New Hampshire

‘No way in hell, wild animal, you’re not disrupting my engagement!’ – The Boston Globe

Published

4 months ago

November 11, 2025

‘No way in hell, wild animal, you’re not disrupting my engagement!’ – The Boston Globe

They returned one cool November evening in 2023, and the former colleagues-turned-couple were dressed for a ’70s disco — Hillary in a hot pink jumpsuit, Henry in embellished bellbottoms. They had just returned to their Merrimack, N.H., home after celebrating Hillary’s 37th birthday at the Gimme Gimme Disco — a roving ABBA-inspired dance night — when Henry began putting her pink polka-dot rainboots on her feet and shuffling her toward his car.

“We need eggs,” he remembers fibbing, when Hillary was baffled by the sudden change in plans.

But in Henry’s car’s glove compartment was an engagement ring. He had considered waiting to propose on an upcoming trip, but under the disco ball in the Hampton Ballroom, “we had so much fun and she looked so beautiful…and I brought her boots because I knew where it had to happen.” Once Hillary recognized the 10-minute trip’s destination, the pieces began to click into place.

Hillary and Henry met with their photographer, Lexi Foster, for a wedding portrait session at Saint-Gaudens National Historical Park in Cornish, N.H., the week after their Jimmy’s celebration. Splitting up the photographs between the two sessions allowed the couple to spend more time with their guests and each other on the wedding day.Lexi Foster Photography

Instead of driving to the store, Henry drove to Benedictine Park. There, they emerged through the darkness in sequins and spandex — startling some loitering teens — and began the five-minute hike up the hill. As they walked, Henry started narrating the steps he’d taken to get to this day.

Months before, he told Hillary as they walked, he’d asked her twin teenage sons, Conner and Dylan, for their blessings.

“I talk to you about this because I’m not just marrying your mom, I’m also marrying you guys,” he remembers telling them over a boys’ night dinner. The twins happily agreed, and continue to hold him accountable — “Remember, you’re also married to me so you better give me good Christmas presents this year,” one recently quipped.

Not long after, Henry spoke to her parents, who live in Merrimack, where Hillary grew up. (Henry spent his childhood in Managua, Nicaragua, and moved to Merrimack in 2016.) Her mother helped Henry design an engagement ring inspired by a cocktail ring Hillary owned and longed to wear on a daily, forever basis.

When the couple asked Hillary's boys (from left: Dylan and Conner) how they'd like to be involved in the day, they replied, — When the couple asked Hillary’s boys (from left: Dylan and Conner) how they’d like to be involved in the day, they replied, “We’ll give a speech.” “Both of them of them gave the most beautiful, heartfelt speeches and toasts,” she says,. “They had everybody crying… for me, that was the best wedding gift we received.”Alexandra Foster/Lexi Foster Photography

As Henry finished his story and they approached the peak, they both heard an animal-like growl.

“It was a deer,” he says.

“I think it was a cougar-ish, apex predator type,” Hillary says. “So, we could have died.”

Empowered by the moment’s adrenaline and her pink faux fur jacket, she made herself as “big as possible” (she’s about 5′3″ to his 6′), raising her arms above her head and roaring aloud in response to the creature they estimate was “maybe 40 yards” away. She remembers thinking, “No way in hell, wild animal, you’re not disrupting my engagement!”

As Henry shone his phone’s flashlight into the surrounding woods, Hillary noticed a shooting star in the sky above them. When he missed it, he took it as a sign to propose, already.

They assumed the growling creature moved on as they spent the next 15 minutes crying and hugging after Hillary had answered, “Yes.”

On the trek back to the car, Henry saw a second shooting star: “What are the odds?” he says.

While the couple's dog, Lucky, was not in attendance, their officiant, Marianne Vold, wove a message to relay — While the couple’s dog, Lucky, was not in attendance, their officiant, Marianne Vold, wove a message to relay “his blessing over our union” into the ceremony.Lexi Foster Photography

Henry and Hillary met by accident. She was working as a scrum master — a type of project team coach/facilitator — for Fidelity Investments’ Merrimack campus in 2017 when she signed up for what she thought was an open learning session on deployment strategies. But when she arrived at the meeting, she realized it was meant to be a small team training.

Crossed wires had led to Henry’s meeting with his direct reports being published on a companywide events calendar.

“[It was] a little awkward, but also kind of funny,” Hillary remembers. “I’m a very social person, so I was like ‘Great, I get to network and meet all these new people.’”

