CORNWALL — Lorraine (Nye) Eliot, 95, a longtime summer resident of Cornwall Bridge, died peacefully March 22, 2011, in Seattle, Wash., after a long, full life. Lorraine was born in New York City on Sept. 13, 1915, and lived there through her years at New College, which was an experimental precursor to Barnard College. She was the daughter of Helen Mounfortt and Frank Wilson Nye, and the granddaughter of two writer-journalists; Wade Mountfortt, who was an editor for the New York Times, and Bill Nye, who founded the Laramie Bee.As a junior in college, she taught English in the village of Salin-les-Bains, in the Jura Mountains of France. There she met and married Jean Gaudefroy-Demombynes, a musician, composer, writer and teacher. They survived the German occupation of France in the village of Cosne-sur-Loire with two German soldiers billeted in their home. Her two children, Doriane Solange and Jean Patrice were born there in 1943 and 1944. Lorraine earned a doctorate in French literature from the Sorbonne, “In my spare time,” as she used to say. Her thesis, La Femme dans L’Oeuvre de Maupassant, was published by Mercure de France in 1943. After the war, and a year of teaching at the University of Western Ontario, Lorraine returned to New York City, a single mother of two. Seeking relief from the heat of the city, she came across a 100-year-old farmhouse in Cornwall Bridge which became the family summer home. She took a job with the Central Intelligence Agency in 1953 and advanced rapidly to a position managing American Friends of the Middle East until it was exposed by a Ramparts Magazine article in 1976. She retired from the CIA with one of the highest ranks any woman had achieved at that time. Lorraine moved full time to Cornwall Bridge where she became involved in the community by joining the United Church of Christ Congregational and writing articles on local artists for The Lakeville Journal. She married her former boss, Mather Eliot, in 1988. On a trip to Rome she happened across “The Awakening” by Kate Chopin, which led to a fascination with the writer and ultimately to writing her biography, “The Real Kate Chopin,” which was published in 2002. She clearly identified with Kate Chopin and the strong- willed and fiercely independent women in her work. Lorraine and Mather spent their last years at University House in Seattle. She is survived by her daughter, Doriane Demombynes Tippett of Rancho Palos Verdes, Calif.; her son, Patrice Gaudefroy-Demombynes of Seattle; her grandchildren, Justin, Gabriel, Jolie, Brett, Jasper and Roland; and seven great-grandchildren who knew her as “Nou-Nou.” A memorial gathering to celebrate her life will be held in Cornwall Bridge sometime in the spring.
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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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