Albert H. "Kip" Weeks

“Kip” was born in New York City on April 15, 1948, son of Teresa Herring Weeks and the late Louis Seabury Weeks, Jr., of Stonington, Connecticut.

He is survived by his mother, his wife of thirty-one years, Christine Herlihy Weeks; his son, Samuel Seabury Weeks; daughter, Margaret Clinton Weeks; sister Ann Saltonstall Weeks and her partner Arleen S. Curry of Sonoma, California; his brother Louis Seabury Weeks III, wife Marjorie and their three children: Louis, Cornelia and Edward of Baltimore, Maryland.

At the time of his death from brain cancer, he was on disability retirement from the State of New Hampshire where he was the sitting judge for the Cheshire County Probate Court.

Kip first came to New Hampshire as an infant to his grandparents’ summer home in Alstead. Each year, he and his family traveled from New York to the elder Weeks’ home on Hill Road for vacation. He fell in love with the area and at an early age knew that New Hampshire was where he wanted to settle. His lifelong love of Farmall tractors can be traced back to his early days in Alstead when he would walk up the steep hill from his grandparent’s home to the Flying Cloud Farm to tag after dairy farmer Tom Donohue. Most people’s mid-life crises involve buying a fast car or having an extra-marital affair, but Kip’s was the purchase of a 1940 Farmall A when his children were young. The tractor, known as “Old Bessie”, transported Sam and Meg on summer ice cream cone runs and operated as a limo service for several Keene High School proms. As much as Kip loved his Farmall A, his real quest was to own a Farmall Cub, a smaller version of an A and the model he had driven as a youth at the Flying Cloud Farm. After he sold his A, he was on the lookout for a cub and finally tracked one down at a Plainfield, New Hampshire dealership in the spring of 2010. It was love at first sight.

Kip graduated from the Brooks School in North Andover, Massachusetts in 1966 and Princeton University with an A.B. in English Literature in 1970. It was a time of great unrest with the Vietnam War still raging. Having received his draft notice and completed his physical, he was expecting to be inducted into the Army but a high number in the draft lottery excused him from mandatory service. During college he had spent a summer in Liverpool, England working with underprivileged youth through an outreach program run by the Episcopal Church. With no idea of what to do after college, he turned to the church once again to see if could offer a jobs to a recent college graduate. Luckily, there was an opening for someone to serve as the town clerk for the remote Native Alaskan village of Hughes, north of the Arctic Circle where lived for two memorable years. His love of Alaska endured throughout his life, spending many vacations kayaking various rivers in the Brooks Range, including a very special trip with his daughter, Meg, floating the Nigu River in the summer of 2004. At home, he always had his Alaskan “topo” maps close at hand in case he wanted to reference some trip or remote airfield he had visited. Bettles Field was by far his favorite. Much to his delight, he received as a recent Christmas gift a set of Bettles Field vanity plates for his beloved 1998 Ford pick-up truck.

In 1972, he landed a job at the Keene Sentinel where he stayed for six years working his way up from a copy boy to become a reporter and editor. In 1978, the newly elected senator from New Hampshire, John A Durkin, recruited Kip to move to Washington, D.C. to work as a legislative assistant on the colossal Alaska Lands Bill. In this capacity, he traveled to Alaska a number of times during his tenure on Capitol Hill, trips he greatly enjoyed.

In 1979, he entered Catholic University’s Columbus School of Law where he received a Juris Doctor in May 1982. He and his wife Chris were married in 1980. After passing the New Hampshire Bar exam, he accepted an associate’s position at the Keene law firm of Goodnow, Arwe, Ayer, Prigge and Wrigley where he became shareholder and director. His son, Sam, was born in 1982 and daughter, Meg, in 1987. In1989, he and two lawyers from that firm, John D. Wrigley and Gregory T. Martin, formed their own practice: Wrigley, Weeks and Martin, P.C. where Kip focused on probate-related matters, real estate transactions and corporate work. In January of 2000, he was appointed by then Governor Jeanne Shaheen as Cheshire County Probate Court Judge a position he held until 2011 when his illness prevented him from working. He set up a solo part time law practice in March of 2000, concentrating on corporate and real estate matters. He devoted a considerable amount of time representing the City of Keene and Cheshire County in connection with the receipt of federal Community Development Block Grants (CDBG). Projects he worked on include the formation of Black Brook Corporate Park; the acquisition and rehabilitation of a new home for RISE for baby and family; the relocation of two historic mill building from West Street to Harper Acres; the development of the Highland Apartments and Stone Arch Family Housing; the redevelopment of Railroad Square; and the purchase and renovation of a new home for Head Start on Dunbar Street.

He was a member of the New Hampshire Bar Association for which he served as a member of its Continuing Legal Education Committee from 1983-1987 and sat on its Board of Governors from 1995 - 1997. He was President of the Cheshire County Bar Association from 1991-1995.

His civic endeavors included serving as a trustee and president of the Keene Public Library Board, a board member of the City’s Zoning Board of Adjustment, Monadnock United Way, Monadnock Family Services, the Colonial Theatre Group, the Keene Baseball Club (Swamp Bats), and the Apple Hill Center for Chamber Music. He was a long-time parishioner at St. James Episcopal Church where he served on its vestry and search committee. He was also an incorporator at the Cheshire Medical Foundation for many years. When his children were young, he coached youth baseball, soccer and volunteered at many cross-country running meets. He was also an adjunct professor at Keene State College where he taught paralegal and management courses. His interests included local history, reading, fishing, riding his bicycle, and collecting books on Alaska and New Hampshire.

He was a loving husband and father, a respected colleague, and a wonderful friend to many people. He will be dearly missed.

Funeral services will be held at the St. James Episcopal Church, 44 West Street, Keene, NH on Tuesday, January 3, 2012 at 11:00 a.m. Bishop Donald Hart will be the celebrant. Spring burial will be in the Laurel Hill Cemetery, Deerfield, MA. There are no visiting hours.

In lieu of flowers, the family suggests that memorial contributions be made in Kip’s name to the Apple Hill Center for Chamber Music, PO Box 217, Sullivan, NH 03445 or to Home Health Care – Hospice, 312 Marlboro Street, PO Box 564, Keene, NH 03431.

Arrangements under the direction of Foley Funeral Home, Keene, NH.