Remembrance

Catherine Power photo

The recent passing of Lady Melissa Brooke has been recognised with obituaries in both the local and sporting press, but her main passion in life warranted only a passing mention. She was a dyed-in-the-wool foxhunter with a life-long connection to the County Limerick Foxhounds.

She had spent the war years in New York where her American-born mother had taken the children―Melissa, Caroline (now the Marchioness of Waterford), and Thady (later the Earl of Dunraven) during hostilities.

Douglas Lees photo

The loss of John “Jake” Carle on Sunday, February 28, 2021, was a blow to the North American foxhunting community. A former Master and huntsman, Jake continued to be active and immensely valuable as a foxhound judge, reporter, photographer, and statesman. He was eighty-two.

Masters Ken and Arle Adams, Palm Beach Hounds in the 1980s

Wellington, Florida pioneer and a founder of the Palm Beach Hounds, Kenneth Adams, died after a prolonged illness on Wednesday, November 11, 2020. He was ninety.

Ken served with his late wife, Arle, as the first Masters of the Palm Beach Hounds from its inception in 1980 to 1990. He was huntsman for most of that period.

A retired U.S. Air Force Major, Ken sold his chain of True Value Hardware stores in upstate New York to settle with Arle in Palm Beach County, Florida. The couple made their home in the Little Ranches neighborhood in 1978, where they kept horses and foxhounds. Ken started the first foxhunt in Wellington with the help of fellow Wellington pioneer A.W. “Bink” Glisson in the then-undeveloped area that came to be known as Bink’s Forest.

 Douglas Lees photo

Larry Leon LeHew, ex-MFH of the Rappahannock Hunt (VA) and later the Thornton Hill Hounds (VA), passed away at his home, Bel Air, in Front Royal, Virginia, on Friday, October 23, 2020. He was eighty-three.

Born February 14, 1937 in Front Royal, Larry was a direct descendant of Peter LeHew, accredited with the founding of LeHewtown, which later became Front Royal. The LeHew family at one time owned much of the land which includes modern Front Royal.

Oakleigh B. Thorne, sportsman, philanthropist, and businessman, known for his quick wit and irreverent personality, died on October 7, 2020 at his home in Millbrook, New York. He was 88 years old.

“Oakleigh came from the family that, more than any other, was instrumental in establishing the Millbrook Hunt as we know it today,” said Farnham F. Collins, ex-MFH.

Douglas Lees photoRobert Allen Kinsley, MFH of the Elkridge-Harford Hunt (MD), passed away peacefully at his Pennsylvania home on Wednesday morning, June 10, 2020. He was surrounded by his wife Anne (Whalen) Kinsley and his family.

Bob loved his time in the hunting field and on the wooded trails of his farms—riding, fishing, and hunting. He will be remembered for his unfailing love for animals. He created an amazingly successful business, was a hunting member of the Elkridge-Harford Hunt for thirty years, served as Joint-Master for sixteen years, and he ran steeplechase horses.

Albert R. Schreck, ex-MFH, Los Altos Hounds (CA), County Limerick foxhounds (IRE) Like many in the hunting world, I was saddened to learn of the passing of Al Schreck, MFH. Al was a great influence during my years as a huntsman, not only in America but also in Ireland.

Al had been a Joint-Master of the Los Altos Hounds since 1969 and had visited Ireland every year from the early 1960s to hunt with the County Limerick foxhounds and adjacent packs. I first met Al in 1970 when I went to Ireland to hunt the County Limerick foxhounds for Lord Daresbury, MFH. I immediately became friends with him and his lovely wife, Jo. Sadly, Jo predeceased him.

Russell Burrage Clark of Hamilton, Massachusetts died peacefully at home on November 2, 2019. Russell served as MFH of the venerable Myopia Hunt (est. 1882) on Boston’s North Shore from 1975 to 1994 and was an avid polo player as well. A complete sportsman, as were many of the Myopians, Russell competed in every hunter trial and horse show in the state. If he didn’t have a made horse ready to go for an event, he’d pull a green horse out of the field and show up to participate anyway. Sitting tall and slim on his Thoroughbreds, Russell presented the image of sporting elegance.

Paddy Neilson, MFH, whipping-in at Cheshire / Jim Graham photoLegendary horseman Louis “Paddy” Neilson III, MFH, died Thursday, September 5, 2019 at the age of seventy-seven. He was the husband of Toinette Phillips Neilson, with whom he shared thirty-one years of marriage.

Paddy served as Master, alongside his daughter, Sanna, of Mr. Stewart’s Cheshire Foxhounds (PA) and was a winning race rider and trainer. He hunted with Cheshire since childhood and served as full-time honorary whipper-in for the last thirteen years of his life, jumping his last fence in the line of duty just a couple of weeks before his death.

Todd "Doc" Addis, MFH, courtesy of Thornton Hill huntsman Beth Opitz. "This photo sums up the love he had for his hounds and the hounds' love for him," says his daughter.

Dr. Todd “Doc” Addis, one of the great champions of the American Penn-Marydel foxhound, died suddenly on July 24, 2019 at his home, Fox Hill, in Elverson Pennsylvania. He was eighty-five and with his family.

Doc was Master and huntsman of Warwick Village Hounds and a zealous advocate for the Penn-Marydel foxhound. He made it his crusade to convince foxhunters across North America of the advantageous traits, and superior abilities of his beloved Penn-Marydel compared to any other breed. He not only converted many successful Masters and huntsmen to his convictions, but was also personally responsible for helping, advising, and drafting good working bloodlines to those packs. In so doing, Doc was instrumental in extending Penn-Marydel bloodlines from their Pennsylvania/Maryland/Delaware roots to so many other hunts across North America.