BRATTLEBORO –
Fiona Seymour Blair, 69, died peacefully at her home on Sept. 26, 2014 after a brave struggle with esophageal cancer. Daughter of William Sutherland Blair and Mary Seymour Barnes, formerly of Guilford, Vt. and Peterborough, N.H., Fiona was born in Glasgow, Scotland. Soon after her birth her family moved to Montreal, Canada, and then to Connecticut, where she grew up. She attended Greenwich Academy and McGill University in Montreal, where she earned her bachelor’s degree. She later earned a master’s degree from the Bank Street College of Education in New York. She worked in New York and Cambridge, Mass. before moving to the Brattleboro area, where she lived for more than three decades. There, she worked for Blair and Ketchum’s Country Journal, the magazine co-founded by her father. She actively supported many community organizations, such as the Drop-In Center and Morningside Shelter.
She is survived by her twin brother, Colin, of Arlington, Mass.; her sister, Sheila, of Richmond, N.H.; her niece, Felicity Bloom, of Madison, Wis.; and her nephew, Oliver Bloom, of Berkeley, Calif.; as well as her beloved cousins, Jane, Torey, Andrea, and Bruce Allan of Montreal.
Her sister Felicity and friend, Robert McGraw, predeceased her. Over the years, her wide circle of friends in Brattleboro provided loving support, and she will be sorely missed. A celebration of her life will be held later.