WHITE RIVER JUNCTION — As travelers and commuters bustled about the weekend before Christmas, some Upper Valley residents paused to remember 16 people whose lives were shortened by homelessness this year.

Georgia Hanchett-Dean, a resource coordinator for Listen Community Services, listens to the names of people who had experienced homelessness in the Upper Valley who died over the past year, during a vigil at Listen in White River Junction, Vt., on Friday, Dec. 19, 2025. It was the second such vigil of held that evening, after one at the Upper Valley Haven, and they also called to mind those living outside as the winter solstice, with the least daylight of the year, approached on Sunday. JAMES M. PATTERSON / Valley News

“Every one of these people mattered and all of them held stories of hope, struggle, love and resilience,” Upper Valley Haven Executive Director Will Towne said at the smaller of two vigils in White River Junction on Dec. 19. “…In a time where homelessness is highly contentious and politicized, tonight is about remembering folks who may not otherwise be acknowledged.”

The Haven memorial was one of three candlelight vigils hosted by Upper Valley social service agencies between Dec. 19 and Dec. 22 as part of a national memorial held around the longest night of the year to remember people who died after or while experiencing homelessness. Others were hosted by a coalition of social service agencies at the Listen Community Services Dining Hall in White River Junction and by the Upper Valley Coalition for Housing Solutions in Randolph.

The Randolph vigil honored eight people whose lives were shortened by homelessness on the Vermont side of the Upper Valley, including one man, Richard Govea, who froze to death in Barre, Vt., earlier this month. Given the location of his death, Govea didn’t make it on the list of those recognized in White River Junction.

Christopher Lane died in July, 2025 while living in a tent in White River Junction after losing his room at the Shady Lawn Motel following the end of the state’s motel voucher program. He was remembered at the Haven’s vigil for people experiencing homelessness who died over the past year. JAMES M. PATTERSON / Valley News

Among those remembered were Christopher Lane and Mylin Paul, who were both found dead outdoors in White River Junction this summer, just 11 days apart.

Lane was among 30 households staying at the Shady Lawn Motel through Vermont’s motel voucher program when the state stopped funding the program July 1.

He was found dead in a tent on a side street off of Maple Street on July 5.

Listen Programs Director Heather Griffin remembered Lane, 32, as a “bright and unique” person who loved anime and cartoons and “enjoyed figuring out how things worked.”

Paul, 28, was found dead in a wooded area near the Main Street Museum on July 16.

The day before his death, Paul, who was from North Carolina, went to a clinic at Lebanon’s emergency winter shelter seeking connections to housing and a phone. He had been released from a six-month incarceration at the Grafton County House of Corrections in late June.

Those gathered Dec. 19 said he is survived by a daughter, parents and six brothers.

Both men died of accidental “acute mixed intoxication” from multiple drugs, according to their death certificates.

Upper Valley Haven Service coordinator Chelsea Wilson reads a remembrance for Mylin Paul, during a memorial vigil in White River Junction, Vt., on Friday, Dec. 19, 2025 for people experiencing homelessness who died over the past year. Paul died in July shortly after completing a jail sentence and seeking services from the free monthly health clinic held at the Lebanon, N.H., emergency shelter. JAMES M. PATTERSON / Valley News

As social service providers read out each of the 16 names at the Dec. 19 vigil outside Listen Community Services Dining Hall, they placed small paper lanterns in front of the crowd of about 40 people.

Chelsea Wilson, a service coordinator with the Upper Valley Haven places candles on the organization’s sign after a memorial vigil in White River Junction, Vt., on Friday, Dec. 19, 2025. The names of 11 people with ties to the Upper Valley who had experienced homelessness and died over the past year were read at the vigil. Among those remembered were Christopher Lane, who was living in a tent after losing his room at the Shady Lawn Motel with the end of Vermont’s motel voucher program when he died in July, and Mylin Paul, who had recently finished serving a jail sentence and was seeking help from the free monthly health clinic held at the Lebanon emergency shelter before he died later that month. JAMES M. PATTERSON / Valley News

The list of those remembered in the Upper Valley was three names shorter than last year.

There is no way to “pinpoint why,” Lebanon Human Services Director Lynne Goodwin said, but she is “grateful for the decrease.”

Those remembered in the Upper Valley this year were:

Ricky Bailey, Ron Boardman, Steven Butts, Cheryl Coulliard, Danny Davis Jr., James Hart, Matthew Henderson, David Labrecque, Christopher Lane, Warren “Butch” Laurendeau, Erin Maher, Dwayne Morse, Kathrine “Kate” Ohaus, Mylin Paul, Richard “Ricky” Riff, Eric Williams. 

One final lantern was presented for others whose deaths are unknown to social service providers.

Clare Shanahan can be reached at cshanahan@vnews.com or 603-727-3216.