Elizabeth Kotsrean Richards

SOUTH KENT — Elizabeth Kotsrean Richards, known affectionately as “Liz,” passed away peacefully on Nov. 11, 2024, at Noble Horizons Retirement Community in Salisbury, at the age of 93. She was surrounded by her three sons and close family members in her final moments.
Born on June 4, 1931, in St. Louis, Missouri, Liz was the daughter of Chester William Kotsrean and Beatrice Jennings. She graduated from John Burroughs School in 1949, where she was a proud member of the varsity field hockey team. Liz went on to earn a degree in Child Development from Connecticut College in 1953. It was at Connecticut College that she met Noble “Nobby” Richards, a student at Trinity College, through a blind date arranged by mutual friends. Their connection was immediate, and they married on Nov. 23, 1954, in Clayton, Missouri.
A month after their marriage, Noble was sent to Japan by the U.S. Air Force. Liz followed him in the early months of 1955. During their time in Japan, Liz not only immersed herself in the culture by teaching English in Tokyo’s public schools, but also explored the island of Honshu extensively with Noble, creating memories in Tokyo, Kyoto, Hiroshima, and Miyajima that would enrich their lives forever.
Upon returning to the United States in 1956, Liz and Noble became integral members of the South Kent School community. Noble began his tenure as a mathematics teacher, and soon, their three sons — Timothy, James, and Andrew — were born. Liz’s nurturing spirit extended beyond her own children, as she became a motherly figure to many of the students and faculty children at South Kent.
In 1977, when her children were older, Liz joined the faculty as an English teacher. She found joy in helping the boys of South Kent develop their writing skills and in guiding them through thoughtful discussions. Liz’s influence at South Kent grew alongside her husband’s leadership. In 1991, Noble was appointed headmaster of South Kent School, a role he held until their retirement in 1996. After their retirement, Liz continued to tutor students, maintaining her strong connections to the school that had been such a central part of their lives for nearly four decades.
In 1961, Liz and Noble purchased a home on North Pamet Road in Truro, Massachusetts, on Cape Cod, where summers were spent in the company of family, swimming, surfing and sailing. Over the years, the house was expanded twice to accommodate the growing family, which eventually included three sons, their wives, and six grandchildren. Summer days in Truro were filled with laughter and the joyful bustle of three generations coming together, a tradition that became the heartbeat of Liz’s family life.
Liz also became a pillar of Truro’s summer community, starting beloved traditions that continue to this day. Every 4th of July, she organized a spirited softball game attended by several families, a tradition that became a cherished event for all. The Sunday beach picnics she helped start were also a highlight, where she would welcome friends and family with her trademark big smile and open arms. These gatherings became an enduring tradition, with families returning year after year to share in the joy and camaraderie that Liz so lovingly fostered.
Liz loved sharing simple pleasures with her grandchildren. Early mornings in Truro often found her curled up on the living room couch with a grandchild, surrounded by stacks of books and wrapped in her collection of knit blankets, reading story after story together. Her passion for baking was another way she connected with them — her homemade orange bread and chocolate chip cookies, made from the classic Nestlé recipe, were family favorites. She enjoyed designing Easter basket scavenger hunts for her grandchildren, and she never missed a Grandparents Day at school, where she would always treat them and all their friends to ice cream.
Upon retiring from South Kent, Liz and Noble divided their time between their home in Truro and a condominium in Kent. In the early years of retirement, Liz transitioned into a life filled with biking, walking, swimming, reading, playing tennis and bridge. In addition to her volunteer tutoring, she volunteered at the Kent Town Library, where she remained an active and beloved presence.
Liz’s life was defined by quiet grace, boundless curiosity, and an extraordinary capacity for love that touched her family, friends, and students alike. She will be remembered for her kindness, her generous spirit and the gentle way she nurtured both minds and hearts, leaving an indelible mark on all who knew her.
She is survived by her three sons, Timothy, James, and Andrew; three daughters-in-law, Margaret Clarke, Yvonne Richards, and Kristin Richards; six grandchildren, Sarah, Charlotte, Rachel, Christopher, Hannah, and Audrey Richards; and a great-granddaughter, Lillian Crownover. She will be missed by all who knew her, but her legacy will live on in the many lives she touched.
A memorial service for Elizabeth will be held in the spring at South Kent School. Details will be announced at a later date. In lieu of flowers, donations in Liz’s memory can be made to the Alzheimer’s Association, Noble Horizons, or South Kent School.
