“It’s not an easy story,” says Hartford’s Parks and Recreation Director Tad Nunez. “If the grassroots people don’t get behind it, it could turn into a very ugly mess.” He’s talking about Dewey’s Pond, which needs help from the public if it is to revive and thrive. Help can range from persuading administrators and representatives to work on the issue to joining a milfoil-pulling party in the pond.

The pond is a former oxbow of the Ottauquechee River, just upstream from the Quechee Gorge. A 1940 photo shows the oxbow; “somewhere along the way,” says Nunez, the loop was dredged and the material used to form a dike between the river and what was now a pond. According to a history of Quechee, the dike was built in the early 1970s. Quechee Lakes Landowners Association built the dike with more than 60,000 cubic yards of dredged material, for about $250,000. Lake Pinneo was built around the same time.

Back in the day, the pond’s clarity appealed to swimmers, and it was deep enough to maintain a fishery of pike, bass and bluegills. In the winter, it offered skating and ice fishing. But the pond has been silting up slowly over the years, and Tropical Storm Irene, in August 2011, dumped a major load of silt and detritus into it. “The pond is filling up on its own,” says Nunez. “Irene just put it on fast-forward.” Invasive Eurasian milfoil that had been trying to establish a toehold in the pond flourished in the new, pond-wide shallows, overwhelming the efforts of remarkably devoted volunteers to beat back the infestation. Left alone, the pond will gradually silt in, becoming a swamp.

Action on the problem is complicated by layers of ownership. “It’s owned by the Army Corps of Engineers, managed by the State, leased to the Town and worked on by nearby people,” says Sheila Armen, who owns the Strong House Spa, which borders the pond. She remembers when the pond was clear, beautiful for swimming, “but now it’s too shallow—mucky and weedy. I don’t even ice skate. There are trees and washing machines that came down during Irene sticking up through the ice.”

“A lot of people have to come to the table to make this happen,” says Armen. “It’s not just milfoil; the earthen dam is wearing down, and the floor of the river is coming up,” so more water—and silt—goes over the dike. According to Nunez, the Corps has asked the State to come up with a plan, and indicated that the Town should not have been working on the pond (pulling milfoil) in the absence of a master plan. The Town has received a grant from the State for milfoil suppression.

Working hard in office and underwater

Some of Nunez’s greatest praise through this process is for Gary Pelton, until recently an environmental resource specialist for the Corps at the North Hartland Dam. He’s battled Dewey’s Pond milfoil since 2004. Even though Pelton now lives in Maine, Nunez says, “he still wrote the [milfoil control] grant. He’s coming back this summer. He’s an unsung hero—he spends 12 hours a day pulling milfoil, but he’s no fuss, no drama. I administer; he does.”

Pelton says, “In the past, it was mostly me. I’d spend seven or eight weeks; I’d live in a tent. But this summer I’m trying to line up help—college and high school kids—and I would like to get more local help.” He explains that the pond is so shallow since Irene that vegetation grows better. Milfoil grows up to the surface and then spreads out sideways, shading out other plants. “It’s so thick fish won’t go into it. Aquatic animals and insects that eat vegetation won’t eat it. And when it dies down in the winter and rots, that uses up the oxygen in the water, so it makes a dead zone.”

In some ways, the shallow water seems to make weeding easier, since, as Nunez says, “you used to work on the bottom by grabbing a breath and ducking underwater, but now you can walk right out there.” But, as any gardener knows, a heavy crop of weeds is very hard to deal with, and milfoil can start a new plant from broken bits not collected. So, it’s probably impossible to eradicate, but “we want to get the population as low as possible,” says Pelton. “Fifty percent [of the pond infested] is bad; ten percent, it’s possible to keep after.” Getting out with a group to work on the milfoil can be a party. The vegetation that’s removed can be composted or tilled into gardens to add humus—anything to keep it away from bodies of water!

Seeking Public Involvement

Nunez and others concerned to revive Dewey’s Pond held a couple of open meetings in the fall and winter to gather interested people and provide information. Getting the necessary permissions and funding is clearly going to be a difficult process, however. At this point in time, we have not been able to get the Corp to come to the table,” says Tad, and nothing can be done to repair the pond without their agreement. “My job,” says Nunez, “is to say ‘What’s the consensus?’” But he clearly has opinions about what should happen: “If it fills up with milfoil it’ll be worse than those 1967 hospital green hallways.”

Want to lend a hand? Contact Tad Nunez at Hartford Parks and Rec (tnunez@hartford-vt.org). Visit the Save Dewey’s Mill Pond page on Facebook.

“What did we have for snack today?” The teacher asks a group of kindergartners slowly gathering together. “PANCAKES!!!” is the unanimous, loud and long answer from the kids. The next question is a little more difficult “What kind of book is a cookbook?” teacher Erika Wetzel asks with fewer kids managing a response, their inflection evoking a question: “nonfiction?” This time it’s the teacher’s response that is loud and excited “YES!” while most of us adults are impressed and clap in response with the rest of the students joining in.

