The Memorial Wall

"I love you"- these words were so often spoken by Alan "Dusty" G. Dustin. Just shy of 93 years, he rode peacefully into the setting sun on February 27, 2022. Parkinson's Disease had taken his strength, and his indomitable spirit could no longer be contained.

Born into this beautiful world in Plattsburgh, NY in 1929, his devoted parents were Edith Hyde Dustin and Grant Dustin. Although he was an extremely serious man regarding projects or ventures embarked upon, he had a lighter, compassionate side and was remembered for his leadership without the pedestal. His highly inquisitive nature, intelligence and keen mind were perpetual, as was his warmth and beaming smile.

At age 15, Dusty gained his fine business sense employed by Zahn's grocery store in Plattsburgh after his parents had passed. His railroad career began at age 16 as a baggage clerk in Ticonderoga NY (where he met his future wife, Elsie!), then onto the Delaware and Hudson Railroad where he became fluent as a Morse Code Telegrapher. In 1970 he joined the Bangor & Aroostook Railroad as Vice President and CEO, and in 1974 became the President of the Boston & Maine Railroad, where he led the charge out of the depths of the 1970 bankruptcy by dramatically repairing infrastructure, improving service, and repairing the B&M's reputation. In 1984 he became the Vice President of the New Jersey Transit until his retirement in 1988. Dusty had become a renowned figure to both B&M fans and railroad enthusiasts, garnering immense respect. He had become the very picture of a railroad executive whose kindness and love for his industry helped to guide the railroad through a difficult point in its history. He continued to travel the world where he was a valued railway business consultant in Alaska, Africa, Argentina, and Czechoslovakia; he also had a major hand in the restructuring of the Chunnel between France and England.

Dusty (given the name "Pops" by his grandchildren!) was wild about being outside - an avid runner, camper, swimmer, tennis player, hiker, cyclist, fisherman, gardener. After the removal of a benign brain tumor in 1979, his quest for wellness increased, and he began organic gardening. He felt a great kinship with the wild west, cowboys, and the high nautical sea - Dusty loved reading Louis L'Amour, and Zane Grey. When his daughter Sandy joined him in an adventure to Alaska and the Great West, together they joyfully participated in hijinks such as climbing over fences to access areas not listed in guidebooks. Sharing big band music, enjoying a whiskey sour, Dusty had a great love for his family, friends, and church community- and he made sure we felt his love. That is his true legacy.

Dusty was predeceased by his brother Kenneth who was shot down while flying a B-29 over Tokyo in 1944, his older sister Virginia Keyser, and loving wife Elsie of 63 years of marriage. Having lost his brother during the war, he was not obligated to join the armed forces. However, he felt it was his duty, so he joined the Army and served in the Korean War. In 1952 he returned home, married Elsie and they had four children. Dusty took pride in being a 7th generation direct descendant of Hannah Emerson Dustin, the first woman in the United States to have a statue erected in her honor as a “Colonial Mother” during early America.

He leaves his sister Helen Philips, daughter Diane Itasaka, daughter Carol Nadeau and her husband Robert Nadeau, son Alan K. Dustin, daughter Sandra Dustin and her husband Chris O’Connor, daughter-in-law Hako Itasaka, and four grandchildren; Alexandria Itasaka, Kenji Dustin, Masami Dustin and Kiyoshi Dustin.

Dusty's family is grateful for the care and sense of community that Riverwoods Manchester lovingly provided for him over the past 4 years.

Happy Trails to our immensely beloved dad.

George Vafiadis, who founded the Acadia Repertory Theatre in Mount Desert, the Penobscot Theatre in Bangor and L/A Public Theatre in the twin cities of Lewiston-Auburn, died Wednesday, March 9, from Parkinson’s disease complications in Bradenton, Fla. The actor, stage director, voice-actor and theater producer was 88.

