Over a healthy lunch at Jake’s Market Café in Quechee, Sharin Luti and I talked about the inevitability of the Quechee Times doing her profile. “I’m not that interesting, really!” Sharin says. “Are you kidding?” I reply. If you live in Quechee, you likely know her or have felt her impact in some way. She is, in fact, a very interesting person! Here is her story.

As Luti puts it, “I’ve never been one to just sit down. When I was a kid, I was always running things. We used to stage circuses and fairs – I was always the director.”… Read More

Years ago, Conrad Richter (probably now best known for his wrenching short novel A Light in the Forest) wrote a trilogy about European settlers in the Ohio valley. The titles reveal the basic story: The Trees; The Fields; The Town. One character, a young girl in the first book, feels the oppressiveness of the dark, too-large-to deal-with trees in whose place the early settlers try to establish fields to grow food. By the end of the third book (which won the Pulitzer in 1951), she begins to plant trees.

Larry Potwin has also lived through “cycles of connection” with the land both for farming and for recreation in the Ottauquechee Valley, though in his case the cycles may resemble braided strands or a double helix, mixing farming and the insurance business.… Read More

What to Do is the title of an essay that Tim Martin wrote in response to the series of programs addressing issues of aging presented by the Quechee Lakes Community Affairs Committee (CAC) to the Quechee Lakes Landowners Association (QLLA) and the Upper Valley community. These programs were designed to help families and individuals make informed decisions and to plan ahead for those “life’s transitions” as we age. Programs addressed such topics as estate and financial planning, health care and advance directives, local resources in support of seniors and their families, and what you need to know if you want to stay at home.… Read More

I  met Bambi Koeniger with an email exchange about harvesting produce from the Quechee Community Garden. She and husband John were away and their tomatoes were abundant and very ripe. I had taken on the job of assuring that excess produce gets to The Haven—the homeless shelter and food bank in White River Junction. She asked that I go ahead and pick those tomatoes. I learned that she had been the primary Haven deliverer the year before and that her connection was even closer. The Haven is located next to St. Paul’s Episcopal Church and the two organizations often work together.… Read More

In German, berg means “mountain.” Does that mean Howard Trachtenberg was fated to love mountains? Those who know this cheerful man may well think so. In his home, at once cozy and sun-filled, that he designed, he leads the way to a comfortable study. The walls are lined with mementos such as a pastel portrait—obviously the gift of a friend—of Howard knee-deep in a brook, with fly-casting paraphernalia and a huge grin.

To celebrate his years of work and enjoyment at Quechee’s ski hill, where he and some of his colleagues founded and developed a ski patrol, family and friends donated a weather station to honor Trachtenberg’s 80th birthday.… Read More

Although we all might wish otherwise, the Nuestra Senora de Atocha is not a fine Spanish restaurant found in White River Junction. No, it is the name of a very old sailing ship, which was part of a treasure fleet that sailed from Havana in September of 1622. September, by the way, is the height of hurricane season in the Caribbean. In retrospect perhaps the captains should have known better but the conditions were perfect on September 4 and there was no weather channel to consult. What could go wrong? They all thought. The decision was made to set sail for Spain.… Read More

It’s such a good idea, someone must be doing it,” Hartford’s Sonja Hakala told her brother Mark. He had been skimming an AARP magazine and found an article about people donating small quilts for Alzheimer’s patients. Their own mother lay in bed, too weak from Parkinson’s disease to move under the full-size quilt Sonja had made for her—but what about a lap quilt? “You could do this, Sone,” her brother said. And she did.

Sonja is known as a fountain of ideas, both of projects and of how to accomplish them. She’s written and produced books on publishing, and she works helping authors develop and publish their books.… Read More

He did it without a hitch. Paul Luti in his 72nd year conquered his own golf challenge of “71 at 71,” and surpassed that goal by playing 91 holes in one day on the Quechee’s Lakeland and Highland courses. His effort had an added benefit for his favorite charity CHAD (The Children’s Hospital at Dartmouth-Hitchcock). “It was the easiest effort to raise an amazing $12,442,” he says. Luti used Facebook, and emails to friends and family, word-of-mouth to communicate his mission and offer some interesting ways to donate. Pledges based on holes played, number of birdies, pars and sandies were some of the choices.… Read More

If you live in Quechee, you might have seen Tom Jenkins in his Quechee Pro Shop uniform. He and brother, Will, have worked for the golf program for the past several years. On July 1, Tom donned a new uniform as he headed to Plebe Summer at the United States Naval Academy (USNA) in Annapolis, Maryland. Once he completes this rigorous six-week introduction to life at one of our outstanding military service academies, he will be dressed in an official USNA Midshipman’s uniform.

The USNA website describes Plebe Summer as a demanding orientation that begins four years of preparation of midshipmen to become naval officers.… Read More

Monica Collise, Garden Division Manager at Chippers, Inc., has grown up working in gardens. Her family runs a floral business in southern New Hampshire, near Concord, and Monica started helping as early as she could – even running her own small vegetable stand in the summer!

As she grew older, she began to help out more with the flower gar – dens, too. It was of little surprise to anyone around her when she chose to go to college and study an earth sci – ence; although she did stray a bit from the family’s “earth” focus and studied geology instead.… Read More