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Hooksett woman killed in Virginia crash

Hooksett Editor — Wed, 10 Dec 2008 20:10:00 GMT

BY LAUREN SAUSSER

According to one testimony, Kamala St. Germain’s life may have been cut short, but she lived every second of her 75 years to the fullest.

“She was just the most serene, spiritual person you could ever meet,” said massage therapist Deanna Raymond of Brentwood. “She was always calm; she just had a motherly presence about her.”

Virginia State Police announced Dec. 4 that St. Germain, a Hooksett resident, died in a six-car pileup on Interstate 95 on Dec. 1.

Raymond, a student of the St. Germain’s DoveStar School of Holistic Technology, said she discovered the news of her mentor’s death on Dec. 3, when employees of the school were expressing their grief on their online Facebook profiles.

“Everyone in the DoveStar community is kind of shocked,” Raymond said. “We’re all e-mailing each other and giving each other support.

St. Germain was in a Honda headed north on Interstate 95 when she was rear-ended by a 2001 Kenworth tractor-trailer driven by Warren Lucas Tomlinson Jr., 64, of Emporia, Va., the “Progress-Index” of Petersburg, Va., reported.

St. Germain’s Honda was wedged underneath the tractor-trailer when it ignited, setting an SUV ablaze.

The crash closed northbound I-95 for about seven hours.

According to St. Germain’s Web site, she was an ordained minister and had a doctorate in divinity from the Universal Life Church. She founded the DoveStar School of Holistic Technology and completed a three-month yoga teacher program at the Shivananda Yoga Center in Val Morin, Quebec. She taught yoga and massage internationally for 44 years.

St. Germain was a certified clinical hypnotherapist, an astrologer, licensed massage therapist, a Reiki master teacher and a practitioner of colon hydrotherapy.

She had five children, 10 grandchildren and several great grandchildren.

She taught and lectured on holistic health at the collegiate level, on radio and television, locally and internationally since 1965 and authored many published articles.

Employees at the DoveStar School in Hooksett declined to comment on the accident.

Raymond attended the DoveStar School from 2003 to 2006 and took several massage therapy classes offered by St. Germain.

“She was everyone’s mentor,” Raymond said.

DUI leads Hooksett man to resign as cop

Hooksett Editor — Wed, 18 Jun 2008 19:05:00 GMT

BY JENN McDOWELL

A Bedford police officer who lives in Hooksett and just got hired in December has resigned after being arrested and charged with operating under the influence after he rear-ended a couple on a motorcycle.

Alejandro Jaime, 36, of Hooksett, was off duty and driving down Tarrytown Road just south of Hanover Street in Manchester on Thursday, June 12, said Manchester police Sgt. Maureen Tessier, when he ran into the motorcycle in front of him.

The motorcycle driver, James McLaughlin, 30, and his wife and passenger, Taylor McLaughlin, 31, were tossed from the bike. Both were taken to the hospital with minor injuries, Tessier said, and were released shortly after.

Tessier would not comment on whether Jaime submitted to a blood alcohol test, but said Jaime was reportedly cooperative with arresting officers.

Bedford Police Chief David C. Bailey said Jaime tendered his resignation, along with his badge and gun, to the Bedford police station on Monday, June 16.

“We are grateful that no one was seriously injured in the accident. That charge will be adjudicated through the court system, just as it would for anyone else,” Bailey said during a press briefing on Monday, June 16.

“We all from time to time make poor decisions, and police officers are like anyone else, but we must be held to a higher standard, and, in my opinion, he did the right thing by resigning,” Bailey added.

Bedford police hired Jaime in December 2007, putting him through the police academy and training.

Jaime was still in field training, in fact, and had not yet been out on patrol alone when the incident occurred.

Bailey said the Manchester Police Department contacted Bedford police as a courtesy immediately after the arrest. Something like this has never happened in Bailey’s tenure, he said, as chief.“

That’s a serious charge. It’s something that we enforce all the time,” Bailey said.

Jaime went through an intensive background check, a polygraph test and a psychological exam before being hired, as is customary for all police hires, and nothing alarming jumped out, said Bailey.

He pointed out that Jaime awaits his day in court, and is not yet convicted.

“We’ve got to remember that it’s an allegation,” said Bailey. “He has to face the system just like any other civilian.”

Currently, there are a total of four openings, including one for Jaime’s position, in the Bedford department.