Vafiadis, who performed as a regular on the HBO series “The Wire” among many highlights from his lengthy career, has been a major force in Maine’s theater world. In 1973, he and local artist and theatrical producer Louis Collier formed a summer stock company called the Acadia Repertory Theatre in the rustic Masonic Hall in the Mount Desert village of Somesville. That troupe has become one of Maine’s longest continually producing theaters (except for a 2020 COVID hiatus). As an offshoot of Acadia Rep, he founded the Penobscot Theatre Company in 1983. And in 1990, he started the L/A Public Theatre in the Lewiston-Auburn area. All three theaters continue to operate to this day and owe their existence to Vafiadis and his commitment to the concept of regional theater production.

Ken Stack, Husson University’s Director of Entertainment Production, worked as an actor and director with George for years. The two worked together on more than 60 theater productions.

“George had an amazing capacity to instill energy and creative passion into the process of making theater.  Even in the early days of the Acadia Rep.  We were working in horrible conditions.  We couldn’t afford to heat the winter theater unless we had an audience,” Stack recalled Friday. “So we would rehearse in our winter coats, which became rather cumbersome when practicing swordfights!  But George’s commitment to the story and the emotional line of each character kept us going at a fever pitch.  It was this passion that built the foundation of three separate theater companies here in Maine.”

“All of us benefit today from his boundless energy and dedication,” Stack continued. “And his respect for the craft of the actor never waivered.”

Born on Jan. 23, 1934, in Hackensack, N.J., George was the son of Nicholas Vafiadis and Xanthe Mamukari Vafiadis. After his father’s death, the family moved to San Antonio, Texas, where George would eventually study theater at the University of Texas at Austin. There, he worked with legends B. Iden Payne and Francis Hodge, who shaped so much of his views on theatre production and ensemble acting. Later he would continue his training by studying with Dimitris Rondiris at the Greek National Theatre in Epidaurus. That experience inspired him, throughout his life, to share the power, clarity and beauty of the classic Greek tragedies from his ancestral home.

As a professional actor, George worked for dozens of regional theaters across the country including the Oregon Shakespeare Festival, Theatre Impact, the Repertory Theatre of St. Louis, Cleveland Playhouse and the Great Lakes Shakespeare Festival.

His film and television work began with a broadcast of “The Rivalry” produced by David Susskind for his series “Esso Repertory Theatre,” and originally staged by the Cleveland Playhouse. This was a dramatization of the Lincoln-Douglas debates, and began George’s lifelong love of Abraham Lincoln, who was to reappear in his professional work for the rest of his life. George also appeared in the film “27 Dresses.”

His love, though, was with the theater and especially the classics, from Sophocles to Shakespeare. He would go on to perform in over 100 plays as well as produce and direct another 80 in regional theaters and colleges across the country.

One of his favorite accomplishments at the Penobscot Theatre was the creation of a foreign director program, presenting plays mounted by European directors Patrick Laffin (Abbey Theatre, Dublin), Vasek Simek (Prague, Czechoslovakia) and Dame Joan Knight (Perth, Scotland). George exchanged directorial duties with Joan Knight and traveled to Scotland to direct “The Gin Game” in 1988.

When the average artist would perhaps start to relax and reflect, George chose to enter into another career as a voice actor, recording audio books, including the complete and unabridged King James Version of both the Old and New Testaments, and Lincoln’s Letters, both of which won the national audiobook of the year award. His love of Lincoln led to his writing and performing “Mr. Lincoln’s Public Opinion Bath,” a full-length, one-person show which premiered at the Acadia Rep and was later performed for schools and theaters across New England.

Finally, the white sand beaches of Sarasota, Fla., called and George and his wife, Katherine Knowles, retired to this community in 2013 where both of them continued to contribute to the world of the performing arts, she as a grant writer and he as a guest lecturer and author, having completed his autobiography, “A Flame: The Fire of a Stage Actor.”

George is survived by his loving wife, Katherine, sister-in-law, Elaine Vafiadis, and by countless artists and audiences who have benefited from his passionate commitment to the world of live theater.