It sounds like we’re standing in a typical kindergarten classroom waiting for the kids to line up after snack or play time. Except we’re not in a classroom. I’ve been led by school principal Cathy Newton five minutes up and down some mud-seasoned trails behind the Ottauquechee school. Here, the kids aren’t just distracted with each other or shelves full of toys: some are watching teacher Meg Teachout pour water on the last remnants of the fire that cooked the pancakes earlier, while some are still stacking “wood cookies” (thin pieces of sawed off logs). Two girls carry a long branch, one on either end, with their snow pants and lunch bags hanging from the middle of the stick “we’re the caboose” they tell me while waiting patiently for the line of classmates to form.

Welcome to an outdoor classroom

As far as the outdoor classroom goes there is a small three-sided, topless wood structure standing nearby for firewood storage next to a big fire pit which has a circle of log seating around it. A larger log structure with a hillside serving as the back wall stands a little further off with a tarp for a roof. A lot of the kids have left their jackets and mittens in there on this unseasonably warm day. A little before this area we passed a simple circle of logs cut flat for sitting. The “sit spot” is where I’m told the day outside really begins with each student sitting in their own chosen space to focus on the environment around them: Has it changed since you were here last week? Why do you think the moss is greener this week? Did you hear anything new? Science and math lessons come from a daily temperature check, measuring the water in the stream through the year and making graphs and charts from the data. A forest alphabet book is under construction and each child journals weekly about their time in the woods.

As Newton introduced me to the trail we were joined by Eliza Minnucci who walked with us while a bright-eyed toddler in a baby backpack bounced above her shoulders. Minnucci is the closest thing to a founder for the Ottauquechee Kindergarten Forest and, while currently on family leave, remains close and active with the Forest Kindergarten. She is also kept busy fielding questions about the Forest Kindergarten from Hawaii to Michigan through the blog the students and teachers keep at ForestKinder.org and ThoreauThursdays.wordpress.com. “It’s pretty unique nationally, and we’re starting to see some more local schools start similar initiatives. Strafford and Hartland have programs where kids are getting outdoors one day a week.” Forest Kindergartens have been popular in Europe for decades and Minnucci’s statement is backed with the knowledge of the national attention the Ottauquechee program has received through National Public Radio.

A few of the American programs are based on spending some learning time outdoors, some are garden focused and others like the Ottauquechee Forest Kindergarten integrate the outdoor component and gardening. The kids go outside in most weather conditions and inclusiveness is taken seriously as every child is provided with whatever it takes to get them outside comfortably for the school day once a week. The school garden was just cleared and tilled a few weeks ago. Minnucci tells me the program was born through the KinderGuiding program she started at the Ottauquechee School in 2011. That program brought local retirees into the school to help with four outdoor-based activities a year, the final activity of the year being a kindergarten-sized hike on the Appalachian Trail.

Minnucci’s training in education spans the world from Spain to Mexico to above the Arctic Circle where she was an education coordinator, home visitor manager and preschool teacher employed by the Council of Athabascan Tribal Government in Fort Yukon, Alaska for several years. Her ties to the places she learned to teach, is evident in her inspiration and motivation. After the KinderGuiding program proved a success she spoke with Newton about getting the kids outdoors not just four times a year but once a week. Newton was convinced to try out the idea. Meg Teachout was hired to help and collaborate with Minnucci, the program was formalized, grants were written, requested and thankfully received.

The success of the Kindergarten Forest spawns other programs at Ottauquechee

The Kindergarten Forest officially started in the fall of 2013. This year is a “turning point” for the program. Federal grants want to see sustainability; a new program should demonstrate self-sufficiency within a few years. Grant funders have included the Byrne Foundation, Mascoma and the Wellborn Ecology Fund. All the fire-cooked snacks are provided by a local foundation that provides only Vermont foods. The turn toward local funding is imperative in order to provide the few extra teachers needed with a group of kindergartners in the woods and each year presents a new challenge in this regard. The school recently set up a Go Fund Me account to help ensure the continuity of the program next year.

Rebecca Whitney is a local resident whose two young kids have gone through the Kindergarten Forest at the Ottauquechee School. “Both my son and daughter gained so many skills from being part of the outdoor classroom: confidence in problem solving as they worked things out in new ways, an appreciation for nature in every season, the ability to reflect quietly as well as work together with their classmates to achieve goals, and a sense of endurance as they trudged out every week, no matter what the weather!”

More programs are branching out of the Forest Kindergarten. Fourth and fifth graders can join the “Wolves on Parade” group that walks the forest after school hours to clean up the natural area surrounding the school. A bid was put into the local high school for the forestry class to come and fell trees that need to be taken down: something the kindergarten class learned about when a local professional came in to help identify potential hazards, marking them with the class to be watched and eventually taken down. The Upper Valley Waldorf School brings their pre-schoolers over to the outdoor classroom once a week. Minnucci, parents and the school hope to create perpetuity for the program, and a strong awareness of the program’s presence in the community through further connections with local residents and organizations. Students and teachers are happy and excited to come to school and now the only challenge that remains is to create total sustainability for the Forest Kindergarten from local communities and from within the school.

Margot and Gary Ott are a study in contrasts. They are well aware of this, and play up their different approaches to entertain family and friends. She’s chatty; he’s initially reserved. She likes travel and being outside; he likes crosswords and a good book. They share a strong commitment to God and family.

But beneath their different styles is a deep commitment and shared effort that—together with faith—have helped Gary and Margot build a marriage that recently passed its 45th year. The phrase “salt of the earth” comes to mind as they recount their lives: working in worthwhile positions; rearing three capable children, two girls and a boy; and engaging with the communities they’ve joined in retirement.

