BARRE — Tears welled up in Henry Culver’s eyes as he thought back 50 years, to the day he first met Thomas Harty.
“He was my Boy Scout leader,” Culver remembered. Having lost his father at a young age, Culver developed a great bond with the Scoutmaster of Troop 40 in Orange.
“For many years, Tom Harty was a very positive male role model for me,” he said. “I credit him for a lot of my accomplishments.”
Together, Harty, Culver and the other Boy Scouts went on many a cross-country trip, visiting Washington D.C. and Yellowstone National Park, just to name a few. The memories Culver developed with Harty even led him to become a Scoutmaster himself, so other children could have the same kind of experience.
“His capacity to care about people, his joie de vivre … he conveyed it to so many people,” said Culver, of Holden.
On a sunny Saturday afternoon, throngs of people turned out to Hartman’s Herb Farm at 1026 Old Dana Road for an open house celebration of Harty’s life. A line of people streamed out the doors of the function room, the perimeter of which was surrounded by photos of Harty and his late wife, Joanna Fisher.
Harty, 95, was murdered during an Oct. 5 home invasion at his 581 East River St. home, which he shared with Fisher. She died Thursday morning at UMass Memorial Medical Center due to complications from the injuries she sustained during the home invasion. Harty and Fisher were attacked with a knife and left by the home invaders who stole the couple’s car, according to earlier reports.
Joshua Hart, 23, and Brittany Smith, 27, both of Athol, were arrested in Virginia after the home invasion and were arraigned in Orange District Court on Oct. 14. Both Hart and Smith were charged with murder, attempted murder, home invasion, armed robbery, conspiracy, larceny over $250, larceny of a motor vehicle and receiving stolen property. The defendants face a mandatory sentence of life in state prison without the possibility of parole on the charge of murder.
“I don’t know how anybody could do this to anybody, but especially not to them,” Pete Marcoux of Cummington said.
Marcoux said he had known Harty for 25 years and, like many of the attendees at the open house celebration, has been a customer at Harty’s business, Donbeck Sales, where Harty sold nuts, bolts and tools.
“Tom was the toolman,” said George Sturtevant of Chesterfield while waiting in line with Marcoux.
Marcoux remembered Harty as a happy-go-lucky man who didn’t care if someone in his store made a purchase or not.
“He just wanted you to come for the conversation,” Marcoux said.
Other attendees, like Sonja Olbert of Athol, hadn’t known Harty for long, but were struck by his warm and caring personality.
“He was like a grandpa to everybody, and a dad,” she said.
Olbert had been one of Fisher’s caregivers, and met Harty about two years ago. Olbert, who enjoys hiking, found she and Harty had that in common. Harty regularly climbed Mount Monadnock and Mount Greylock, hiked to the Grand Canyon’s Phantom Ranch and back to the rim twice a year, climbed all the 4,000-foot peaks in New England, walked the length of the Long Trail from the Canadian border to North Adams and completed the Appalachian Trail, according to his obituary.
“He was a very sweet guy and welcomed me into the hiking family he had,” she said.
Leo O’Keefe, who knew Harty for 40 years, noted that the hundreds of people who attended the open house celebration and who spoke about their memories of Harty was a great testament to his character.
“Look how many people are here,” he said. “People have come from all parts of the state.”
Harty, O’Keefe feels, leaves behind an unforgettable memory.
“People are going to think of his wife and himself as some of the best people in our area,” he said.
http://www.legacy.com/obituaries/recorder/obituary.aspx?pid=181841231