Wallace “Wally” Mannington Kain

Wallace “Wally” Mannington Kain was born in 1929 in Wallace, Nebraska, on the Kain wheat and cattle farm. During the depression, he moved with his family to New York where his father Francis Kain became a meat broker in Hell’s Kitchen. As a kid, Wally would take the train back to the family farm every fall to help with the harvest.

Wally attended Roosevelt High School in Yonkers, NY, (Class of ’47) where he met his future wife and love of his life, Joan Busher. Wally attended Princeton (Class of ’51) and graduated with a degree in Mechanical Engineering. Since Wally was very young he was always involved with shooting sports and was captain of the Princeton University Rifle team. Wally was also an elite skeet, trap, and later, sporting clays shooter. While at Princeton, Wally was in the ROTC. After graduating Wally was commissioned an Army Lieutenant with the 82nd Airborne Artillery where he served as a Battery Commander and Aide to General E.A. Walker.

Wally and Joan were married October 1, 1954 and they lived in Cambridge, MA, while Wally attended Harvard Law School (Class of ’56). After graduating, Joan and Wally took a freighter and explored the African continent for several months. This was the first of many travel adventures during their lives that took them to interesting places like the Amazon, Peru, China, Japan, Antarctica, and New Zealand.

After Law School, Wally started a 28-year-long career with the AT&T & Western Electric during an amazing period of technology growth at Bell Labs. He spent many years working out of the Bell Labs office on Carter Road. He retired as the Bell System’s Chief Patent Attorney in 1984.

Joan and Wally raised three children, Susan, Will, and Stuart as they moved around with the Bell System including stops in Yonkers, NY, and Alexandria, VA. In 1964, they moved to Princeton (Philip Drive, 1964-1977), where they raised their three children. The also lived in Greensboro, NC (1977-1984).

While in Princeton, Wally was a member of the Nassau Gun Club, where he was President from 1975-1977. Wally was also very involved in organizing Princeton reunions and was chairman of the Class of 1951 25th reunion.

After retiring from the Bell System in 1984, Joan and Wally moved permanently to Sanibel Island, Florida, and they immediately got involved with conservation and preservation projects. They were active members of the Sanibel-Captiva Conservation Foundation (SCCF) for over 30 years. Wally was Chairman of the Land Acquisition Committee and a proud member of the “Hammerhead” volunteers.

Wally’s interest in protecting animal habitat led him to CROW (Care and Rehabilitation of Wildlife) where he was Director and President from 1987-1990. He also served as Chairman of the Taste of the Islands from 1987-1990. Wally shared his views on key Sanibel issues in his regular editorial column in the Sanibel Captiva Islander paper. His passion for preserving Sanibel and making a difference led him into politics. He served on the Sanibel City Council from 1990-1998 and was elected Mayor two times (1994-1995 and 1997-1998). He was also very involved in the Sanibel Kiwanis.

Wally was also passionate about his hobbies. He loved nature photography, painting watercolors, sailing, shooting sporting clays, bicycle riding, and writing. Wally was a lifetime member of the Davey Crockett Rod and Gun Club in Greeley, PA. After Sanibel politics, Wally focused his energies on writing novels and plays. He was very involved in the Sanibel writer’s group and wrote three novels and several plays.

Wally was an amazingly talented and compassionate person whose independent spirit and thirst for knowledge lead him to excel in almost everything he attempted. He did it with class and humility. We have truly lost one of the Greatest Generation.

Wally passed away peacefully at Shell Point, Ft. Myers, FL, on Saturday October 16, 2021 and leaves behind two sons, Will and Stuart; seven grandchildren; six great-grandchildren; his pampered LizKitty; and lots of amazing friends.

There will not be a public service. Wally was all about giving back to Sanibel Island. In lieu of flowers, we are sure Wally would appreciate a small donation in his name to one of his favorite Sanibel organizations such as the Sanibel-Captiva Conservation Foundation (SCCF), CROW, or F.I.S.H.

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Winifred Dorothy Sorg Vogt

Winifred Dorothy Sorg Vogt of Bradley House, Brattleboro, VT, died peacefully Saturday afternoon, October 9, 2021, at Brattleboro Memorial Hospital surrounded by family.

Mother, wife, teacher, friend – Winnie was passionate about civil rights, equal rights for women, literacy, children, and charitable works.  She was big-hearted and generous beyond measure.