Hillary oversaw the vision for the wedding day — including tiny disco balls, a nod to their proposal night — noting they picked Jimmy's for its turn-of-the-century woodworking and architecture contrasting with more modern furnishings. The ceremony was held in the venue's gallery, before guests went Upstairs at Jimmy's for dinner and dancing. — Hillary oversaw the vision for the wedding day — including tiny disco balls, a nod to their proposal night — noting they picked Jimmy’s for its turn-of-the-century woodworking and architecture contrasting with more modern furnishings. The ceremony was held in the venue’s gallery, before guests went Upstairs at Jimmy’s for dinner and dancing. Lexi Foster Photography

Henry, though, identifies as “reserved” — “I don’t smile at people. I don’t wave unless they wave me at first,” he says (with a smile). But he “wasn’t angry that she crashed my meeting,” he says. “I was more amused.”

Hillary was married at the time; her friendship with Henry began months later after he noticed Hillary’s copy of Randall Munroe’s “What if?,” a book that answers hypothetical questions using scientific evidence. “That book definitely opened him up and warmed him to me,” she remembers. “He became part of my social circle in the office.”

Hillary, who is now a strategy consultant, left Fidelity toward the end of 2019. She and her then-husband, with whom she shares twin boys, separated in spring 2020. Co-parenting through pandemic restrictions and lockdowns elongated and complicated the process, and when Henry texted that December, asking how his former colleague and friend was doing, Hillary filled him in.

One of Henry's favorite memories from the day was Hillary giving him high-fives — always two-handed — after their first dance. They had taken lessons to learn some ballroom tricks: — One of Henry’s favorite memories from the day was Hillary giving him high-fives — always two-handed — after their first dance. They had taken lessons to learn some ballroom tricks: “That was the thing I was most stressed about because, for me, that was the only part of the day that felt performative,” he explains. (They nailed it.)Alexandra Foster/Lexi Foster Photography

Henry was instantly sympathetic. He offered to listen, asked how she was coping, and how the boys were doing. Soon they were texting memes and music and movie suggestions, making plans to hang out as friends.

Their first kiss came months later at Mel’s Funway Park in Litchfield, N.H. Henry remembers Hillary’s hugs had begun to feel different around that time: “It felt like we were two pieces of a puzzle that are meant to go together.”

Hillary, now 38, and Henry, 35, married on July 26 at Jimmy’s Jazz & Blues Club in Dover, N.H., with 85 guests.

She walked down the aisle to a live strings arrangement of Elvis Presley’s “Can’t Help Falling in Love,” with her parents on each arm. Her sons, now 15, swapped with their grandparents at the aisle midpoint to join their mom on her path to the altar.

Henry had asked that they forgo the popular trend of a “first look” — when the photographer helps stage a private pre-ceremony moment for the couple see each other in their wedding attire for the first time. So Hillary’s ceremony entrance was the first time they saw each other on their wedding day.

“She looked so beautiful, and that’s when I stopped being nervous,” Henry remembers. “She looked so happy. She couldn’t stop smiling.”

“I felt like a kid on Christmas morning … I was grinning from ear-to-ear,” Hillary confirms. ”I had practiced all those very demure smiles — but no, I was just a grinning goofball.”

Read more from The Big Day, The Boston Globe’s new weddings column.

Rachel Kim Raczka is a writer and editor in Boston. She can be reached at rachel.raczka@globe.com.

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New Hampshire

Possible 2028 Democratic White House contenders weigh in on Iran with New Hampshire voters

Published

9 hours ago

March 10, 2026

Press Room

Possible 2028 Democratic White House contenders weigh in on Iran with New Hampshire voters

As the U.S.-Israeli war with Iran overtakes the foreign policy debate in Washington, two Democratic governors with potential 2028 presidential aspirations — Gavin Newsom and Andy Beshear — recently traveled to New Hampshire, introducing themselves to the state’s famously engaged voters. The two weighed in on the war and both criticized and questioned President Trump’s strategy and endgame.

“If a president is going to take a country into war, and risk the lives of American troops and Americans in the region, he has to have a real justification and not one that seems to change every five to 10 hours,” Beshear told CBS News after a Democratic fundraiser in Keene.

“This President seems to use force before ever trying diplomacy, and he has a duty to sell it to the American people and to address Congress with it,” Beshear continued. “He hasn’t done any of that. In fact, it appears there isn’t even a plan for what success looks like. He’s gone from regime change to strategic objectives and now is talking about unconditional surrender, which isn’t realistic where he is.”

Beshear also said he thought that Congress should have reined in Mr. Trump’s war powers.

“He is trying to ignore Congress. He’s trying to even ignore the American people,” Beshear said.