HALBFINGER--Andrea Sue (Kanner), age 81, an artist and journalist who lavished her family with love, died March 1, 2022 of pancreatic cancer and Parkinson's in Manhattan. She left behind a vast trove of abstract artwork produced as a student at Bennington, in the basement of her Freeport home, in New York City studios and, finally, beside the window of her East 96th Street apartment. She painted vividly colored acrylics and oils with bold, expressive shapes on large canvases, seeking "order in chaos." Born February 17, 1941, in Brooklyn, to S. Lee and Elsie Kanner, she studied art and criticism at Bennington and journalism at Columbia and was married to M. William Halbfinger, who died in 1999. As an art critic for The Washington Post in 1964-65, she wrote authoritative, unsparing reviews. Besides her daughter, Caren, of New Rochelle, and son, David, of Montclair, NJ she is survived by her brother, Dr. Steven Kanner of Lincoln, MA; sister, Dr. Ellen Kanner, of Manhattan, and six grandchildren. Hope fueled her, even when her illness became untreatable. Asked about being reunited with her husband, she smiled and said: "It's gonna be great."

The University of Louisville's "handstand man" — who for nearly three decades entertained spectators with handstands during men's basketball games at Freedom Hall — died Saturday, March 26, 2022.

Sedat Acton, 77, performed his last handstand at a basketball game in 2009 during the Cardinals' last season at Freedom Hall, and his last handstand ever in 2017, shortly after he was diagnosed with Parkinson's disease. 

His wife of more than 40 years, Teresa Acton, also died last month, according to his obituary. The two met in beauty school in 1976 and together owned a salon in east Louisville.

They left behind their three grown children, Anthony Acton, Tijen Lines and Sarah Colombo, as well as eight grandchildren, one great-grandchild, numerous nieces and nephews, and fans who remember him fondly.

Acton was known for getting the crowd rowdy during key moments, especially when the Cardinals were playing rivals like Memphis or Kentucky and needed the inspiration to close out the game. A gifted gymnast, Acton would hoist himself over the handrails of Freedom Hall's upper levels during timeouts and breaks in the action, as Louisville fans in the crowd looked on.

"You hear a roar, look up and thousands of people are cheering for your husband," Teresa told The Courier Journal in 2019.

Acton became interested in gymnastics as a young boy walking the beaches of his native country Turkey, often practicing in his backyard. He watched men perform acrobatic flips and twists on parallel bars and thought it could be a way to conquer polio, which he was diagnosed with as a toddler.

He left Europe for Louisville at age 23 in 1968, where his sister was already living. He joined the gymnastics team at the old YMCA at Third Street and Broadway — the gateway to his first halftime performance at a Louisville basketball game that same year. 

He performed with cheerleaders at football and basketball games, as well as Kentucky Colonels games. It wasn't until 1980 that he performed his first stunt on a Freedom Hall railing. 

Acton once turned down a job performing in Las Vegas to stay in Louisville and build a life with Teresa, and to continue performing at Freedom Hall. He was a common sight at Trinity High School and Sacred Heart Academy athletic events as well.

"I love Louisville because it's small and people understand you," Acton told The Courier Journal in 2019. "If you try hard you will be successful. And I truly believe people should help people, love each other, care about each other. Who knows who needs help and who don't?"

Acton requested any donations made in his name go toward the Bernheim Arboretum and Research Forest in memory of his wife.

Cards fans who were wooed by Acton's stunts were disappointed to hear of his passing.

E "Howard" Long passed away on Jan 25, 2022 from a battle with Parkinson's. 

He was a graduate of Purdue University and The University of Louisville. He spent over 30 years in teaching and administration in Arlington County, VA. He was later a Commissioner in the City of La Quinta, CA. He was honored with a proclamation and retired in 2019.

He was a member of La Chaine des Rotisseurs and had great love of wine. He traveled extensively throughout France and Italy and moved into wine sales after retirement.

He wanted a pet and had read about Sealyhams Terriers. At a show he went into a tent to meet a Sealyham. He was sold. He had one or two by his side for the rest of his life.

The GQ photo was just a request for a portrait. He went all out and brought Harry with him in his red tux tie. The photographer was thrilled that he did not want one of those "sitting" photos and thus gave him a chance to be creative.

He is survived by Carol and Maddie of La Quinta, CA.