Their beginnings

Gary and Margot met through a dating service. “We must have hit it off,” says Gary, “because we dated in September and married in February.” In spite of taking 17 years off to be a stay-at-home mother, Margot built a career as a French teacher, based on an early foundation. When she was a student in public school in New Jersey in the 1950s, foreign language teaching started in the third grade—at the time a radical idea. Margot’s school alternated between French and Spanish. It was obviously a successful program, years later, when Margot was teaching French, the school’s Spanish teacher was someone who had been in the class behind her.

Margot eased into teaching, working first as a sub, where she was known as “the Ott children’s mother,” and eventually becoming a full-time French teacher. She taught everything from sixth grade to advance placement (AP) classes.

Gary Ott with one of his MVCS golf teams.

Gary worked as a systems engineer with Bell Labs from 1969 to 1997, then he moved to Tycom, working on undersea fiber-optic cable. At Bell Labs, “I was in on the early development of cell phones,” he explains, “working on analysis of propagation—how strong a signal was.” Researchers struggled to overcome such problems as signals bouncing off buildings. At the time, designers thought the phones would be installed only in cars; “no one thought that hand-held phones would work well,” says Gary. The term cell came from the coverage areas, known as cells, where land-based antennas communicated with the phones, handing off the connection as a phone moved away into another cell’s zone. Gary admits to being “one of the last” to get his own cell phone. “Our kids keep us up with technology,” he laughs.

Before the breakup of AT&T in 1984, Bell Labs was much more idealistic and devoted to pure research, says Gary. Then the business steadily decreased its idealism and the feeling of working to serve society; the importance of projects with a near-term financial payoff increased. Gary retired from Tycom in 2001 after the 9/11 attacks.

Moving to Quechee

The Otts’ oldest daughter suggested to Margot that she apply to teach at Mid-Vermont Christian School (MVCS). The Otts were familiar with the Upper Valley from visiting their children—all three went to Dartmouth College—so the thought of retiring to the area was appealing. In 2005, they sold their home in New Jersey and moved north. “It felt like God was opening all doors,” says Gary.

Though “retired,” Margot taught French and Spanish at the MVCS, and Gary taught AP Physics and Calculus classes, even though the small size of the school often made it hard to field a class. “I developed a respect for teachers,” he says. According to Margot, “Kids are kids the world around, though at MVCS there aren’t the discipline problems. I was really impressed with the professional attitude of the teachers. They do it as a ministry—the salaries are low. It’s for the love of the Lord and the love of the kids.”

Back row: Russell Ott, Vivienne Ott, Patty Ott, Gary Ott, Julia Ott, Margot Ott, Michelle Batt, Robert Batt; Front row: Natalie Ott, Annika Batt, Peter Batt

Gary started and coaches the MVCS golf team. There are only about ten students per grade, so the school “encourages kids to do all sorts of things, because they need people for teams, music, and so on,” explains Gary. “We’ve tried to connect the school with the community and vice versa,” adds Margot, who promotes gardening at the school. MVCS elementary school students are excitedly anticipating the fruits of their labors in the three small gardens they planted last fall; they are also raising monarch butterflies and releasing them—all projects that get kids involved outdoors, and were supported by a grant from the Quechee Garden Club, of which, Margot is an active member.

Another community the Otts have joined is the Valley Bible Church. They help out in all sorts of ways: welcoming people, opening and closing the building, kitchen work and childcare. They discovered the church because their daughters, Michelle and Julia, attended it while they were at Dartmouth.

Other pleasures of retirement

Touring Washington, DC.

Over the years, the Otts have enjoyed numerous trips to Europe, and several to Hawaii. “We travel on a shoestring,” says Margot. “We go on our own, not with a tour. We rent a car.” Much as they might like to see the Holy Land, a reasonable caution has kept the pair out of Israel, but they’ve been to other biblical sites, “places where Paul preached,” says Gary, adding with awe in his tone, “They’re not crowded at all, and you can go stand on a rock where Paul preached!”

While Gary might prefer to stay home with a good book and a tough puzzle, he has enjoyed these trips as he has catered to Margot’s wish to travel. “He wants to please his wife,” she teases, smiling at Gary. A smile lifts just the corners of his mouth as he, says, “I like to keep my sweetheart happy.”

Ian Maccini may not have grown up in Quechee, but he certainly left his mark. He was a competitive ski racer on the Quechee Ski Team and put those skills to good use when he started coaching the Mountain Team in the winter of 2003-2004. Racers on the Mountain Team are the skiers who are ready to start racing but haven’t been taught how yet he explains.

While he grew up in Providence, RI, Maccini lived for skiing in Quechee. His parents, Bob and Kristen, own a condo on the top of the mountain. Even now, as Maccini finishes his sophomore year at Providence College, Quechee remains a town he loves, “Everyone is close by. It’s a better way to spend the weekend. Rather than being stuck inside, you can be outside doing really fun stuff and enjoying the winter.” Born and raised or not, he sounds like a lot of Vermonters I know!

Sailing his other passion

One of the most amazing activities Maccini participates in, however, is sailing. Not only is he the Commodore of Providence College’s Sailing Team, but he also races his own sailboat.