Winnie was born July 14, 1929, in East Orange, NJ, the daughter of Mildred (Hoops) and Harrison Theodore Sorg. She attended Kent Place School for Girls and Wellesley College where she majored in English and was Editor of the school newspaper.

In 1951, she married Roy S. Vogt in Summit, NJ, in her words “the beginning of an adventure, a partnership, a love affair that would last almost 48 years” until Roy’s death in 1999.

The Vogts lived several years in Richmond, VA, where Winnie taught seventh and eighth grade at St. Catherine’s Episcopal School, before moving to Princeton, NJ, in 1953.  After raising two children, Winnie returned to teaching at Miss Fine’s School. She continued teaching at Princeton Day School from 1966-1972, also serving one year administratively on the committee of four running the school pending the hiring of a headmaster.

In 1959, the Vogts purchased a cabin in the woods in Brookfield, VT, where the family spent many happy summers. In 1972, the Vogts’ love of Vermont brought them to Dummerston, VT.  Winnie continued her teaching career at Bellows Falls, Middle School where she taught seventh and eighth grade Language Arts for 19 years. In 1985 the school yearbook was dedicated to her. Winnie was active in the Windham Northeast Education Association and became President in 1979.

Winnie loved reading aloud and teaching from Huckleberry Finn, Johnny Tremain, and other books, and instilled this passion for reading in her students, many of whom she encouraged to higher education. It was not uncommon, years after Winnie finished her teaching career, for a former student to approach her on the street and thank her for her impact on their life.

Winnie’s Christian faith was central to her life, and she and her husband were active members of a church in each community where they lived. She was a Deacon and Sunday School teacher for many years at the Dummerston Congregational Church, and also participated enthusiastically in the annual Dummerston Apple Pie Festival, the strawberry supper, and other church/community events.

In the late 1980s, Winnie was one of the founders of the nonprofit Windham County Reads, a Vermont literacy organization. For many years she worked tirelessly on the board, reading to children at “Books & Breakfast,” and promoting the bookmobile.  She was active in civic activities at the Dummerston Evening Star Grange and received their Community Service Award in 2004. Winnie volunteered at children’s events at Nahlauka (Rudyard Kipling’s Vermont home). She was a long-time board member at the Lydia Pratt Taft Library in West Dummerston. She was forever looking after the elderly, visiting the sick and bereaved, organizing receptions for funerals, providing meals and transportation to the seriously ill, and stuffing packages with books and nonperishable foodstuffs for the needy at home and abroad.

Winnie received a Senior Solutions Successful Aging Award in 2012, and was further honored by a VT House concurrent resolution.

Winnie loved to travel and memorable trips included a European tour after graduation from college, a trip to Greece with her daughter, a trip to England and Scotland with Roy, a Roman Etruscan dig in Italy with Earthwatch, travels with Roy to Nova Scotia and Cape Breton, a trip to Spain with a former Bellows Falls colleague, a trip to Costa Rica with her granddaughter, and travel to Turkey with Dummerston friends.

In 2015, Winnie chose to move from Dummerston to Bradley House in Brattleboro, “so I can walk to the library.”  She spent six happy years at Bradley House where she was grateful for the care and attention of the dedicated staff.

Mrs. Vogt is survived by a son, Henry Theodore Vogt and his wife, Susan Shea, of West Brookfield, VT; a daughter, Ginna Vogt, of Shelburne, MA; a granddaughter, Persephone Rose Hernandez-Vogt; a step-granddaughter, Camille Clasby; three great-grandchildren, Thomas, Sam, and Josselyn Clasby; two cousins, Roger Sorg and Rev. Carolyn Raffensperger; and seven nieces and nephews, and their families, Bill Stoltzfus, Philip Stoltzfus, Winnie Host, Rebecca Dineen, John Timothy, Kathleen, and Maureen Devlin. Her sister, Janet Sorg Stoltzfus, died in 2004.

Mrs. Vogt will be interred in a private ceremony in the Vogt family plot in the Princeton Cemetery in Princeton, NJ. A service of celebration and remembrance will be held next year at the Dummerston Congregational Church.

Gifts in Mrs. Vogt’s memory may be made to Bradley House, 65 Harris Avenue, Brattleboro, VT 05301 and the Dummerston Congregational Church, 1535 Middle Road, Dummerston, VT 05346.

To share a memory or send condolences to Mrs. Vogt’s family please visit atamaniuk.com.