(This story is by Jordan Cuddemi, of the Valley News, in which it first appeared.)
[N]EWBURY — A small-town community is reeling after an elderly husband and wife died this week in what police say is an apparent murder-suicide.
Kenneth and Barbara Welch were found shot to death inside their home around 11 p.m. Monday.
Vermont State Police said Wednesday afternoon that preliminary autopsy results indicate Kenneth Welch, 80, shot his 76-year-old wife before taking his own life. Both died of gunshot to the head, the autopsies found.
“We are still interviewing friends and family to find out what was going on in their lives,” Vermont State Police Capt. JP Sinclair said Tuesday night.
Meanwhile, several community members said they are shocked to learn of the news. Kenneth Welch drove a school bus in Newbury for 50 years, while Barbara Welch held the title of Newbury town clerk for 34 years.
Their only neighbor on their dead-end road said she is in disbelief.
“My kids were just out there sliding on his yard yesterday, then he walked back to my house with me,” Melissa Gilmore said of Kenneth Welch. “I am just so shocked. I spent half of the day crying. I just feel so bad. I don’t understand, and I probably never will.”
Gilmore said Barbara Welch suffered from Alzheimer’s disease and that her memory problems appeared to be worsening, but said she didn’t know what could have led to this.
Gilmore and her husband would often pop over to the Welches’ home, and the Welches would return the favor by bringing Gilmore’s children a snack every week.
“They were just really nice people,” she said. “They were great neighbors, and they loved my kids.”
Several people in town said the Welches were well-known. The pair would often be spotted sitting at the bar at TJ’s Lunch Counter on Main Street in nearby Wells River.
“Everybody was shocked to hear about what went on,” said an employee who declined to be identified. “They always came in happy and were very sweet.”
Wells River Constable Glen Godfrey said he knew Kenneth Welch for decades and worked alongside him when Welch sat on the cemetery commission, a post he held pretty much since the commission’s inception.
Welch often mowed Oxbow Cemetery in Newbury with a push mower, a task that would take him roughly 30 hours, he told a Valley News photographer in 2005.
“It was really a surprise to me when I heard it on the news,” Godfrey said while sitting inside his apartment Tuesday. “They were nice people.”
Barbara Welch, he said, was extremely efficient in her duties as town clerk.
“She ran that whole town by herself,” Godfrey said. “I will never forget that.”
Butler’s Bus Service manager Christen Davis said Kenneth Welch drove a school bus in town for decades.
“For 50 years, he drove the same route,” Davis said, a tear in her eye. “He had grandparents, children, grandchildren …”
He had since retired, she said.
Newbury resident Lyman Beecher, a retired teacher who met Kenneth Welch at Newbury Elementary School, recalled the Welches as popular and pleasant people.
“They were serious, but they really worked hard and did good things,” Lyman said while finishing his lunch at the truck stop.
Barbara Welch also had long been retired; she stepped down from her post as town clerk in 2002, said Susan Underwood, the current Newbury clerk.
Underwood was hesitant to comment on the situation and said she was worried she wouldn’t be able to say enough about the Welches to do them justice.
She did offer one statement, though.
“(Barbara Welch) was extremely knowledgeable about the town and its history,” Underwood said.