Maccini explains that he bacame Commodore, or head, of the sailing team, “just because of having a whole bunch of graduating seniors, and I guess I was one of the more dedicated people so I was voted in. Usually you don’t get elected until you are a junior, but I was lucky enough to get elected this year.”

He was dedicated to the sailing team before he even started his freshman year. Maccini had a few friends who were on the sailing team, but he was also talking to the coaches over the summer so he was able to come in, join the team, and get started right away.

Maccini tried out other sports, too. He rowed crew in 8th and 9th grade, before deciding that sailing was the water sport for him. He also ran cross country in the fall throughout high school.

Along with his dedication to the Providence College Sailing Team, he races his own 19-foot sport sail boat called a VX ONE in Newport, RI in the summer, and Florida in the winter.

Sailboats built for racing are crafts entirely different from the large boats with cabins below that float across bodies of water, sometimes speeding along, sometimes ambling. The VX ONE is a boat built only for speed, not for comfort; but it’s amazing to look at pictures of sailors hanging off the edge or the back of the boat, holding onto the lines so they might change direction at any moment. Of course, the boat can be used for casual sailing as well, but beware you will have wet feet by the end!

While he’s the Commodore of the boat, occasionally his dad, Bob, will compete, or other members of the sailing team. Usually Maccini is on board though; he said they almost always sail with three people, as is recommended. What’s his favorite part of sailing? “I just like being on the water. I am a bigger fan of being on the water than on land.”

Maccini loves to teach sailing as well as skiing. In the summers, he teaches at Sail Newport, working with the little kids on their first sailing adventures.

Prior to college, he took a gap year where he worked at a boat building company and became seriously involved with boats and sailing. That year, he worked there in the fall, came up to Quechee to coach the ski team and went back to work in the spring.

It was really interesting, he noted, learning so much about how the boats work, how they are built before they are put out on the water. The knowledge he gained from that helped him to be a more successful racer, as well as solidifying his passion for boats.

Now busy majoring in business/finance at Providence College as well as being on the sailing team, he no longer has time to coach the Quechee Ski Team, but that doesn’t mean he isn’t around. Wherever there is an opportunity to be outside and race, be it skiing or sailing, Maccini is happy to be there.

Between the months of May and September, the Queche Base Lodge is a hive of activity. Golfers come and go picking up goodies and refreshments for the Highlands back nine. In the front hallway they walk past a shuttered opening on top of a high desk and if they’ve enjoyed a Vermont winter they wouldn’t know that the opening is heart and soul of Quechee Club as soon as the snow falls. Of course, I’m talking about the ski school and once again, returning for the 33rd straight year, Ken Kramberg will be at the helm.

Kramberg’s story is not that of a typical Vermont ski school dynasty and in a way that makes it more special. When I asked him where he grew up skiing he replied, “I didn’t, I grew up in New York City in a part of Queens, surfing.” It wasn’t until junior high school that he had his first skiing experience. As part of a Boy Scout troop, Kramberg headed north of the city to a small ski area called Ski Minne. Throughout high school he made frequent trips with his Boy Scout troop as well as with family friends. These trips fostered a love for the great outdoors that has continued his entire life. At 13 he became involved with the Appalachian Mountain Club Climbing Group where he developed into an experienced hiker, rock climber and even ice climber. But the great outdoors was not his only calling.

Kramberg is a man of uncommon passion and dedication. After graduating from Brooklyn College with a major in both film studies and special education, in 1977 he was hired as a special educator at Hartford High School. He started his 30-year career working with children with cognitive disabilities. Eventually he specialized in helping children with emotional and behavioral disorders have a happy, healthy and successful academic experience. Kramberg started as a special educator and ultimately became a coordinator and then director of the Regional Special Education Collaborative. He designed and created the Wilder School, an alternative school in the Hartford school district, and also the Hartford Autism Regional Program, which helps kids on the autism spectrum. His job at Hartford High School was what also brought him to the Quechee Club.

In 1978, Carol Wheeler, then co-director of the Quechee Ski School with her husband, was working as a counselor at Hartford. She asked Kramberg if he would come on board as a Nordic ski instructor and for two years he did just that. During his down time at the club (in between lessons) Wheeler taught him how to teach alpine ski lessons. With a lifetime of experience in outdoor recreation, he was a fast learner and in his third year he became an alpine as well as Nordic instructor. When the Wheelers decided to leave the ski school in 1983, they picked Kramberg to be their successor.

Today Kramberg is certified by the Professional Ski Instructors of America. As head of the ski school he works with thirty-five instructors that teach lessons in Nordic skiing, alpine skiing, telemarking and snowboarding. There are morning and afternoon group lessons for children ages 4 to 7 and also 8 to 12, as well as daily adult group lessons. For the most enthusiastic skiers there are also both private and semi-private lessons.

Kramberg has also worked for the past few years as a statewide education consultant with a contract with the University of Vermont where he completed his Master’s degree and has been an adjunct faculty member for several years.

Filling Life’s Stage

I love an audience,” Eleonora Stein proclaims. Throughout her life she has found audiences, in her careers as dancer, singer and teacher. Now 89, she has lived a full and active life that’s provided her with many stories and collections of memorabilia—and she continues to accumulate anecdotes and events. “All the world,” even each local village street, is her stage.

