Lasting memory

KENT — Memorial Day started out with a few thunderclaps and lightning bolts, but by 9 a.m. the clouds began to break and the firehouse on Maple Street was bustling with men, women, children and dogs preparing to march through the village center.The parade took off down Main Street at 9:30 a.m. The American Legion Color Guard took the lead, with veterans in cars and jeeps following.Other groups that participated in the parade were the Kent Girl Scouts and Boy Scouts, with the Cub Scouts, Brownies and Daisies. The Kent Volunteer Fire Department and William McCann and his tractor-drawn wagon were at the end of the parade.The first stop was the Veterans Memorial, a monument dedicated Nov. 11, 2009. The Rev. Thomas Berberich gave an invocation, and World War II veteran Robert Bauer placed a wreath by the memorial.“We like to honor our fallen comrades,” Bauer said. “A lot of people forget about that.”The parade continued to the Civil War Monument, where a Kent Center School student recited the Gettysburg Address. The next stop was the Kent Memorial Library, where Berberich gave another invocation and Korean War veteran and commander of American Legion Hall-Jennings Post No. 153 Jerry White placed a wreath for World War I veterans. As First Selectman Bruce Adams read the names of Kent veterans in front of the library, two F15s from the Massachusetts Air National Guard roared over Main Street.“I planned that,” he said, smiling, before finishing the list of names.Just before the parade ended at the Kent Congregational Church cemetery, the sun came out.“It’s a very special day for all the men and women who laid down their lives for our country,” White said.Charleen Robarge was standing by the white picket fence just outside her house with her dog, Mini Cooper, watching the last of the marchers go by.“The parade always passes right by us,”Robarge said. “We watch it every year.”

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Father Joseph Kurnath

LAKEVILLE — Father Joseph G. M. Kurnath, retired priest of the Archdiocese of Hartford, passed away peacefully, at the age of 71, on Sunday, June 29, 2025.

Father Joe was born on May 21, 1954, in Waterbury, Connecticut. He attended kindergarten through high school in Bristol.

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Club baseball at Fuessenich Park

Travel league baseball came to Torrington Thursday, June 26, when the Berkshire Bears Select Team played the Connecticut Moose 18U squad. The Moose won 6-4 in a back-and-forth game. Two players on the Bears play varsity ball at Housatonic Valley Regional High School: shortstop Anthony Foley and first baseman Wes Allyn. Foley went 1-for-3 at bat with an RBI in the game at Fuessenich Park.

 

  Anthony Foley, rising senior at Housatonic Valley Regional High School, went 1-for-3 at bat for the Bears June 26.Photo by Riley Klein 

 
Siglio Press: Uncommon books at the intersection of art and literature

Uncommon books at the intersection of art and literature.

Richard Kraft

Siglio Press is a small, independent publishing house based in Egremont, Massachusetts, known for producing “uncommon books at the intersection of art and literature.” Founded and run by editor and publisher Lisa Pearson, Siglio has, since 2008, designed books that challenge conventions of both form and content.

A visit to Pearson’s airy studio suggests uncommon work, to be sure. Each of four very large tables were covered with what looked to be thousands of miniature squares of inkjet-printed, kaleidoscopically colored pieces of paper. Another table was covered with dozens of book/illustration-size, abstracted images of deer, made up of colored dots. For the enchanted and the mystified, Pearson kindly explained that these pieces were to be collaged together as artworks by the artist Richard Kraft (a frequent contributor to the Siglio Press and Pearson’s husband). The works would be accompanied by writings by two poets, Elizabeth Zuba and Monica Torre, in an as-yet-to-be-named book, inspired by a found copy of a worn French children’s book from the 1930s called “Robin de Bois” (Robin Hood).

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Cycling season: A roundup of our region’s rentals and where to ride them

Cyclists head south on the rail trail from Copake Falls.

Alec Linden

After a shaky start, summer has well and truly descended upon the Litchfield, Berkshire and Taconic hills, and there is no better way to get out and enjoy long-awaited good weather than on two wheels. Below, find a brief guide for those who feel the pull of the rail trail, but have yet to purchase their own ten-speed. Temporary rides are available in the tri-corner region, and their purveyors are eager to get residents of all ages, abilities and inclinations out into the open road (or bike path).

For those lucky enough to already possess their own bike, perhaps the routes described will inspire a new way to spend a Sunday afternoon. For more, visit lakevillejournal.com/tag/bike-route to check out two ride-guides from local cyclists that will appeal to enthusiasts of many levels looking for a varied trip through the region’s stunning summer scenery.

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