Maine Antique Digest April 2015

38 / 229

6-A Maine Antique Digest, April 2015
ELEANOR RANDALL
WALKER
Eleanor Randall Walker
passed away on February 6 at
her home in Hudson, Ohio. She
was the daughter of Denton W.
and Lucy (Hardy) Randall of
Winchester, Massachusetts.
As a youngster Walker spent
many happy summers on Peaks
Island, Maine, a tradition that
continued with her own chil-
dren. She attended Winchester
High School and Smith College,
where she met her first husband,
Dr. Thomas H. Hoover, who at-
tended nearby Williams College.
They were married in 1944 and
eventually moved to North Can-
ton, Ohio. While living in North
Canton, she was active in the
Junior League and the Canton
Garden Club.
Walker was an avid antiques
collector and dealer, well known
for her expertise in early Ameri-
can and Pennsylvania Dutch fur-
nishings and art. Over the past 50
years, she traveled throughout
the Midwest and Northeast to
attend antiques shows. She pos-
sessed a keen intellect and was
a devoted reader and crossword
puzzle enthusiast. She shared her
passionate interests in music, an-
tiques, gardening, and cooking
with her children, inspiring them
to follow similar pursuits.
She became acquainted with
Captain Lewis W. Walker, Jr.,
whom she later married in 1989
after moving to Hudson, Ohio.
They traveled extensively toEng-
land and France, visiting historic
gardens and homes.
She was predeceased by her
parents; first husband, Thomas;
and sister, Frances (Randall)
Cabot of Needham, Massachu-
setts. Walker is survived by her
husband, Lewis; daughters Su-
san Verna of White Plains, New
York, and Cynthia Stalcup (Dan)
of Seattle, Washington; sons
Thomas H. Hoover, Jr. of Co-
lumbus, Ohio, Peter R. Hoover
(Ronni) of Middleton, Massa-
chusetts, and John E. Hoover
(Deborah) of Hudson, Ohio;
stepchildren Stacey Hinrichs
(Lloyd) of Triangle, Virginia,
Leslie Walker (Beverly Fox) of
Easton, Maryland, and Lewis
W. Walker III of Tucson, Arizo-
na; seven grandchildren; and six
great-grandchildren.
A memorial service will be
held at the Western Reserve
Academy Chapel in Hudson,
Ohio, at 11 a.m. on March 21. In
lieu of flowers, memorial con-
tributions may be made to the
Peaks Island Fund, c/o Maine
Community Foundation, 245
Main Street, Ellsworth, ME
04605, fund designation: Peaks
Island Fund in memory of Elea-
nor Randall Walker.
DOROTHEAMITCHELL
BEERS
Dorothea Mitchell Beers, 91,
passed away on January 18. She
was born in Indiana to Dr. Earl
H. and Molly Mitchell.
Beers grew up inMarshall, Illi-
nois, and graduated from Indiana
MAURICE SILVERMAN
Maurice Bernard Silverman
died on March 4. He was born
in 1923 in the Bronx, New York,
to Rumanian immigrants Mey-
er and Bessie Itzkowitz Silver-
man. He grew up in Bridgeport,
Connecticut, where his father, a
bench jeweler to the trade, oper-
ated the Royal Jewelry Shop.
After recovering from child-
hood polio, in high school and
beyond he was a naturalist and
protégé of Aretus A. Saunders.
Concealing his medical history,
he enlisted in the U.S. Army at
the outbreak of World War II
and qualified for a program that
sent him to the Virginia Mili-
tary Institute (VMI). He set up
and ran medical dispensaries at
prisoner-of-war camps hous-
ing German and Italian soldiers
throughout Virginia.
He completed an undergradu-
ate and master’s degree in psy-
chology at George Washington
University, Washington, D.C.,
and was employed as a scien-
tific abstracter at the Library of
Congress. He taught fencing,
practiced hypnotism, and was an
avid chess player and swimmer.
In 1958, from his second-floor
desk at the Library of Congress,
he spied a storefront for rent,
scrubbed off the “Fortunes Told”
sign left by the palm reader who
was the previous tenant, and
University. She then moved to
Washington, D.C., where she
met the love of her life, John H.
Beers. They were married for 35
wonderful years.
She and her husband moved
to Palm Beach County, Florida,
in 1979. She was a successful
antiques dealer and shop own-
er in Bethesda, Maryland, and
Palm Beach, Florida. She be-
came known internationally for
specializing in fine Continental
and Chinese export porcelains.