“Mme. Stein,” as she is known to her ballet students, speaks with enthusiasm and precision—and presumably with accuracy—of her life and experiences. “I was born in Budapest on August 16, 1926,” she says. “This year I’ll be 90 years old! In 1938, I arrived with my mother on October 10 in New York. My mother’s father got the visa. We went through Berlin, and the train stopped in a huge Bahnhof—train station. They wouldn’t let us get off the train. The glass dome, the roof, was hung with gigantic swastikas from one end to the other.”

“My father and brother left the next year; they were sneaked out,” continues Mme. Stein. The family was Jewish—their name was Reich. She converted to Catholicism in the 1950s. “When we arrived, we lived with my grandfather on 72nd Street. My mother was excellent in needlework. She worked for an outstanding costumer in New York, and went to night school to learn English. I went directly to school—I didn’t like that! I learned English in three months and started writing for the school newspaper. And soon I was a well-known figure in school because of dance.”

All artistic endeavors appealed to the young Erika (Mme. Stein’s birth name). One day in a music class she noticed an empty front row and rushed up to claim it. When the class sang an aria from Faust, she gave it her all. “The teacher was listening,” she recalls, “ and said, ‘Erika, come up and sing it yourself,’ and the class applauded. Of course, all I needed was an audience,” she laughs.

Press photo from The Roxy Theatre.

The pretty child who had taken many dance classes in Budapest, and also performed there in children’s theater and short films, had disappointments as well as successes. In New York she attended the High School of Music and Art (which existed from 1936 to 1984), beginning in 1941, but her dance career ran into problems. Too early work in ballet on pointe in her early childhood had injured her feet, and doctors discovered she had a slight heart murmur, which in those days was treated with complete rest. “They gave me a pass to use the elevator—can you imagine!,” she exclaims. “It was such a heartbreaker.” Making lemonade out of lemons, she began taking voice lessons.

In the 1950s, Mme. Stein performed under the name Erica Bard (an Americanization of her grandmother’s name, Bardos) at The Roxy Theater, and toured with the company. At times she worked with her family: her father designed toys, including an angel Christmas-tree topper, which shows up in movies (including The Bishop’s Wife, and Holiday Inn). “I was the fastest on the assembly line,” she recalls. “I always had to shine. I’m a ham from way back.” In 1958, Stein became her name with her marriage to Hal Stein, who was her supervisor at a graphics company. The couple lived in New Jersey, where their two sons still live­—one a police sergeant and the other a corporate vice president. Mme. Stein is still in touch occasionally with Hal, though they divorced in the 1970s and he has remarried.

Settling in Vermont

Around 1985 she moved to Woodstock. She has been known in this area as a teacher of dance, and she still has an occasional student. “The Russian style is what I teach. Arm movements are very important,” she says. “Like this, graceful!,” she demonstrates by moving her arms through several canonical positions with a smooth, lilting, continuous flow. “Not like this!,” as she moves her arms from down to up then to side and front in a stop-action style.

Press photo from her days as a singer.

Mme. Stein’s cozy apartment displays mementos of her activities over the years. Photos of herself and her family fill the walls, along with children’s drawings, paintings and sketches she has done, and works by friends. A treasured souvenir is a newspaper article telling of her visit to London’s Royal Ballet, signed by some of the company’s greats, including famous ballet dancers Margot Fonteyn and Rudolf Nureyev.

As she faces the challenges of age, Mme. Stein remains valiant. She can no longer drive, but she cuts a notable figure when she walks, wearing “my fur jacket, my beautiful fur boots, my fur hat, and of course my gold pocketbook.” As a visitor reaches to pick up a fallen item since Madame has difficulty with her knees, she exclaims, “No, no! I don’t want help. I do it myself.”

Hunter Hall, 30, of Quechee, VT, had a few new experiences this past summer that were pretty amazing, culminating in winning the bronze medal in golf at the Special Olympics World Games in L.A. Hunter and his parents, Allen and Sally, and his brother, Camden, are all avid golfers often visible on the Quechee course. Although Sally can’t remember at exactly what age Hunter started golfing, it was somewhere during his middle school years (with two boys close in age, who can remember anything?) Allen had been golfing but, as Sally said, as the boys took an interest, she took up golfing, too, so it could be a family activity.

At first, Hunter lacked the coordination to put the ball on the tee, or to hit on the fairway, so he had some help and practice shots throughout the rounds. He is a very visual learner, his mother noted, (he never had a lesson but, rather, picked up the game by watching and playing.)

He began competing in the Special Olympics during his junior year of high school. He competed in bowling and snowshoeing, as well as golf. Over time, he grew to be a stronger golfer on his own, and outgrew the need to have an able-bodied player as part of his team by the time it was required for him to compete on his own. He then qualified for the World Games by winning the gold medal at the Vermont Special Olympic Games in 2013.

Hunter had to stop bowling along with the rest of us in the Upper Valley when the Upper Valley Lanes and Games in White River Junction shut down. He’s not the only one to be incredibly disappointed. Sally recounted her love of a program that Dartmouth College students used to run on Tuesdays there with the members of the Special Olympics. Sally noted that, while sometimes they would just be bowling, the students would sometimes have the music and lights going, dancing with the kids. And, she said, “they all loved it”.

Hunter still snowshoes, but golf is his main focus as a competitive sport. He collects logo and signed golf balls—as many as he can. He has thousands of them decorating his room at home. He also is lucky enough to have a practice putting green in his basement.

Hunter’s journey to the Special Olympics World Games

Made the putt!

