Author: Mike Cote

On a sunny day in late August, Lady Sara Richard and I met at a café in Nashua to talk about death.

The storms that pummeled New England in July disrupted the lives of thousands of Vermonters as rising waters damaged or destroyed homes and businesses. In New Hampshire, flash floods washed out roads and prompted evacuations in some southern towns.

In June, I started reporting to work on the fourth floor of the Waumbec Commercial Center, a 450,000-square-foot building that was once part of the largest textile manufacturing operation in the world.