“I’m not happy. It’s an embarrassment,” said Bailey. “People make poor judgments, but again, we’re held to a higher standard.”

Jaime is scheduled to appear in court on Wednesday, June 25, to answer to the charge.

In an interview on his new job as a Bedford police officer back in March, just after he graduated from the police academy, Jaime said he was born in Columbia and moved to the United States in 1994. He worked at a Mexican restaurant before deciding to go into law enforcement, he said, and put his bilingual skills to good use.

“I want to make a difference in people’s lives and the community,” Jaime said at the time.

Bow man dies in motorcycle accident

Hooksett Editor — Wed, 28 May 2008 19:17:00 GMT

BY GRETA CUYLER

As rain began to fall the night of Wednesday, May 21, Jameson Thissell, 35, called his wife to tell her he’d be home soon.

Minutes later, the motorcycle he was riding went out of control along Hackett Hill Road in Hooksett. The case is under investigation as to why Jameson Thissell of Bow veered out of his lane at 5:55 p.m. on Wednesday, May 21.

Thissell’s bike hit a car driven by Peter Cooke of Hooksett, who’s son was a passenger. Neither was hurt in the accident.

Thissell, who was wearing a helmet, was pinned under the car and although emergency crews worked to revive him, it was too late.

Known as “Jamey” to those closest to him, Thissell leaves behind his wife, Sarah, and three children -- Rebecca, 7, Nicholas, 2, and Victoria, 6 months.

“He was so full of life, he had such a full heart and loved everybody,” said Sarah Thissell.

Thissell was headed home when the accident happened, Sarah said. He had gone to check out a new motorcycle.

Thissell and Sarah met at Middlebury College in Vermont, would have celebrated their 10th wedding anniversary June 13. Thissell worked as an emergency room doctor at Concord Hospital.

“I don’t know many people who, given one-tenth of Jamey’s enthusiasm and joy in life wouldn’t be noticeably improved for it,” said Peter Blume, a doctor in the emergency department at Concord Hospital who worked alongside Thissell.

Thissell’s parents, Richard and Merrilee Thissell, live in Goffstown. Richard Thissell is the assistant principal at the Middle School at Parkside in Manchester. The couple has two other sons, Jeremiah of New Hampshire, and Joshua of Boston. “(Jamey) was my firstborn, he did so much good for so many,” said Merrilee Thissell. “There were countless times when he stopped on the highway at the scene of an accident to help someone -- he’d grab his (medical) kit and go.”

Merrilee Thissell said it appears Thissell’s motorcycle slipped on a wet patch of road. Peter Cooke extends his sympathy to the Thissell family.

“We really feel upset for Jamey and his family, all his family members, we’re really sad for them all and our hearts go out to them,” Cooke said.

At Concord Hospital, where Thissell had tended to thousands of patients during his four-year tenure as an emergency room doctor, he was remembered as a caring physician.

“Jamey had a passion for life and exhibited a joy for living each and every day,” said Michael Lynch, a doctor and president of Concord Emergency Medical Associates, where Jamey worked. “As an exemplary physician, he was skilled, committed and caring, and a valuable member of Concord Emergency Medical Associates and Concord Hospital.

Sharing laughter and lightheartedness, he was especially loved by his emergency department colleagues and co-workers. Our hearts are broken for his wife and young children. We will miss him greatly; our hospital and our community has suffered a tragic loss.”

Thissell always wanted to be a doctor, his mother said, and he worked as an EMT after college.

Sarah Thissell said her husband received one or two thank you notes from emergency room patients each month. Once, he spent 45 minutes trying to track down where a patient could get his special-order medicine.

“During Jamey’s residency, the chaplain of the medical school came up to me and said, ‘Jamey has the best bedside manner of any doctor here,’” Sarah said. “He touched a lot of people, he was an amazing doctor. He really cared about his patients.”

Thissell’s mother said one of her favorite memories of her son is when he called her from college to tell her there was someone he wanted her to meet.

That “someone” was Sarah, his wife of nearly a decade. “I think he knew she was the one,” Merrilee Thissell said. “She’s my best friend -- I don’t know what I’d do without her right now.”

Hooksett police Sgt. Kristofer Dupuis said he has no reason to believe alcohol or drugs were factors in the crash.

He said state law requires those involved in a major motor vehicle accident to undergo blood tests, which the Cookes had done at the hospital.