This past summer, Hunter was one of 7,000 athletes from 177 nations participating in the Special Olympics World Games 2015. For the first week, Hunter, and the rest of the participants, were flown to San Diego for qualifying, without parents. He hadn’t spent much time away from his, but with Hunter’s happy, kind personality, he had no trouble fitting in anywhere.

Allen, Hunter’s dad, caddied for him the whole week of the competition, and Sally and his brother Camden flew to L.A. to watch and cheer him on. Perhaps having all his family around brought some luck, because despite four abnormally hot days of competition, Hunter shot rounds of 104, 103, 102, 103—412 total, giving him enough of an advantage to win the bronze medal.

In an August interview with the Valley News, Missy Rodriguez, one of Hunter’s coaches in the Upper Valley Hawks Special Olympics program, said, “He’s the man… He’s a great adult. He has a great personality, very energetic. He smiles all the time and loves to know what’s going on. And he loves to be involved in whatever he can be involved in.”

Missy Rodriguez isn’t the only one who feels that way about Hunter. Craig Sherpa, a retired Marine Corps drill instructor, began coaching Hunter last winter to get his skills up and ready for the big games. Craig commented, in the same Valley News article, that anyone who gets a chance to meet Hunter will be meeting “one of the most beautiful human beings I have ever met.”

Sally also hinted towards Hunter’s love for others and that winning might not even have been the biggest highlight. Meeting people and making new friends is what really makes Hunter happy. He was also thrilled when Michelle Obama was one of the guests at the opening ceremonies.

Hunter, left, and, Dad, Allen.

“Hunter is Mr. Patriotic. Mr. Red, White and Blue,” Sally said.

Now that he’s got his medal, Hunter certainly hasn’t sat back on his laurels. He’s one that never stops moving. He has a job delivering the D (the Dartmouth newspaper) across his campus route, as well as working at Dan & Whits a local store in Norwich, VT. He’s golfing, practicing and playing with his fellow Upper Valley Hawks Special Olympics team and, likely, inspiring many others to dream about making it to the World Games.

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.” Over her life, she honed the skills involved in running those hometown circuses—creative, technical and administrative—resulting in a successful professional career, active community involvement and commitment, many artistic pursuits and loving family and friends.

Let’s start with how she got to Quechee. Luti was raised along the New Jersey Shore and always thought that she would end up retiring near the ocean. She went to graduate school in Boston—where she met husband Paul—wondering why anyone would live that far north! They settled in Andover, MA (yes north of Boston!), brought up their two children and pursued careers.

In 1977, the Lutis decided that they wanted a vacation retreat. And Luti continued to migrate north to Quechee. “We had to be less than two hours from Andover and wanted a multi-season place. We stopped in Quechee when returning from a ski trip. We liked the village and the low-key atmosphere. We bought a lot, built a modest home (doing much of the work ourselves), and enthusiastically started coming up on weekends.”

Luti’s career in Information Technology

Meanwhile, back in Andover, Luti was pursuing a successful career in the Information Technology (IT) field. As she looks back on her professional success, she reflects on the influences and “guardian angels” that helped to direct her, and specifically helped her to see that being female in a primarily male field could be an advantage. As she looked to going to college, her father suggested that, “I major in math because it was not a female field. He said, ‘You will be different.’” Although she thought she would minor in art, her “amazing” college mentor pointed out that she would really stand out in a male field if she minored in physics—and that is what she did, math and physics. She put herself through college at Fairleigh-Dickinson in New Jersey. Her mentor maintained his confidence in her and told her that she “must go to graduate school.” She went to Boston College with a teaching fellowship in math.

Sharin Luti

There were certainly challenges. Early on she was assigned to lead a technical project for a man who felt that a woman did not possess the skills required for the task. Unaware of his feelings (beyond the fact that he was tough), Luti led her team to a successful conclusion. Later that man confided that his opinion of women in the technical work force had changed, in a positive way, as a result of this success. “People who quietly get the job done and demonstrate competence do make a difference,” she says.

Luti says that, “All along the way, someone helped. You run your life and you don’t really think about things. Now I think about these wonderful people who helped me learn how to be strong.” In her 27 years at Dynamics Resource Corp. (DRC) in Massachusetts, she was the first female department manager and the first female vice president. She mentored many men and women, and sees herself as a trailblazer for women in the work force.

And now Quechee and the Upper Valley are reaping the rewards of Luti’s experience and competence. There was a brief period when the Luti family didn’t get to Quechee much, and they put the house up for sale because they used it so rarely. Fortunately, it didn’t sell. Once their kids were grown, they abandoned the idea of retiring in Boston (or more south) and moved permanently to Quechee. They have been full-time residents here since 2001.

The two “kids”—Brian and Stacy—are grown and the Luti’s now have three grandchildren, Taylor Marie (10), Rowan (9) and Henry (6). Stacy, a baker at the Woodstock Farmer’s Market, and Taylor Marie live in Quechee. Brian is a Lieutenant Colonel in the Army (with two Iraq and two Afghanistan tours) stationed in Hawaii. When Luti asked him why he wanted to apply for a ROTC Scholarship when he was at the University of Vermont, Brian said, “Because you always told us you have to give back and this is my way.” Luti explains, “And this is a kid who wasn’t allowed to play with guns when he was little.”