He went on to note that the president’s State of the Union address took place “three — four days before he launched this attack,” and Mr. Trump “didn’t even have the respect to tell the American people the threat that he thought Iran posed to us.”

Last week, both the House and the Senate failed to pass resolutions to limit Mr. Trump’s war powers and stop him from taking further military action against Iran without congressional support.

Democratic Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear speaks with voters in Keene, New Hampshire, on March 7, 2026.

Anne Bryson

For Newsom, the war with Iran constitutes part of a broader criticism of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

At an event last Tuesday in Los Angeles, Newsom had compared Israel to an “apartheid state.” Later, in New Hampshire, he sought to clarify his comment.

“I was specifically referring to a Tom Friedman [New York Times] column last week, where Tom used that word of apartheid as it relates to the direction Bibi is going, particularly on the annexation of the West Bank,” Newsom explained during a book tour event Thursday night in Portsmouth. “I’m very angry, with what he is doing and why he’s doing it, what he’s going to ultimately try to do to the Supreme Court there, what he’s trying to do to save his own political career.”

Friedman wrote that at the same time that the U.S. and Israel are prosecuting a war in Iran, within Israel, Netanyahu’s government has undertaken efforts to annex the West Bank, driving Palestinians from their homes; fire the attorney general who is leading the prosecution against Netanyahu for corruption; and block the government’s attempt to establish a commission to examine the failures that led up to the Oct. 7, 2023, massacre of Jews by Hamas.

CBS News has reached out to the Israeli Embassy in Washington, D.C., for comment.

On Iran, Newsom said, “I’m very angry about this war, with all due respect, you know, not because I’m angry the supreme leader is dead. Quite the contrary. I’m not naive about the last 37 years of his reign. Forty-seven years since ’79 — the revolution,” Newsom said. “But I’m also mindful that you have a president who still is inarticulate and incapable of giving us the rationale of why? Why now? What’s the endgame?”

California Democratic Gov. Gavin Newsom speaks with political commentator Jack Cocchiarella at an event in Portsmouth, New Hampshire, on March 5, 2026.

Anne Bryson

Many attendees at Newsom’s book event said that the situation in Iran is a top-of-mind issue for them, too. Some said they’re “horrified” by what is happening.

29-year-old Alicia Marr told CBS News she decided to attend Newsom’s event because of his social media response to the war with Iran.

“There was one spot left, and I decided to pick it up, and it was due to his response to the war, that it is just unacceptable, and I would agree with that,” Marr said.

While some voters like Marr are eager to hear about where potential candidates stand on foreign policy, many at Newsom’s event said they care most about how potential candidates plan to address domestic issues.

“I’m more focused on getting the middle class back on track and fighting the oligarchy, and I’m less invested in international issues,” said Anita Alden, who also attended Newsom’s event,

“I wouldn’t call myself America first, but we have so many problems at home that are my priority,” she told CBS News.

Former Vice President Kamala Harris, who may also be weighing another White House bid, told Fox 2 Detroit last week that she “unequivocally opposes” the Trump administration’s military action in Iran and urged Congress to take action.

“If we want to stop Donald Trump with this random decision that he has arrived at, then Congress must act, and Congress must act immediately. The American people do not want our sons and daughters to go into this unauthorized war of choice,” Harris said.

Mr. Trump has lashed out against Democrats who have pushed back on his Iran strategy, calling them “losers” last week and arguing that they would criticize any decision he made on Iran.

“If I did it, it’s no good. If I didn’t do it, they would have said the opposite, that you should have done this,” the president said.

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New Hampshire

Mass. man nabbed after allegedly driving over 100 mph in N.H.

Published

22 hours ago

March 9, 2026

Press Room

Mass. man nabbed after allegedly driving over 100 mph in N.H.

Local News

Police say the Attleboro man was driving 104 mph in a 55 mph zone on Route 202 near in Rindge, New Hampshire.

A Massachusetts man was arrested late Wednesday night after police say he was driving more than 100 mph on a New Hampshire roadway.

Officers with the Rindge Police Department stopped a vehicle shortly after 11 p.m. on Route 202 near Sears Drive in Rindge following a report of a car traveling at excessive speed, according to a statement from Chief Rachel Malynowski.

The vehicle, a 2020 Kia Stinger, was spotted traveling at 104 mph in a posted 55 mph zone, Malynowski said.

The driver, a 21-year-old man from Attleboro, was arrested and charged with reckless operation of a motor vehicle, according to police.

He is scheduled to be arraigned April 5. If convicted, the man faces a fine of at least $750, in addition to the court’s penalty assessment, and a 90-day license suspension, Malynowski said.