I spent the first 18 years of my life in Norwich, Conn. in the Eastern part of the state, aka “the other Connecticut”, not to be confused with the very different Western part of the state. My parents encouraged me to learn to play tennis, to sail, to ski and to play the cello.
I loved school. Norwich and many surrounding towns did not have a public high school. Rather, we were tuitioned into a private school, Norwich Free Academy. I took advanced placement courses in mathematics and science with 11 boys and Rill Ann Bellatone. We were quintessential nerds. Many of our teachers did not have “teaching certificates” but did have PhDs. And, I do believe that some of what we were taught was not generally available in other public high schools, like 4 years of Latin and chemistry and physics courses that earned us credits at UConn. I was also able to take an ethics course at Connecticut College.
Having spent 4 years in classes with mostly boys, I went to Smith, a women’s college. Rather than continuing in math & science, I studied philosophy and art history and spent hours designing and running lights for our local theatre productions. There were other excellent women’s colleges, but my main reason for choosing Smith at the time was that it is on the route to Vermont and I could get rides on weekends to Ludlow where my parents had a mobile home.
I had a checkered professional career that included working for an educational program at Yale, writing up blurbs for a show about lower Connecticut River architecture, at the State of Connecticut organizing training programs to Boston to work for the Department of Community Affairs where I transitioned to assisting public housing authorities then to community and economic development. After a stint at the Kennedy School, I tried my luck with a private developer/contractor. Yuck! Quit that in 1987 and moved permanently to the MRV.
Here in Vermont, I developed affordable housing at what is now Downstreet then left to become a consultant to central and northern Vermont non-profits who were building new or rehabilitating buildings. Clients included organizations providing for men and women transitioning from prison, interim housing for women fleeing from domestic violence, housing for homeless persons and families, and an affordable dental clinic. Best job ever!
My first visits to Vermont were with my father to buy gravestones for his funeral business. I was 9 and our route up here was the “five and dime”, aka Rts. 5 and 10 to White River Junction for lunch at the Polka Dot Diner, just closed a few years ago, then onto Barre for stone. In 1956, my father introduced us to skiing with weekend trips to Bromley and other southern areas. A few years later, we started skiing at Okemo in Ludlow. One year, there was no snow, so we kept heading north and ended up at Jay Peak which was just transitioning from a local area to a “real” ski area. I got bored at Okemo and started to take day trips to Killington and Pico…then kept venturing further until I found Mad River Glen and Sugarbush.
Whilst working in Boston in the early 70’s I joined a group renting a ski house in Warren. A few years later, I joined a group at Sam Mygatt’s house on Bragg Hill. His daughter still lives there. Larry & Karol Auer (who I now play tennis with) were housemates. In the late 70’s I moved to Winhall in western Mass. and commuted to Springfield for work.
In 81 I was back in Boston and back skiing in the Mad River Valley. At some point I started visiting more often in the summer, then spring, then fall. I bought a horse and started riding and playing tennis at SHARC. In 1987, having recently met my husband, hating my job, and deciding that my horse had a better life than mine, I quit my job and moved permanently to the MRV. Best decision ever.
I have now lived here longer than anywhere else, more than half my life in Vermont.
My father was an active Rotarian. When in Ludlow, he attended Rotary there often along with John Coolidge (Calvin’s son). My favorite memory of Rotary is a story many of you have heard before. In the early 1970’s our agency had a slide show about building reuse. Dad invited me to present the slide show but warned me that only our neighbor ever asked a question. There were lots of questions and my father beamed. Then he told me I was the first woman to attend a Rotary meeting in Norwich.
My standard poodle, Clara, and I live in Hiddenwood neighborhood in Fayston in a house we built in 1991.