Ernest Ernie Longey Middlebury Ernie Longey, 63, died in his sleep after a brief illness with cancer at Fletcher Allen Health Care in Burlington on December 14, 2007, with his wife Mary at his side. He had spent the evening surrounded by his loving family. Ernie was born in Middlebury, Vermont, on September 13, 1944, to Hugh and Mildred Longey. He graduated from Middlebury High School in 1962. Although he never received another degree, Ernie was a true Renaissance Man, mastering a myriad of skills and crafts throughout his life. Ernie began his long work relationship with Middlebury College in October 1961, when he took over his uncle Richard Delphias job as a part-time technician at Hillcrest Language Center when Richard was called to serve in the National Guard during the Berlin Wall crisis. After high school graduation, Ernie worked at a variety of jobs in Vermont, New York and Florida (loan officer, resort waiter, audio/visual system installer, draftsman at Simmons Precision, technician at the Electronic Lab in Middlebury, owned an appliance business in Rutland, sold his own handcrafted furniture, etc.). He served in Vietnam in the Army Security Agency. In October 1974, he accepted a position as Electronic Technician at Middlebury College and later became Director of Media Services. He did much to keep the College on the cutting edge of technology until his retirement in 2000. From 2000 until his death, he worked out of his home office for HB Communications, Inc. of North Haven, Conn., traveling in Vermont and New Hampshire to colleges, hospitals and businesses as a designer, programmer and installer of smart rooms (rich with technology controlled by touch panels). Among his hobbies, skills and crafts were: archery; model trains, planes air-brush painting; kite-making; sailing & canoeing (although he never learned to swim!); gold & silver jewelry-making; and many more, but especially woodworking and photography. He loved to carve, turn, inlay, and create furniture, jewelry boxes, pens, wine-stoppers and many other beautiful items from all varieties of wood. He took pictures since his youth, for many years developing and printing his own photos from film cameras. He specialized in documenting large, complex events, for example, the construction over five days in 1987 of the Kidspace playground in Middlebury by 1,300 community volunteers. Ernie produced several thousand digital images of musicals, plays and operas for the Middlebury Community Players, Opera Company of Middlebury, Middlebury College-Community Chorus, Town Hall Theater, Inc. and others. His photographs were seen in the Addison County Chamber of Commerce directory, the Addison Independent, and various Middlebury College publications. The Vermont Arts Council selected the death scene photograph from Carmen for the cover of its 2004 Annual Report. His Carmen photographs were shown at Gallery in-the-Field in Brandon in May and June 2006. He enjoyed many kinds of music (even beginning to like opera!) and traveling to new places with his wife Mary, but most of all sitting on the deck. He adored his children and grandchildren, and equally loved to tease them and photograph them. He kept his well-known wit and sense of humor to the end. Ernie touched the lives of all who knew him and will always be remembered as caring, generous and thoughtful by all his family and friends. Ernie is survived by his beloved wife of 29 years, Mary; mother Mildred Longey of Middlebury; sister Linda Longey of Shoreham; brother Reggie Longey of Rutland; three daughters, Kim and her husband Brian McCarthy of N. Quincy, Mass., Becky and her husband Scott Coltey of Benson, and Jen and her husband Scott Jacobs of Middlebury; granddaughters Kiara and Elizabeth (Beckys children); his wifes parents Lon and Gloria King of So. Burlington; and wifes sister Nancy deTarnowsky and her husband Nick and son Kyle of Richmond. He was predeceased by his father Hugh Longey in February 1994. The family would like to thank all those who cared for Ernie last Thursday and Friday from the Middlebury Volunteer Ambulance and at Porter Hospital and Fletcher Allen Health Care. A memorial service will be planned for early January (date and location to be published at a later time). Arrangements are in the care of Sanderson Funeral Service in Middlebury. In lieu of flowers, donations in Ernies memory may be made to Town Hall Theater, Inc., PO Box 128, Middlebury, VT 05753, or to the charity of your choice. To send online condolences to the family, visit Memorial Service will be held Saturday, January 5, 2008, 1 PM at Mead Memorial Chapel, Middlebury College campus. Reception to follow at Kirk Alumni Center. www.sandersonfuneralservice.com