Arthur S. Vaeni

The Rev. Arthur Vaeni died October 24, 2025. In the last ten years of his life, Arthur lived with Alzheimer’s disease. He died of complications of a blood clot, at home and with his wife Sally.

Arthur was a calm and steady presence in many people’s lives, and he was much loved.

He was born on April 8, 1950, and was raised in Concord, NH by his parents Marjorie Spooner Vaeni and Starkey Vaeni. He was the younger brother to Edwin Vaeni. Arthur graduated from Bishop Brady High School and then attended the United States Military Academy at West Point and served in the Army until his honorable discharge in 1977. He later earned a Master’s degree in communications from Indiana University.

In 1972, Arthur married his high school sweetheart, Gail Painchaud. They had two children, Annemarie and Brian. His children were central to Art’s life and to his heart.

Arthur began a spiritual exploration in his early 30’s and found a home in Unitarian Universalism. After graduating from Harvard Divinity School, he was ordained in 1987 as a minister by the Starr King Unitarian Universalist Fellowship in Plymouth, NH. Later, he became Starr King’s first full time minister. During his time here, the congregation grew, and built a Meetinghouse on Fairgrounds Rd.

In 1993, Arthur and Sally Gove married, and thus began a loving relationship which sustained and nourished both of them for over 30 years.

In 2001, Arthur and Sally moved to Olympia, WA where Art served the Olympia Unitarian Universalist Congregation (OUUC) as minister for the next 13 years.

Homelessness was an issue Arthur cared deeply about. In 2007, a tent city sprang up on an empty lot in Olympia. When the city made plans to remove it, the board at OUUC, under Arthur’s leadership, voted to welcome the tent city to camp in its parking lot. It was a high point in Art’s ministry. He was so proud of the congregation’s generosity and its commitment to living its social justice values and its ministry.

Other churches joined in, each hosting the encampment for three months at a time. The community came to be called Camp Quixote. Later it became permanent housing, made up of many tiny homes, supplemented by a shared community center.

In 2014, Arthur and Sally moved to Bangor, ME, where Art served as a two-year interim minister at the Unitarian Universalist Society of Bangor (UUSB). It was in his second year there that Art was diagnosed with Alzheimer’s disease. Unable to serve fully as minister, he and Sally moved home to NH in March of 2016.

Each day, Art chose to live life with gratitude and intention. He took care of his body with daily exercise and good eating; he took care of his spirit through daily loving kindness meditation and thoughtful appreciation and love for the world around him; and he extended grace to others by listening deeply to them, and accepting them as they were. He rarely missed an opportunity to express his appreciation. He was a prolific writer of thank you notes.

He was delighted with the fact that he had climbed Mt. Washington every year for 40 years in a row.

Even during the years with Alzheimer’s, Art remained calm, kind, and generous to others.

At his core was his spiritual practice of loving kindness meditation, which he practiced every day.

May (I, you, we) be free of ill will and fear,

May I be at peace with my sorrow and pain,

May I be heathy and happy,

May I be filled with ease and loving kindness.

He was a member of a loving family; his wife, Sally; his daughter Annemarie, her husband Scott Case and their children, Sam and Izzy; his son, Brian and his wife, Liz Flannery and their children Emmy, Ellie, and Evie; his brother, Edwin Vaeni and his wife, Nancy Nazaroff, and his children Kara Lynn and Jeremy.

He loved life, he loved this earth, he loved his congregations, and he loved the people around him. He will be missed.

A Memorial service is planned for Sunday, January 18 at two o’clock at Starr King Unitarian Universalist Fellowship, 101 Fairgrounds Road, in Plymouth, NH 03264.

The service will be live streamed and recorded. Check Starr King Unitarian Universalist website for the link.

Donations may be made to Pemi-Baker Hospice and Home Health, 101 Boulder Point Dr #3, Plymouth, NH 03264.