Friday, January 18, 2019

By DOMENIC POLI, Staff Writer for the Greenfield Recorder

SOUTH DEERFIELD – Jane Trigère served for years on the Deerfield Historical Commission, and now her former colleagues want to memorialize her with an inscription on a stone bench sitting in a cemetery she helped restore across the street from the former fire station she called home.

Trigère, who died in October 2018, oversaw the restoration of many of Deerfield’s cemeteries, securing Community Preservation Act grants for much of the work, which included the fence around the one on Sugarloaf Street. The bench there may soon bear her name. Members of the historical commission voted at their meeting Monday to get a price estimate from Negus & Taylor Monuments in Greenfield on inscribing “Remembering Jane Trigère.”

Trigère’s widower, Kenneth Schoen, still lives at 7 Sugarloaf St. and is thrilled the commission is interested in commemorating his late wife’s service to the town and its history.

“I’m delighted. What a great honor, to remember her that way,” he said Wednesday, adding that he looks forward to walking past the cemetery and seeing his wife’s name on the bench. “Sometimes I sit there and contemplate mortality. ” Eric Austin, who manages Negus & Taylor, said he expects the lettering to cost a few hundred dollars, though he wants to examine the bench before committing to a price. He said benches are popular objects for inscriptions because they are functional and aesthetically pleasing.

John Nove, chairman of the historical commission, said Wednesday that he plans to meet with Austin at the cemetery this morning.

Schoen said he appreciates the historical commission’s efforts.”It’s a lovely idea,” he said Wednesday. “It’s very kind of them, very thoughtful.”

Trigère also founded the ad hoc Town Common Committee, which member Kate Lawless said aims to keep the common a beautiful, safe and functional resource for the community.

“She did a lot for the town,” Lawless said. “She had a passion for it, for sure.”

Schoen said Trigère was devoted to preserving the past. In fact, he expects representatives from Brandeis University to visit his home today to pick u p the Trigère Family Papers for its archives and special collections department. Schoen explained the Trigère Family Papers consist of about 15 folders of papers, letters and photographs from Jane’s father, Robert Sioma Trigère, and aunt, Pauline, who were founding partners of a fashion design house begun in 1942.

Schoen still maintains Trigère’s website: janetrigere.com.

Reach Domenic Poli at: dpoli@recorder.com or 413- 772-0261, ext. 262.