MILLERTON — The village business community mourned the loss of a favorite shopkeeper when Barbara Walker, owner of the former long-time vintage store B.W. Eagle Eye, passed away on Saturday, April 11, from the coronavirus. She was 83 years old.
Regardless of how they met her or the extent of their acquaintance, many will remember Walker from her legendary sense of style, her lively sense of humor and the friendships she formed with shoppers and residents. Spanning 26 years, her store stood as one of the village’s oldest operating businesses. It was a place for Walker to channel her passion for the fashion industry and her retail experience into a successful Main Street business. Beyond the rows of fashion and home accessories, new and vintage clothing, antique jewelry and other treasures, customers could always count on finding Walker behind the counter with a welcoming smile and a discerning eye for selecting the perfect item.
Though Walker closed her shop’s doors for good back in December of 2017, her presence lingered in the minds of her fellow merchants, many of whom had the privilege of calling her a friend.
“She was a stylish character who was a Millerton icon,” said Kent Hunter, co-owner of Hunter Bee antiques in Millerton. “She had such a great history — she had great stories of fashion and the New York design industry.”
Having known Walker for almost a decade, Hunter said, “I will say we will always miss Barbara’s hourly visits to the shop. She would just pop in three or four times a day, and we always had fun seeing her. We’ve missed her, of course, for several years, but now there’s a big legend that’s gone.”
Combing through her memories of Walker, Jan Gilmor, co-owner of the now-closed Gilmor Glass Works at the corner of Main Street and Route 22, said she and Walker hit it off from the moment Walker stopped into her store to introduce herself. Calling Walker one of her close friends, Gilmor recounted how her late friend always dressed fashionably regardless of her surroundings and how she could always see the humor in others as well as in herself. Since she was always the first to know what was going on in the local region, Gilmor said she used to joke that Walker was “the town crier.
“She was a force of nature and she had a very, very powerful personality,” Gilmor said. “There were times when we disagreed and she wasn’t afraid of making her displeasure known, but in the end, she was always very supportive and very kind. We always patched it up.”
As a testament of the sincerity of their friendship, Gilmor shared the memory of Walker’s weekly visits when Gilmor was hospitalized for Guillain-Barré syndrome.
“She almost never missed a week,” Gilmor said, “and if she couldn’t come, we’d always talk on the phone. I can’t say enough for how supportive she was.”
Though the beloved former merchant has now passed away due to a health crisis that has all but brought the world to its knees, it’s clear memories of the fashionable Barbara Walker, with her trademark bob hairstyle and her dazzling smile, will remain in the hearts of Millertonites for many years to come.
Millerton's American Legion Post 178 on Route 44.
MILLERTON — The American Legion Auxiliary’s chili, chowder and soup cook-off is celebrating its 20th year.
The annual event is set for Sunday, Feb. 15, from noon to 4 p.m. at Millerton’s American Legion Post 178 on Route 44.
Adults pay $12 for entry and children cost $5. Chili and chowder cooks who are competing in the cook-off enter for free.
The top ranked chili and the top ranked chowder or soup will receive a cash prize. A people’s choice selection will also receive a cash prize.
The cook-off will also feature raffle tables and dessert auctions. And the Daytona 500 NASCAR race will provide entertainment at the event.
All proceeds from the event support auxiliary activities and veterans projects including overseas care packages and assistance to local veterans.
Questions may be directed to Zandra Boice at 518-325-9889 or Charlene Mayville at 845-877-3734.
CANAAN — It is with great sadness that we share the passing of Charles Lemmen, 87, of Canaan, on Jan. 1, 2026, after a long period of declining health.
Chuck was a loving father and husband with an inspiring and unquenchable work ethic. He gave much back to his community through his volunteering, including to the Canaan Historical Society, the Falls Village Library, and Music Mountain. He was a voracious reader, especially historical works, a hobby eclipsed only by his love for classical music which he exercised at every opportunity. He also loved to travel, a penchant that took him to Italy, Scandinavia, and as far afield as Antarctica.
Chuck was predeceased by his wife of 58 years, Barbara, his sister Gwendolyn Kraay, his brother Robert, and his grandson Kevin Whitley. He is survived by his daughters Barbara Lemmen (husband Geoff Nunes) and Nicola Whitley, his son Stuart Lemmen (wife Jen Margo), and his grandchildren Hannah Whitley, Sidney Nunes, Alex Nunes, and Elijah Lemmen.
He was born in Holland, Michigan, May 19, 1938, to Benjamin and Lucille (Vander Werf) Lemmen, where he also grew up. He graduated from Hope College in 1960 and Case Western Reserve University in 1968.
Chuck was a philosophy and logic professor, an insurance agent, and then a computer programmer for Edward R. Hamilton Bookseller in Falls Village for over 40 years.
He was a self-taught roofer, carpenter, vegetable gardener and builder which helped to raise his family of five over so many years.
Arrangements were handled by the Cremation Society of New England. A memorial service will be held later this year.
In lieu of flowers donations may be made to Tanglewood or the Connecticut Food Bank.
NEW PRESTON — Edwin A. French III passed away on Jan. 31, at St. Mary’s Hospital in Waterbury after a brief illness. Born July 16, 1951, in North Adams, Massachusetts, he was the eldest child of the late Edwin and Barbara French II. He grew up in Greenwich and attended Greenwich Country Day, Rye Country Day, and Greenwich High School.
Ed served as a volunteer firefighter and later as a decorated Greenwich police officer, also playing bagpipes with the Emerald Society Police Band.