Whenever I need to get a quick but scenic bicycle ride but don’t have time to organize a group ride that involves driving to a meeting point, I just turn right out of my driveway. That begins a 32-mile loop through some of the prettiest scenery in northern Litchfield County.
I ride south on Undermountain Road (Route 41 South) into Salisbury and turn right on Main Street (Route 44 West). If I’m meeting friends, we gather at the parking area on the west side of Salisbury Town Hall where parking is never a problem.
We make a left on Salmon Kill Road and begin the most beautiful five-mile section of the route through rolling hills and beautiful farm country spread out over the length of the scenic valley. Fortunately, the Salmon Kill Bridge has been reopened after a two-year reconstruction — its lengthy closure was a real bummer.
After a short climb and descent, Salmon Kill terminates at Lime Rock Road.
This is the busiest and least enjoyable section of the ride, but lasts only about a mile when we turn left at the Trinity Lime Rock Episcopal Church and follow Dugway Road, with its rolling hills along the south side of the Housatonic River.
We usually stop on the Falls River Bridge to check out the volume of water flowing over the Great Falls. We make a right off the bridge on to Water Street, pass the power plant and Appalachian Trail parking lot, and go under the railroad bridge with a sharp left up a steep but short hill north on Route 126 (Point of Rocks Road.)
Now we’re on a long, flat run that includes a slight right on Sand Road, which we follow all the way to Route 7 at the Canaan Country Club. A left here leaves you on a very busy state highway less than a mile before turning right onto Lower Road — be careful — but there’s plenty of shoulder.
Lower Road runs parallel to the Blackberry River and passes both modern and historic local industry: the impressive lime rock quarry operated by Specialty Minerals Inc., followed by the Beckley Iron Furnace State Park.
Next, we make a left on the appropriately named Furnace Road, across Route 44 — careful again — and face a steep but short climb up Allyndale Rd. Following it to the left begins a long stretch of beautiful farms and distant views of the Southfield and New Marlborough hills. We pick up a lot of speed downhill, zip past Sodom Road, and then a flat stretch to Clayton Road and into Massachusetts.
Continue straight (north) on Polikoff Road, then make a left onto Hewins Road if you want to keep the ride short. Alternatively, you could turn right on Hewins Road and follow it to Maple and into Sheffield to add another 5 to 10 miles.
But, if you’re sticking with the 32-mile ride, turn left on Hewins and take it across Route 7, followed by a left on Main Street and into Ashley Falls’ bucolic town center.
The right turn on Rannapo Road takes us along and across the winding Housatonic River ,where we watch the corn grow from seedlings to more than six feet by late summer.
Next is a left on to the daunting Cooper Hill Road — the steepest and only tough climb of the route. The effort is rewarded by spectacular 360-degree views, including the mountains of the Taconic Ridge and Appalachian Trail to the west.
A left onto Silver Road leads to the payoff: two steep descents, a view of the Twin Lakes on the left, and arrival at stately Taconic Road, home to some of Salisbury’s grandest old estates. A left on Taconic Road offers more rolling farm hills and beautiful views of the Taconic Ridge.
It terminates at Route 44, where we make a right (west) and let the long, steep descent carry us all the way into Salisbury, past the White Hart Inn and back to our starting point at Town Hall.
That’s the route: a relatively flat 1,500 feet of climbing with minimal car traffic. We usually reward ourselves with post-ride refreshments on the White Hart lawn.
I hope you enjoy this local gem of a ride!
Kent Hiteshew is a Salisbury cyclist.
This is a lovely ride that loops from Ancramdale north to Copake and back. At just over 23 miles and about 1,300 feet of elevation gain, it’s a perfect route for intermediate recreational riders and takes about two hours to complete.It’s entirely on quiet roads with little traffic, winding through rolling hills, open countryside, picturesque farms and several lakes.
Along the way, you’ll pass a couple of farmstands that are worth a quick visit. There is only one hill that might be described as steep, but it is quite short — probably less than a quarter-mile.
The ride starts and ends at The Farmer’s Wife Café in Ancramdale, a great place for lunch or refreshments after the ride.(The café is closed on Mondays and Tuesdays).Parking is usually available between the café and the Ancramdale post office.But be courteous — don’t monopolize parking needed by the café’s guests and staff!