Focus on Community

Luti has always been involved in her community and found volunteer opportunities in Quechee when she was close to retirement and had more time. She was a QLLA Trustee from 2004 – 2010 and has served on a number of Quechee Lakes Landowners Association (QLLA) committees. She also volunteered at the Quechee Library.

She has co-chaired the Children’s Hospital at Dartmouth-Hitchcock (CHaD) Classic/Gala fundraiser with Gail Ferney since 2003. These events have contributed over two million dollars to CHaD over the past 30 years. Overseen by QLLA Charities, Inc. (of which Luti is the secretary), she describes the events as a “tribute to the generosity and caring nature of the Quechee community. There are so many people who contribute their time, money and passion for a good cause.” She has served on the CHaD Board in the past and is now a CHaD “community leader.” Her Upper Valley service also includes active volunteer support of Women’s Information Services (WISE), Dartmouth-Hitchcock Medical Center, DISMAS House and The Quechee Elves.

An Artist at Heart

2015 CHaD Gala committee.

And then there is the artistic and creative side of Luti. She tells me that “creativity runs in the family. “My mother made most of our clothes, did beautiful embroidery and taught me to sew.” When in college, Luti especially enjoyed her elective art classes—even more than those exciting math and physics ones! She is now an accomplished quilter (perhaps you have seen her work at the Billings Farm Quilt Show where she has won awards). She has branched out into making jewelry and a line of stylish jackets of specially imported rayon batik. She and several other women have formed the Crafty Ladies of the Upper Valley (CLUV). CLUV organizes and also shows their wares at the annual Quechee Artisan Fair.

So what is Luti doing in Quechee now? She is “enjoying all it has to offer with my family and friends. She enjoys many of the amenities, but says that, “At the top of my list are the people. The people here are involved, energetic, engaging and diverse. They are also very caring and generous. And it is such a beautiful place. When viewing the richness of color that blankets our hillsides in the fall, Brian who was three at the time remarked, ‘God is a really good painter.’ How true.”

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. This past summer he built and ran a farm stand on his property on Quechee-West Hartford Road, not far from the intersection with Quechee Main Street.

In addition to the produce that he grows and buys from local farms, Potwin has filled the farm stand with interest ing details, such as an old-fashioned wood cook stove—connecting to his history and Vermont’s. The wide planks that top the counters in the farm stand are from a 50-year-old tree that he cut with his father. He has a pony and some goats, and hopes to expand the animal collection, because, as he says, “I love to have kids come here to have a chance to be with animals, to be outside.” The day after Thanksgiving he’ll be selling Christmas trees and wreaths.

Potwin’s farming roots

Some of Potwin’s earliest memories revolve around his parents rising early to prepare the morning meal and do chores—milking a small herd “of Jerseys” he says with pride. “My dad and mom used to get up at 5 am every day and milk the cows, have breakfast, and then my dad would go logging all day and get home about 6 pm, eat supper and go milk again.” Even as busy as his father was, Potwin remembers the little black pony he had when he was five. His father found time to build a little red sleigh for the pony to pull around the yard.

Potwin soon accepted that his place in the family carried with it an obligation to pitch in. “Kids on a farm learn about life very fast and at a young age,” he says—he was driving a tractor at age eight. “There is never enough help. Farm kids learn a lot about animal care as preschoolers, and everything from mechanical work to growing food, sewing. And most of all, how to put in a good day’s work, which taught me that you can accomplish anything you want.” Farm families were often very large, to provide more hands for the work. Potwin was the only boy among four siblings, while his father, Roger, was one of fifteen children. His mother, Beverly Blood, was one of ten living on the Highland Homestead Farm on Hillside Road, which is still in the family.

When Potwin’s father gave up the strenuous life of a logger in Randolph, Vermont, Roger became a realtor, and so did Beverly. The family moved to Taftsville, while not a great distance, it was a big change for Potwin and his three sisters. “Today my father couldn’t be a realtor because he had no high school degree,” he says. Roger had also been a realtor, at Woodstock’s Strout Realty, driving prospects to farms in his Model T Ford pickup in the ’40s and ’50s.

Potwin learned about selling from his father. “I was always going with my dad, so I learned, as Vermonters say, ‘the gift of gab.’ I knew every property. One day my parents both had appointments to show property and a couple came in that wanted to see a piece of land. Dad said ‘Larry, go with them and show them the [property] lines.’ Sure enough, they bought it! I was so proud. I was about 10 years old.” Most of the farms, he says, ranged from 50 to 200 acres, and they sold for $10,000 to $20,000.

The Potwin family moves to Quechee

“In 1965,” he recalls, “my dad saw a piece of land in Quechee with big red barns and 80 acres for $10,000. He knew it had great potential so he offered to buy it from the owner, Merle Henderson, if Merle would finance it with $1,500 down. My mom said he was crazy, since they owned almost a thousand acres at the time. Little did they know that John Davidson was thinking about starting a huge development right next door at the Quechee Fells Farm. We fixed up the barns and cut all the lumber in the summer of 1969 to build a five-bedroom farmhouse. My dad always said, ‘Don’t buy lumber if you have the trees.’ I was able to run all the logging equipment, and learned a lot from my uncle Harold, my dad’s brother, who was a top-notch carpenter.”