After retiring, he lived in Sherman, Kent and New Preston, Connecticut.
Independent and adventurous, he loved hunting, fishing, traveling, and sharing stories—especially of his motorcycle trip to Alaska. He was always ready to help friends and family.
He is survived by his sons; Steven (Francis) and Marc (Mary); his brothers David (Charlene) and Daniel (Cheryl); several grandchildren, nieces, and nephews; and his brother‑in‑law Steve Gerwin.
He was predeceased by his sister Faye Gerwin.
A private memorial will be held at the family’s convenience. Donations may be made to the American Liver Foundation at liverfoundation.org
CORNWALL — Tim Prentice, architect turned kinetic sculptor, died at home in Cornwall on Nov. 25, 2025, at the well-lived age of 95.
Born in New York City on Guy Fawkes Day in 1930, Tim was the son of Theodora (“Dody”) Machado and architect Merrill Prentice. That same year, his parents bought a 150-year-old house in Cornwall, and Tim’s connection with the town as his lifelong “spiritual home” began.
He attended Rumsey Hall in Cornwall Village, the Brooks School, and Yale College. While at Brooks, a field trip to the Addison Gallery in Andover proved quietly decisive: in the lobby hung a mobile by Alexander Calder, which moved in response to otherwise invisible air currents. Tim was riveted. Decades later, that moment would resurface as destiny.
Graduate school was postponed by four years of Navy service during the Korean War. Tim served as a bombardier navigator with the Sixth Fleet, flying off aircraft carriers on grueling eleven-hour missions and navigating using a demanding three-star fix, an experience that left him with a sailor’s respect for wind, balance, and motion.
After the war, he returned to Yale, earning a Master’s degree at the School of Art and Architecture. He studied with the modernist Paul Rudolph and took Josef Albers’s famed color class not once, but twice.
In 1960, Tim married Marie Bissell in her parents’ backyard in Canton, Connecticut. Both were enthusiastic amateur folksingers. In 1963, they were sent by the State Department on a goodwill journey through Asia and East Africa, guitar and banjo in hand, sharing and gathering new melodies to carry home.
In 1965, back in New York City, Tim co-founded the award-winning architectural firm Prentice & Chan with Lo-Yi Chan from I.M. Pei’s office. Among many projects, Lo-Yi designed middle-income housing for NY State, and Tim designed houses in Connecticut.
During this time, Tim also became a member of MOMA’s Committee on Architecture and Design and President of the Municipal Art Society, where he helped lead a successful campaign to save Grand Central Terminal from demolition.
In 1975, Tim left the firm to pursue his new career in sculpture in the living room of his apartment and, on weekends, in a century-old ice shed on their farm in Cornwall. He taught architecture at Columbia and continued to design and remodel houses in the Cornwall area — over 60 all told. His architecture balanced international modernism with a deep affection for the plainspoken New England barn and, often, a wry sense of humor. Among his creations were a pool house shaped like a miniature Parthenon, complete with Elgin Marbles rendered in plywood, and a new house masquerading as a renovated hay barn.
Tim’s big break came in 1976 with a nearly three-ton commission for AT & T. More than 150 commissions followed throughout the U.S. and the world. Ranging from the 230-foot-long ‘Red Zinger’ in Hartford’s Bradley Airport to a set of turning circles for Renzo Piano’s Aurora Place in Sydney, Australia. He also made dozens of smaller sculptures that sold like hotcakes at local shows and exhibits.
In the mid-1980’s, Tim and Marie moved to Cornwall full-time and became involved with local affordable housing initiatives.Tim co-founded the Cornwall Housing Corporation (CHC), organized the annual House Tour benefit, and designed several houses for the CHC’s parcel program. Additionally, he spearheaded an unsuccessful but passionate effort to save the Greek Revival Rumsey Hall building in Cornwall Village, which, prior to demolition, was listed on the National Register of Historic Places.
In 2012, Tim and longtime associate David Colbert formed Prentice Colbert, Inc., to continue the adventure of making large-scale site-specific pieces.
A monograph, Drawing on the Air, was published in 2012. Tim received the Connecticut Governor’s Arts Award in 2014 and was honored in 2021 with a solo exhibit at the Aldrich Contemporary Art Museum in Ridgefield.
In the 1990’s, Tim developed macular degeneration, but he never stopped working as his eyesight diminished.In 2024, the American Macular Degeneration Foundation’s Vision & Art Project premiered a film about his life, aptly titled The Air Made Visible.
Whimsy, playfulness and music were an important part of Tim’s life. For decades, he created an annual calendar for family and friends and was a frequent illustrator for the Cornwall Chronicle, where his drawings tended to skewer local issues. The Prentice barn was legendary for everything but cows: instruments constructed out of plywood and PVC tubing, concerts, picnics, weddings, art shows, memorials, anniversaries, birthdays, songfests, family reunions, raucous hootenannies, and even as a test site for a‘bolt-together’ house.
He is survived by his two daughters, Nora and Phoebe, and by his adored grandchildren, Zeke and Zed Homer. His infinitely beloved wife, Marie, predeceased him in 2018.
One of Tim’s favorite reflections captures the arc of his life:
The engineer wants to minimize friction to make the air visible.
The architect studies matters of scale and proportion.
The sailor wants to know the strength and direction of the wind.
The artist wants to understand its changing shape.
Meanwhile, the child wants to play.
Donations can be made to: The Cornwall Housing Corporation: P.O. Box 174, Cornwall, CT 06753
No memorial is planned yet.
Thank you to all of Tim’s great caregivers.
