Remembrance

Norman Michael Fine passed away peacefully at home at the age of 90 on August 16, 2025, survived by his wife of 58 years, the former Joan Kusta Latimer, with whom he shared many adventures, including skiing at Stowe, Vermont, most winter weekends; cruising the northeast coastal islands on their wooden Concordia yawl through the summers from Long Island to Maine, showing horses, and following hounds in the U.S., Canada, Ireland, and England.

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.