Antrim and Bennington suffered tragedy and loss in 2025, but also saw communities pulling together to help one another in challenging times.
On Oct. 7, two Antrim teenagers, Seth Fowler and Luis Torres, and Aidan Brissette, a Bennington resident, died when the vehicle in which they were traveling hit a utility pole on Route 47 in Francestown.
All three young men were beloved members of the community who had grown up in Antrim and Bennington and attended ConVal schools.
The Antrim and Bennington communities responded with fundraisers to aid the families of Torres and Brissette, and a scholarship fund for students in the trades was created in Fowler’s memory.
The State Police are still investigating the crash.
Verney, Tenney are remembered
Both towns lost longtime pillars of community with the deaths of Richard Verney, CEO of Monadnock Paper Mills, Inc., on Sept. 10, and Eric Tenney, a seventh-generation Antrim farmer and owner of Tenney Farms, on Sept. 19.
Verney was remembered for his visionary leadership of the paper mill, which is a leader in environmental stewardship, particularly of the Contoocook River. Verney was also remembered for his philanthropy to local nonprofits, including Monadnock Community Hospital, the Grapevine Family Resource Center, and the Harris Center for Conservation Education.
Tenney, whose family has farmed in Antrim since the 1800s, was considered an innovative farmer who established the family farmstand as a leader in bedding plants and local produce, particularly sweet corn.
Tenney served on nearly every committee in Antrim over his lifetime, including years of service on the Select Board, the Water Board, and the Historical Society, and was a founder of Antrim Home and Harvest. He was Antrim’s town treasurer at the time of his death.
Hurricane help
In October, the Antrim and Bennington communities rallied around longtime Tenney Farm migrant workers Winston Frater and Aunja Williams, whose home regions in Jamaica were devastated by Hurricane Melissa. Community donations organized by Tenney Farm raised enough for the men to return to the island with much-needed supplies, including satellite link phones, water filters and solar chargers.
Water infrastructure causes tax hike
At Town Meeting in March, the Antrim Select Board reported the town would face an 11% budget increase in 2025, partly due to the need for a new water and sewer infrastructure, including drilling a new town well.
The town’s proposed operating budget for the year is $5.3 million, including $738,932 for water and sewer infrastructure. The town also saw an increase of $112,000 in health and dental premiums for town employees, which increased the budget.
Cemetery worker honored for 60 years of service
In October, lifelong Antrim resident Christie Ellinwood was honored for more than six decades of service to Maplewood Cemetery during a ceremony on Saturday, Sept. 27, at the First Presbyterian Church of Antrim.
The Trustees of Maplewood Cemetery presented Ellinwood with a bronze plaque recognizing his 64 years of service to the town.
Bill Nichols, president of the Antrim Historical Society, lauded Ellinwood’s long history of helping the Antrim Historical Society document the buildings, homes and families of Antrim, calling Ellinwood a “living archive.”
Ellinwood died on Dec. 20.
Avenue A opens new teen center
The Avenue A Teen Center, a program of the Grapevine Family & Community Resource Center, held a grand opening for its new space at the Grapevine’s headquarters at 4 Aiken St. in Antrim on Saturday, Aug. 23.
The new teen center, which is 2,300 square feet, includes several separate rooms for activities and a kitchen. The new, fully accessible facility will double Avenue A’s capacity for programming as well as providing access to The Grapevine’s outdoor recreation spaces and improve parking and pedestrian safety.
The project was funded by a $1 million New Hampshire Community Development Finance Authority grant in 2024.
50 Years of Antrim Ambulance
Antrim Ambulance celebrated 50 years of service to the town in August. The service began in 1975, when a group of Antrim and Bennington residents formed the Antrim Bennington Rescue Squad to keep their communities safe. Some of the founding members included Marshall “Mike” Beauchamp, Barry Frosch, Richard Edmunds, Neil Sharby, Jim Rymes, Donna Holt, Marion Peat, Don Paige and Dick Atkinson, among others.
The Antrim Bennington Rescue Squad officially went into service on March 5, 1976, at 6:30 p.m., and responded to its first call, a motor vehicle accident on Route 202 in Bennington, 46 minutes later. Today, the service responds to about 500 calls a year, mostly medical responses.
Chief Marshall Gale, who joined the department in 1976, reflected on the evolution of Antrim Ambulance over the past 49 years.
“I was looking at the data, and for the vast majority of our calls, we are on the road in seven minutes, and that just speaks volumes of the dedicated folks we have in our department,” Gale said. “That is something we can really be proud of.”