Here are the coordinates for the ride:
Turn left out of the parking lot of the Farmer’s Wife onto County Road 8.
At .5 miles, turn left on Crest Lane
At 1.9 miles, turn left on East Ancram Road
At 6.8 miles, turn left on County Road 3
At 7.0 miles, turn right on Wiltsie Bridge Road
At 7.7 miles, turn right on Empire Road
At 10.7 miles, go straight through the village of Copake onto Main Street.
At 11.1 miles, bear left onto Farm Road
At 11.3 miles, turn left on Mountain View Road
At 12.1 miles turn right on County Road 7A
At 12.3 miles, turn left on Snyder Pond Road
At 13.0 miles turn left to stay on Snyder Pond Road
At 14.2 miles, turn right on County Road 7
At 14.8 miles turn left on County Road 27 (This is where there is short hill.)
At 15.5 miles, make a hairpin turn to the left on County Road 27A.(This can be easy to miss so be on the lookout for it).
At 17.5 miles, go straight across County Road 7 onto Four Corners Road.
At 18.7 miles, turn right on Wiltsie Bridge Road
At 19.0 miles, turn left on Snyder Road
At 20.3 miles, bear left onto Roche Drive
At 20.8 miles, turn right on County Road 3
Follow County Road 3 back to Ancramdale and the Farmer’s Wife.
Jeremy Koch is a Norfolk cyclist.
Chris Virtuoso reorganized parcel records in the North East Town Hall basement by parcel number during the process of scanning and digitizing the documents.
MILLERTON — Within the walls of the two-story Victorian housing the North East Town Hall lies a room-full of town records dating back to the late 19th century. Stored in labeled cardboard boxes and protected by dehumidifiers, the records are in the process of being dated, organized, and scanned into categorized online programs.
As the Town Hall works to relocate to 5603 Route 22 at the former Kingdom Hall of Jehovah’s Witness, the consolidation and digitalization of records, as well as the disposal of those unneeded, is a time-sensitive project. Marcy Wheatley, the Deputy Town Clerk, emphasized their current heavy focus on organizing and scanning. “Now, when we move, we can get rid of a lot,” Wheatley stated.
The digitalization process in North East began in November of 2015, when the program LaserFiche was selected due to a grant shared with the nearby towns of Amenia, Dover Plains and Beekman. The program was shared until 2024 and now each town scans documents separately to their individual clouds.
The organization and scanning process is a daunting one because the Town Hall keeps historic, business, judicial and assessors records. Town Clerk Elizabeth “Tilly” Strauss explained that it is a learning process to go through the records, organize and keep or destroy based on retention schedules of certain items.
There are two forms of scanning and storing documents that the town has utilized. The Town Clerk’s office uses the system BAS for scanning vital records, minutes, invoices and resolutions. This system is updated constantly as new information comes in, but Wheatley, along with other offices in the Town Hall, has been working backwards to digitize all of the old files as well. Wheatley scans documents for about an hour every afternoon. “That’s what it takes to keep up to date,” she said. There are currently 3324 files in the system.
The other mode of scanning and storing documents is through the IPS system, which gets records from planning, zoning, building and assessors. Chris Virtuoso, who started as a tax collector in 2021, stepped up to lead this half of the process beginning in 2022.
“He had a big task. He had boxes all over the place. He was spread out, he was intense and focused,” Wheatley said of Virtuoso. According to Wheatley and Strauss, the project did not only include scanning and reordering, but a complete reorganization.
“What happened was, a lot of files were under the names of farmers, but they then either got sold or were subdivided,” said Strauss. “Chris has been scanning and organizing into and by parcel number instead of name.”
Virtuoso first began this project by finding parcel locations on the assessors map and looking through files of names and addresses. He then sorted through boxes to find the parcel numbers, organizing them into new boxes based on zone and ordered by parcel number.
“If somebody buys a parcel now and they want to know the history, they can go down there with the number for the parcel and those folders are in there,” stated Virtuoso. “That was the end goal, to get everything from alphabetical order into parcel number order.”
Virtuoso had also found a log tracking all cases by number, which went back until 2005, and added blank pages for all of the newly-scanned files dating back to 1968. This book is now up to date, and current cases and pages are added every year.
“You become like Sherlock Holmes,” said Virtuoso. “What I always kept in mind was, when I’m not here anymore, will someone be able to figure this out?”