Potwin was delighted to move back to Quechee. What kid wouldn’t want to live in Quechee, he laughs, when all the kids in town could ski for free? He put some of the earliest tracks on the hill, he claims, before the chairlift was running, when he got a ride up the hill in the snowcat. He went to high school in Hartford and took electrical and building courses.

In the mid-1970s Potwin received his real estate license, but the market was bad at the time and he turned to selling cars, and also worked as a financial advisor for MetLife and a district sales coordinator for Aflac. There he became one of the top annuity salesmen. At 19, he married Lynn, and a year later moved with her into a new house he was building himself. “We moved into it unfinished, but we loved it since we had no mortgage, and were both working other jobs.”

Back to his farming roots

Quechee is a microcosm of what some parts of Vermont have become, observes Potwin. He hopes his farming and farm stand venture will become self-sustaining, a model for the future, but he knows his success depends on the support of the community. He’s delighted to share the beauty and benefits of life in Vermont with those escaping overcrowded places, though he recognizes—especially since his family has been so intimately involved with the changes—the potential for the hills to sprout nothing but houses. “Will it prove to be as in past years that Vermont farm land is more profitable for growing houses than for growing vegetables?” says Potwin. “I do think Quechee Lakes was great for Quechee,” he adds. “It put a lot of people to work and resurrected an old mill town. My dad always said these hills and woods weren’t much good for anything else but home sites.”

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. Martin, a Quechee resident, hosted a discussion entitled “Senior Living Options: Finding Your Place,” a very informative session about senior housing alternatives.

Martin is knowledgeable and very passionate about “helping to find the right living environment for aging family members.” Martin has devoted his entire 35-year professional career to this topic and wants to share that expertise with the Quechee community. Martin is a member of the sub-committee of the CAC focused on life’s transitions, and the committee looks forward to his energy in moving this group forward in support of our seniors and their families.

Martin and his wife, Peggy, purchased a condominium in Quechee in 1999 in part because he worked at Dartmouth-Hitchcock Medical Center (then known as Mary Hitchcock Memorial Hospital) in Lebanon, New Hampshire, in the late seventies and introduced Peggy to the Upper Valley while he was there. The Martins love the area for its natural beauty and the ability to get involved in the many cultural and recreational activities that are made available by Dartmouth College. Their current plans are to make Quechee their retirement home for at least the summer months and travel the country in a motorhome during the winter. Their son, Chris, 35, lives and works in Portland, Oregon, and their daughter, Hannah, 34, lives and works in the Boston area. The Martins have lived in Quechee full-time since 2013, and recently moved from their condo to a house.

A New England native—Martin is originally from Augusta, Maine—most of his career in health care and senior living has been in Massachusetts and New Hampshire. He worked to develop rural health clinics for the indigent population (in Pennsylvania actually), in administration at 75-bed hospital in Caribou, Maine and at Dartmouth-Hitchcock Medical Center (when he met Peggy, a leader in her field of health care risk management) and for a community-housing program for the elderly in Brighton, Massachusetts. The bulk of his career was spent directing the Milton Residences for the Elderly and the Milton Fuller Housing Corp., non-profit housing and real estate management companies in Milton, Massachusetts. In 2009, he was appointed president/CEO of Taylor Community, a continuing care retirement community (CCRC) in Laconia, New Hampshire. Martin has always worked for non-profit organizations. He tells me that “the thread of helping is at his core,” and is stimulated by the challenges of business decisions and strategic planning, but within the context of helping people. That is what motivates him. He is now the administrator of The Woodlands at Alice Peck Day (APD) an independent living facility which is part of Alice Peck Day Health Systems in Lebanon New Hampshire.

With retirement in 2013, and the decision to live full-time in Quechee, Martin took up another line of work—if briefly. He stopped by Jake’s Quechee Market on Route 4 when the Kerrigan family was working to get going and thought “I can help out here!” He started with just showing up and helping—painting, moving things, whatever needed to be done—and was then hired. His biggest pleasure was working with the customers. Perhaps you saw Martin there last year—he’s the guy who was always smiling! This also gave him a nice break and the time to realize that he wasn’t quite ready to transition out of his career (with help from Peggy who knew he wasn’t).

Back to “what to do” about the decision as to where and how to live as we age. Ironically, even though Martin has spent almost his entire career helping people each and every day address these issues, he and Peggy are now confronting the same. They are asking questions like: Do we stay at home in Quechee and still be able to go south to escape the harsh winters and pay rising property taxes? Move to a senior community or retirement community close to friends, perhaps closer to family—a place like the Woodlands or Kendal? Move in with one of the kids? What services will we need and how will we get them?

Martin says, “I have spent most of my career listening, watching and waiting for the questions that people have; contemplating a change of lifestyle is not easy. Moving is not easy. It is important to do the homework and think about options. The good news is that there is lots of information available from groups like LeadingAge, AARP, the VNAs, the QLLA CAC and private consultants there to help, but it can be overwhelming.” His advice is “not to assume that ‘aging in place’ is the only or the best option, and involve family and important friends in the decision process. They may influence and assist, but ultimately, we will decide the best place for us. Martin also says, “If you are thinking about moving, move when you can, not when you have to. ”

For the Martins, they do believe that after spending 36-years together they are home here in Quechee. Winters in Palm Desert, California, and summers in Quechee seem pretty good. Like the license plate on the motor home, they too are looking ahead toward their NXTCHPT.