founding artistic director of Crescendo, music from centuries past is anything but a relic. It is a living, breathing art form, full of drama, emotional complexity and, occasionally, surprises. As the regional choral and period-instrument ensemble launches its 23rd season, Gevert is once again bringing forgotten masterpieces into the present.

“Early Music has been my lifelong passion and the focus of my specialization in Europe and South America,” Gevert said. “Bringing this repertoire to our audiences in a nuanced way that does justice to its incredible depth, intensity, and beauty is deeply important to me.”

Keep ReadingShow less
concerts
google preferred source

Want more of our stories on Google? Click here to make us a Preferred Source.

Close Encounters with Music celebrates 35 years of musical discovery

Close Encounters with Music celebrates 35 years of musical discovery

Close Encounters with Music’s 35th season opens with “Saluting the Clarinet” featuring clarinetist Alexander Fiterstein.

Provided

For 35 years, cellist Yehuda Hanani has been inviting audiences to experience classical music in unexpected ways. As founder and artistic director of Close Encounters with Music, Hanani has built a concert series that goes beyond the music itself, exploring connections to literature, history, politics and the human experience.

This year, Close Encounters celebrates its 35th season with “Celebration & Discovery,” a seven-concert series that opens Sunday, Nov. 1, at the Mahaiwe Performing Arts Center in Great Barrington.

Keep ReadingShow less
concerts

Shinbone Alley brings spooky songs to Spencertown

Shinbone Alley brings spooky songs to Spencertown

Seeing isn’t always believing. Sometimes it’s the lack of a defined picture that can be the most compelling. And when Alex Harvey of Shinbone Alley sings his supernaturally charged sea shanties and street ballads, the unseen will be downright scary. On Oct. 30, the historically inclined storyteller and performer will create a spooky evening of forbidden tales and yarns through a carefully chosen series of songs at Spencertown Academy of Arts.

The repertoire for the performance is a bit fraught. Over the years, Shinbone Alley has explored the world of folklore through music. Though the group usually features two musicians, Harvey, a multi-instrumentalist and singer, will be performing solo. That is, of course, unless you include the spirits.

Keep ReadingShow less
concerts

Malian blues and Moroccan Gnawa meet in Sheffield

Malian blues and Moroccan Gnawa meet in Sheffield
Vieux Farka Touré
Proivded

Desert winds rarely blow into the Berkshires, but on Nov. 5, they will carry the Malian blues and Moroccan Gnawa music to Race Brook Lodge.

That evening, Malian guitarist Vieux Farka Touré, often called “the Hendrix of the Sahara,” and Moroccan musician Samir LanGus will play at the lodge’s Event Barn in Sheffield, Massachusetts, at a benefit for the foundation Touré directs.

Keep ReadingShow less
concerts
google preferred source

Want more of our stories on Google? Click here to make us a Preferred Source.