From his start in 2022 to March 2023 when both planning and zoning were completely up to date, Virtuoso would come to the Town Hall every morning to scan for two or three hours, five days a week, while still maintaining his career as a realtor.
As of March 2023, when Virtuoso wrote a report on his progress, 361 case files were scanned for the Zoning Board of Appeals. He had also deleted and destroyed any duplicates, removed any metal that may damage the documents, resecured the folders, and organized everything by parcel number with room for additional files.
“He went above and beyond,” Wheatley stated.
Virtuoso — and the Town Clerks — are eager to move to the new Town Hall property. “Look, this is an old home, it’s charming, but we need room for all those files, we need more space and offices,” said Virtuoso.
“I can’t wait,” Strauss stated. “We’re going to have new shelves and everything organized by departments. It’s going to be beautiful.” After condensing, destroying duplicates and scanning, all records will be brought to the new location, however, the digitized copies will serve as backup and for convenience.
Although the process is viewed as an overall success, there are still a few remaining hopes for the future. Virtuoso hopes for collaboration with other towns to buy or lease a large-format scanner for large-scale maps, blueprints, and other important documents that have yet to be scanned.
Virtuoso also hopes to make the Historical Society aware of the rich and unique history that he found within the basement boxes, opening the possibility for deeper understanding of the local area. “The files are important because they do have a certain chunk of history.”
Nora Garcia, 6, of Millerton, bottom right, gets a face painting treatment from Maddy Rowe, a Webutuck High School senior. Nora’s sister, Juliana, 8, top right, is decorated by Giana Kall, a Webutuck senior. The program was sponsored by the Webutuck PTA.
Correction: the Millerton News Street Fair was a collaborative effort between the Millerton News, the Millerton Business Alliance and the North East Community Center.
MILLERTON — Locals and visitors packed into downtown Millerton Saturday, June 28, for the first ever Millerton Street Fair hosted by the Millerton News, the Millerton Business Alliance and the North East Community Center. Representatives from local nonprofits, businesses along Main Street, Bee Bee the Clown and face painters from Webutuck High School drew in crowds all afternoon.
Festivities officially opened at 10 a.m., and a steady stream of visitors soon followed. Volunteer firefighters hosted a bouncy castle, a duck pool, a “put out the fire” ring toss game, and the “touch a truck” event at the fire department’s garage.
The NorthEast-Millerton Library joined in the fun, hosting a book sale inside and a cookie bake-off on the front lawn.
Live music on the lawn of the Millerton Methodist Church supplied good vibes to those within earshot. The John Stey Band started the morning with classic country, western and bluegrass tunes. The afternoon wrapped up with a few hours of Afro-Cuban jazz from the Berkshire Resilience Brass Band.
Townscape and the North East Community Center joined in participating as non-profit organizations in the Millerton News Street Fair, coinciding with the regular weekly Millerton Farmers’ Market that attracts more than a dozen vendors to sell fresh produce, baked goods and more.
Eloise Gerstle, 2 and a half, posed with her balloon animal and her mother, Aimee Couture, both of Sharon, enjoying the fun of the Millerton News Street Fair on Saturday, June 28.Photo by Leila Hawken
Lisa Cope, Village of Millerton Town Clerk, was there to hand out “Save the Date” cards for next year’s 175th Anniversary of Millerton.
“I know it’s early,” she said. “but it’s coming.”
Amanda Coppola, the Webutuck Elementary School principal, was on hand to discuss after school programs, and mentioned a new pre-K program for three-year-olds that is the first in Dutchess County.
And Century Boulevard was packed with cars. License plates from across the Northeast could be spotted lining the wide street, including New York, New Jersey, Connecticut, Massachusetts and even Pennsylvania.
Reporting and photography from Leila Hawken, Charlie Greenberg, Nathan Miller and John Coston contributed to this article.
Photo by Nathan Miller
Brody Reyes of Millerton, left, and Aaliyah Velie of Millerton, right, run and play with a beach ball in the parking lot of the Millerton Firehouse on Century Boulevard.
The Millerton Fire Company was a popular destination with its hot food — dogs and burgers and homemade french fries. The volunteer firemen ran the concession. Patti Lynch-VandeBogart was also on hand with popcorn and flavored ices.Kelly Roger, treasurer and a fire police captain of the department had pulled together the fire department’s food court.
A touch-a-truck event for children was popular, leading occasionally to a loud blast of a fire truck horn from an excited youngster.