As well as buying and selling
antiques, she taught courses on
porcelains. She was a member
of the Art and Antique Dealers
League of America, CINOA, the
Worth Avenue Association, and
the Palm Beach County Cham-
ber of Commerce. After fifty
years in business, as Fleur-de-
Lis Antiques, Beers retired in
Palm Beach Gardens, where she
continued to live a happy life.
Beers was predeceased by her
husband, John. She is survived
by her daughter, Ginger Beers
(Robert W. Morgret); her son,
John; grandsons John E. (Cher-
ise) and Matthew Scott Freeman
Beers; and great-grandchildren,
Jenna and John W. Beers.
opened an antiques shop. The
shop’s original name, Capitol
Hill Antiques, changed to Sil-
verman Galleries Antiques &
Antique Jewelry when he and
the shop moved to Virginia upon
expansion of the Library of Con-
gress (the Madison Building
now stands at the shop’s original
location).
By the early 1970s, Maurice
and the shop were in Old Town
Alexandria, where he was joined
in 1981 by his wife, Angela, who
will continue running Silverman
Galleries Antiques & Antique
Jewelry, according to Maurice’s
wishes.
He was a creative, inventive
cook, dinner companion, and
host at two successive historic
homes that he lovingly restored,
and his original mind enlivened
everyone around him.
He is survived by his wife,
Angela Silverman; sister, Edith
Block, and nephew, C. Joel
Block, both of Iselin, New Jer-
sey, and niece, Shelli Block of
Rockville, Maryland.
Memorial donations may
be made to the Animal Wel-
fare League of Alexandria,
4101 Eisenhower Avenue,
Alexandria, VA 22304, (703)
746-4774, or via the Web site
support-us.html).
Seminars
NHADA
Despite the winter from hell,
business has been going on.
Even with the crappy weath-
er, the reports from shows have
been good. Shop business, on
the other hand, hasn’t been that
great, according to a lot of re-
ports. It reminds me of yester-
year when shop business in the
winter wasn’t the best, but we all
had Sara French’s shows at the
old Highway Hotel. They kept
the ship of many dealers afloat
for many long, cold, and snowy
winters.
Spring is right around the cor-
ner, and with it comes Nan Gur-
ley’s Spring in New Hampshire
show at the Everett Arena in
Concord, New Hampshire. The
show will be on Sunday, April
26. Nan reports that the show is
filling nicely and few spaces re-
main. Mark your calendars and
save the date.
Keepers Antiques and Austin’s
Antiques will be having a wine
and cheese reception on Satur-
day and Sunday, April 25 and 26.
The shops are located about five
minutes away from the Everett
Arena, so stop by and see what
they have to offer.
Donna Welch, proprietor of
From Out of the Woods in Goffs-
town, is always coming up with
innovative ideas to generate in-
terest in antiques. Starting April
23-25, she is instituting “Fresh
to the Market.” This new con-
cept will have dealers setting up
fresh-to-the-market antiques in
a room setting. If anyone is in-
terested in joining in on a con-
signment basis, contact Donna at
(603) 624-8668.
We are welcoming lots of new
members to the New Hamp-
shire Antiques Dealers Associ-
ation (NHADA). Among them
are Kenneth E. Reid Antiques,
Andover, New Hampshire; La-
Fleur’s Antiques, Greenland,
New Hampshire; Country Col-
lectibleAntiques, BarbaraRoton-
do of Methuen, Massachusetts;
Ironstone Antiques, Adin Poole
& Tim Brigham of Hardwick,
Massachusetts; Brian Field An-
tiques, Wilton, New Hampshire;
Shirley Quinn of Hopkinton,
New Hampshire; Ali and Dave
Denes of Manchester, New
Hampshire; Betty Anne Lavallee
of Hampton, New Hampshire;
Global Coin Exchange Ltd,
Manchester, New Hampshire;
and Colleen Ryan of Nashua,
New Hampshire. All of these
dealers exhibit at From Out of
the Woods where you can see
what they have to offer. Also
new to NHADA are Seaver &
McLellan Antiques, Jaffrey,
New Hampshire, and Jean Doty
Antiques, Beaumont, Texas. We
bid a hearty welcome to all our
new members.
Our sympathy goes out to
Anne and Garrett Rowe on the
untimely passing of their son,
Nathan. Our thoughts are with
them at this difficult time.
The winter blues will soon be
over, and a good way to speed it
up is to go visit some antiques
shops or a show. It’s a proven
fact. Buying antiques always
puts me in a good mood.
