Around Town
Congratulations to Leath Tonino, author, former Charlotte resident and CVU High School grad who had a short story in the summer edition of Orion Magazine. Titled “Middle of Nowhere,” the piece takes Leath and his three friends from high school to Nevada’s Black Rock Desert, not for the Burning Man festivities, “not for 60,000 humans, not for lasers and whumping bass and skyscraper flames, but for the desert’s own severe weirdness. Its isolation.” That night a “whispering darkness fills the ears: middle of nowhere, middle of nowhere, middle of nowhere. . .” But, says the author, the phrase is wrong. There is meaning in the wilderness. “Nature has no edges.” “Everywhere is the middle of somewhere.” Their patch of desert is the center of their universe. Leath has a book of essays coming out titled The Animal One Thousand Miles Long.
Congratulations to recent CVU grad, Abigail Francis who was one of six recipients of Waitsfield and Champlain Valley Telecom’s 2018 Eunice B. Farr Incentive Award scholarships that are presented annually. The award is made to a graduating senior from each of the public schools in the company’s service area who plans to further his or her education. It should be someone who has shown steady improvement in her or his academics, so it commends effort as well as grade point average.
Congratulations to Andrew and Briana Volk of Portland, Maine, on the publication of their book Northern Hospitality with the Portland Hunt + Alpine Club. The book, which includes many food and cocktail recipes, is a celebration of cocktails, cooking, and coming together gathered over their five years of owning and operating the Portland Hunt + Alpine Club, a craft cocktail bar in Portland. A copy is available at the Charlotte Library. Andrew grew up in Charlotte and attended local schools and is the son of Mary and Tim Volk.
Sympathy is extended to family and friends of Florence Moran of Charlotte who passed away August 27 at the age of 91. A legendary apple pie maker, she was married to Harold Moran for 68 years. A resident of Charlotte, he survives her along with their son, Dan, and Dan’s wife, Ceal, also of Charlotte and son Sean of Shelburne, who has been active with the Charlotte Senior Center. The family asks that in lieu of flowers, donations be made to the VNA Hospice Program, 1110 Prim Road, Colchester, VT 05446.
Sympathy is extended to family and friends of Mary Kalbfleisch of Shelburne who passed away August 16 at the age of 85. She and her husband Jim moved to Shelburne in 1984 where she was active in the Shelburne-Charlotte Newcomers group. The family asks that in lieu of flowers, those wishing to commemorate her life consider a donation to the Shelburne Rescue, the American Cancer Society or the Burlington and Shelburne Garden Clubs.
Sympathy is extended to family and friends of Sarah Russell of Vero Beach, Florida, who passed away August 16 at the age of 87. After having left a cattle ranch in Colorado in 1965, she and her family came to live in Brandon, Vermont, later moving to Vero Beach. Her surviving family includes two sons and their families who reside in Charlotte: Charles and his wife, Julia, and Michael and his wife, Margaret. The family encourages donations in her name be made to the ALS Association, Washington, D.C., or to Sterling College, Craftsbury Common, VT
Sympathy is extended to family and friends of Kenneth Coleburn of Redding, Conn., who passed away August 19 at the age of 90. A graduate of Middlebury College, he and his wife Carolyn and their family were longtime residents of Thompson’s Point, spending many summers there. His surviving family includes a son, Robert, and Robert’s wife, Robin. They lived on Charlotte’s Whalley Road until recently.
Sympathy is extended to family and friends of Barrie Dunsmore who died August 26 at the age of 79. A Canadian by birth, he became an internationally recognized journalist who covered foreign affairs for ABC News for thirty years between 1965 and 1995; for seven of those years he was the network’s senior foreign correspondent, reporting from over 100 countries on many major world events. 1989 was a particularly significant year in world history, and Barrie witnessed drama in the collapse of communism and was a live reporter from the Berlin Wall at its fall. After retiring, he was awarded a fellowship in the John F. Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University and received the Weintal Prize from Georgetown University. He moved to Charlotte after he retired and lived here for 18 years, longer than anyplace else over his lifetime. From here he and his wife, Whitney, moved to the D.C. area to be near a job she took as vice president of the supply chain of a large hospital group in Virginia. There will be a memorial service for Barrie on September 8 from 1:00 p.m. to 4:00 p.m. at the National Press Club in Washington, D.C. It will be livestreamed through the organization.