Around Town with Edd Merritt

Congratulations to Stephen Kiernan, who was elected to the board of the Vermont Children’s Trust Foundation. The foundation raises money to support a variety of programs, including community-based prevention programs that demonstrate a “ground-up approach to making sure children are safe and secure.” It also supports after-school programs, childcare and pre-school programs, parent education, and mentoring around substance abuse.

Congratulations to Robin Turnau who, after eight years, is stepping down as president and CEO of Vermont Public Radio, an organization to which she has devoted much of her work life. Robin’s latest accomplishment was to raise $10 million to expand the VPR campus in Colchester and fund new programming. According to an article in the August 17 Free Press, she is looking forward to as yet undetermined future endeavors.

Congratulations to our musical neighbor, Mel Kaplan who founded the Vermont Mozart Festival originally in 1974. That year the festival played concerts at six locations in Burlington, Shelburne and aboard the S.S. Champlain. Mel, a resident of East Charlotte, was an oboist who was teaching music at the Juilliard School in New York at the time. The festival finally disbanded in 2010, and Mel went into semi-retirement. However, his enjoyment of classical music never diminished, and he once again sponsored concerts this summer. The one last Sunday at Basin Harbor Club ended the series that has been going since June. Mel even arranged several at his home in East Charlotte village.

Congratulations to Meg Walker whose artwork was featured in an article in the August 16 Seven Days. Meg’s sculptures are part “Birding by Numbers,” a show sponsored by the Birds of Vermont Museum in Huntington. Meg has two items—one titled “Twenty-five Birds You Have Known” in which she designed birds from wire plant hangers that form a wall installation of birds in various positions of flying, perching and walking. Her other display is called “Two Birds Sitting on a Line.” Done in 1993, it has two birds balanced on a steel frame, and Meg says it marks the beginning of her “bird phase.” Also included in the show is a painting by artist Jackie Mangione of geese flying north over Lake Champlain as seen from Mt. Philo. “Birding by Numbers” runs through October 31 in Huntington.

Sympathy is extended to family and friends of William Dubuc of Charlotte who passed away August 13 at the age of 24. William attended Charlotte Central School and graduated from Champlain Valley Union High School. He worked for a number of years at the Shelburne Supermarket before leaving to train and work briefly with the Vermont Department of Corrections. His surviving family includes his parents, Brian and Suzanne Dubuc of Charlotte. The family thanks Father David Cray of East Charlotte’s Our Lady of Mount Carmel Catholic Church for being a full confidant to William and helping him and his family through trying times. They ask that, in lieu of flowers, donations in William’s memory be made to the UVM Children’s Hospital or to the Vermont Make-A-Wish Foundation.

Sympathy is extended to family and friends of Robert Peden of South Burlington who passed away August 5 at the age of 95. Robert spent numerous summers on his grandmother’s farm in Charlotte. As a result, he graduated with a degree in agriculture from Rutgers University and began selling farm equipment before becoming an accountant and later opening his own business. The family asks that those who wish to make contributions in his memory consider doing so to the St. Joseph Steeple Fund, 20 Pine Street, Burlington, VT 05401.

Sympathy is extended to family and friends of Phoebe Siemer of Charlotte who passed away on July 29 at the age of 92. Phoebe moved from New Jersey to Charlotte in 1956 after having spent many summers on her grandfather’s farm here. She was an active member of the Charlotte Congregational Church for 60 years, participated in the Charlotte Historical Society (contributing to the Society’s book Around the Mountains) and loved to sing in the church choir and with the barbershop group, The Champlain Echoes. Her surviving family includes her daughter, Martha Stone, of Charlotte.