Notable New Hampshire Deaths: Former Fitzwilliam Fire Chief; Former Hillsborough And Deering Police Chief

By InDepth NH

InDepthNH.org scans the websites of New Hampshire funeral homes each week and selects at random some of our friends, relatives and neighbors to feature in this column. The people listed here passed away during the previous weeks and have some public or charitable connection to their community. InDepthNH.org is now offering obituaries through the Legacy.com service. We view this as part of our public service mission. Click here or on the Obituaries tab at the top of our home page to learn more. And if you know of someone from New Hampshire who should be featured in this column, please send your suggestions to NancyWestNews@gmail.com.

Leon Barry, 86, of Nashua, died Dec. 15, 2025. He was one of the founding fathers of the Nashua Glass company in 1967. He was a volunteer in CYO, the YMCA, Rotary Club of Nashua, and was a member of the Knights of Columbus Council No. 13026. (Rochette Funeral Home & Cremation Services)

Mark Anthony Chamberlain, 55, of Marlborough, died Dec. 21, 2025. He was a veteran of the U.S. Air Force and worked in law enforcement for more than 30 years, with a majority spent with the Swanzey Police Department as a K-9 handler to his partner and best friend K-9 Argo. He was named lieutenant in 2012 and retired in 2019. He worked part time as a deputy at the Cheshire County Sheriff's Office. He was a member of the N.H. Working Dog Foundation. (Cheshire Family Funeral Chapel)

Donald William Dumais, 92, of Hillsborough, died Dec. 20, 2025. He was a U.S. Air Force veteran and a member of the National Guard. He and his father Bill Dumais started Wm. J. Dumais and Son Plumbing and Heating. He was chief of police in Hillsborough and Deering and served on the Deering Fire Department. He also was animal control officer. (Holt-Woodbury Funeral Home)

Edwin O. Mattson Jr., 82, of Fitzwilliam, died Dec. 12, 2025. He was a veteran of the U.S. Air Force and joined the Fitzwilliam Fire Department in 1958. He was certified as a firefighter level 2, hazmat operations specialist, and EMT. He was fire chief from 1967 to 1986 and again from 2010 to 2014, retiring as a senior member. He was served deputy fire marshal for New Hampshire from 2001 to 2013 and president of the Meadowood County Area Fire Department board of directors. He dedicated 44 years to Southwestern NH District Fire Mutual Aid, retiring in 2021. He helped the Town of Fitzwilliam purchase its first ambulance, served as forest fire warden for more than 50 years, and was a longtime cemetery commissioner. He was also road agent for 10 years and served on the N.H. Road Agents Association board of directors. (Cournoyer Funeral Home & Cremation Center)

Ronald Prospero Murro, 86, of Littleton, died Dec. 16, 2025. He earned his Ph.D in engineering science from Columbia University and in 1997 restored the Littleton Grist Mill complex and opened the Grist Mill as a gift store. He was active in town affairs in both Lyman and Littleton. He was a partner in various real estate developments and investments in northern New Hampshire and Wells, Maine. (Legacy.com)

Wayne L. Patenaude, 87, of Hopkinton, died Dec. 4, 2025. He and his three brothers built Pats Peak Ski Area in 1962, and now in its 64th year of operation is one of the last surviving independently owned ski areas in New England. He also owned Contoocook Artesian Well Company, now owned by his son Rick. He and his cousin Rodney Patenaude started Henniker Crushed Stone and with Ron Goss owned Central Concrete. In 1969 he and Rodney built a dam to create a 75-acre lake in Boscawen. He was commissioner at the State Department of Environmental Services and drilled wells for Habitat for Humanity. He donated land on the River in Contoocook for a town fire station. (Legacy.com)

Dr. Frank Orville Warren III, 74, of Manchester, died Dec. 15, 2025. He attended medical school at the University of Maryland and completed his residency at St Vincent’s Hospital in Worcester, Mass, then Maine Medical in Portland, Maine. He and his family relocated to Bedford, where he was a general surgeon for more than 20 years. (McHugh Funeral Home)

WORDS OF WISDOM: “And now we welcome the new year. Full of things that have never been.” - Rainer Maria Rilke, Austrian poet and novelist, Dec. 4, 1875, to Dec. 29, 1926

This article first appeared on InDepthNH.org and is republished here under a Creative Commons license.