Thomas M. Thompson, Pres-
ident
MADA
The Maine Antiques Deal-
ers Association (MADA) just
wrapped up its fourth year of
participating in the Portland
Flower Show, an event that was
eagerly anticipated by exhibitors
and the public after our long and
trying winter. This year’s show
was titled “A Taste of Spring,”
and it was so pleasant to set up in
the midst of the floral exhibits,
mini greenhouses, garden tools,
and accessories, and to be across
the aisle from a beautiful and
fragrant display of all different
types of lilies.
MADA exhibits at the flower
show in order to put antiques
in front of the thousands of at-
tendees who may not be familiar
with antiques. It is part of our
effort to broaden our base of fu-
ture buyers, and to connect once
again with the many familiar
customers from all over Maine
and out-of-state who frequent
antiques shows.
The first year we did the flow-
er show, our presence was quite
unexpected. Now people look
for us in our regular location
and are eager to see the items
we have on display. As usual we
were inundated with questions
about antiques, ranging from
which MADA member to con-
tact in order to find a specific
item, whom to ask about a piece
of jewelry, an unknown textile,
or a primitive painting, or whom
to seek out for an appraisal or
to sell a collection. Hundreds of
MADA brochures were distrib-
uted, many with dealers’ names
and numbers circled and marked
with an asterisk. (The brochure
has a section that identifies areas
of specialties and the members
who have merchandise in those
categories, which makes it a
very handy tool to match up buy-
ers with the appropriate dealer.)
The show gives us the opportu-
nity not only to sell the antiques
in the booth, but to advertise the
services and antiques of many of
our members to potential clients.
I want to thank the MADA
members who helped to put this
year’s booth together: Mary Ann
and George Betke of Ship Island
Antiques, Newcastle; James Le-
Furgy, who has recently reopened
a shop in Wiscasset called James’
Antiques; Bob Foley of Gray;
Melissa Alden of Portsmouth,
New Hampshire; Marion Redlon
of New England Antiques, Bath;
Betty Turney of Saco; and Ellen
Heath and Sandy Gnidziejko of
Little River Antiques & Estate
Sales, Biddeford. Special thanks
go to Colleen Donovan of Fore-
sideAntiques, Falmouth, for pull-
ing everything together and get-
ting the booth set up and to John
DeSimone for his most helpful
support.
A brief mention of future ac-
tivities. The new brochures will
be sent out to members shortly
along with the Coastal Maine
Antiques Show contracts for our
annual show, which will take
place this year on Wednesday,
August 19. Last year we moved
the show date up a week because
we had found that with schools
opening up earlier, there were
many more summer visitors
around than at the later date. A
date change can really hurt a
show, but this show has a great
reputation built up over the
years. The public knows that the
dealers buy all year long for this
show and appreciate the fresh
and varied merchandise. The
gate was really strong, and with
the auctions going on during the
same week, Maine was the place
to be.
CCADA SEMINAR
The Cape Cod Antique Deal-
ers Association (CCADA) will
host a day-long seminar featur-
ing four presentations by noted
experts covering a number of
fascinating topics in the field
of antiques. The sixth annual
Spring Seminar will be held on
April 14 from 8:30 a.m. to 3 p.m.
at the Cultural Center of Cape
Cod, 307 Old Main Street, South
Yarmouth, Massachusetts.
The seminar, although pri-
marily held as an educational
GLASS WHIMSIES
The Cape Cod Glass Club
(CCGC) will meet on Tuesday,
April 7, in the Hirschmann The-
ater at the Sandwich Glass Mu-
seum in Sandwich, Massachu-
setts, beginning at 1 p.m.
The speaker, Dorothy Ho-
gan Schofield, will talk about
the collection of whimsies at
the museum. Following a short
PowerPoint presentation, the
club members will embark on a
tour of the museum’s galleries in
search of these intriguing pieces.
Schofield is the curator of col-
lections at the Sandwich Glass
Museum. She has served in var-
ious capacities over the last 20
years, has been responsible for
the updating of the museum’s
permanent collections, and has
curated several special exhibits
over the years.
The CCGC is a not-for-profit
chapter of the National Amer-
ican Glass Club. It is dedicated
to the study and appreciation
of glass with an emphasis on
American glass. The club meets
from October to December and
from March to June. Activities
include formal lectures, study
sessions, and visits to museums
and working glassmakers.
The club is always open to
new members, and member-
ship is not limited to Cape Cod
residents. For further informa-
tion, contact the program chair-
man, Betsy Hewlett Lessig, at
(508) 776-9098 or e-mail her at
>.
Dealer
Associations