Remembrance

James L. Schmidhammer, former MFH for Tennessee Valley Hunt, passed away on November 1, 2024.

Frederick George Getty, the long-serving senior Master and Huntsman for Middlebrook Hounds in Middlebrook, Virginia, has passed away.

The king of horse and hound photographers, incomparable in number of hunts photographed, nations covered, mileage on foot with camera in hand, and career longevity, died just a month shy of his ninety-fourth birthday.

I was saddened to hear about the passing of Charlie Lewis, the larger-than-life Master of Belle Meade Hunt.  My first memory of Charlie was about eight years ago when Tennessee Valley had its first joint meet with Belle Meade. At the meet, during announcements, Charlie invited us all to ride up front with him but cautioned us to be careful.  He said that a group from Virginia had come down the month before and four of them fell off on the first day.  He smiled and said in that slow, deep Geogia drawl, “We haven’t found those ladies yet, so keep your eyes open for ‘em!”

Gordie Keys (on the right) hunting with Piedmont Fox Hounds in 1991.  Photo by Douglas Lees.

Gordy Keys died last week in Middleburg, Virginia. This was a huge loss for the hunting and racing community in Virginia.

Photo by Gretchen Pelham.

Joe Scott Plummer was an Edinburgh investment firm chairman and a popular joint Master of the Duke of Buccleuch’s Hunt (1981 – 2007). He once was quoted in an interview that foxhunting was “a very important glue” that brought everyone together “from dukes… to retired shepherds”. He continued to hunt three days a week until this past April.

His legacy in foxhunting is that he helped draft the fox control protocol under which mounted hunts continued to operate in Scotland.*

Billy Dodson, huntsman for Thorton Hill Hounds, circa 2013. Photo by Gretchen Pelham.

Lewis William "Billy" Dodson, 76, of Sperryville, died Friday, December 2, 2022, at his residence surrounded by his loving family. He was born April 5, 1946, in Rappahannock County, VA to the late Ollie Dodson and Eva Clark Dodson.

Dr. Melvyn Lawrence Haas (1940--2022) Dr. Melvyn Haas, ex-MFH, died August 27, 2022 in Aiken, South Carolina.  He was eighty-two. Dr. Haas was a founding Master of Foxhounds with Whiskey Road Fox Hounds.  

Dr. Haas was born March 16, 1940, in New York, New York to the late Adolph and Manya Haas. He received his undergraduate degree from Cornell University and M.D. from the NYU Grossman School of Medicine in 1965. He moved to Aiken, South Carolina in 1972 and practiced Neurology for over fifty years. He was a faculty member at Augusta University and was affiliated with Aiken Regional Medical Center. He was dedicated to his many patients. He was a devoted husband, father, grandfather, and brother.

 
Harold Vincent “Hal” Barry, MFH of the Bear Creek Hounds (GA), passed away at age eighty-two on May 31, 2022, at Piedmont Hospital in Newnan, Georgia.

His passing came on the day after the Virginia Foxhound Show, which had resumed after two years of cancellations due to the Covid pandemic. Hal was able to catch up with many of his foxhunting friends after the long separation, but sadly for the last time.