Around Town – July 29, 2021

A thank you to Carrie Spear and Sarah Reis
Thanks Carrie, Sarah and all the employees at Spear’s Corner Store who teamed with the Town Recreation Department for their leadership in bringing a successful “Everyone Eats” program to fruition. They managed to collect 400 meals for needy families over a 10-week period. On behalf of Charlotte Recreation Department, Nicole Conley also thanks those who provided the food in order to make the program successful.

Norman Warriner Bohn
Norman Bohn, 80, of Charlotte, passed away peacefully at home on June 29, 2021, following a long illness.

Norman, son of the late Harold and Mary Bohn, was born on February 10, 1941, in East Orange, New Jersey. He grew up in Montclair, New Jersey, and graduated from Hoosac School in 1960. Norman attended the University of Vermont, where he met his beloved late wife, Roxie. They married in 1965. Norman also formed life-long friendships through the University and Sigma Nu fraternity. He graduated from UVM in 1964 and taught for four years at Fryeburg Academy in Maine before completing a master’s degree in non-western history from Montclair State University in 1970. He returned to Vermont, where he taught history at South Burlington High School for 29 years.

Norman was an avid lover of jokes and one-liners, current events and history (with a special interest in World Wars I and II). His life travels took him cross-country as a newlywed, to Florida and Costa Rica for vacations and abroad to Europe many times. As much as Norman enjoyed traveling, he was happiest at home in Vermont—spending summers on Lake Champlain with family and friends, cutting wood and tending his garden and yard.

He is survived by his two children (Christopher and Jessica Bohn); sister (Emily-Ellen Mudryk); three grandchildren (Garrett, Nathan and Halle Bohn); and two nieces and their families (Jennifer and Matt Culhane; Ellen and Al Turnbull).
A Celebration of Life will be held at the University of Vermont on September 18, 2021, from 2 to 4 p.m. at the Dudley H. Davis Center, Livak Ballroom. In lieu of flowers, the family requests that memorial gifts be made to the Norman Warriner Bohn ’64 Scholarship Fund to help provide educational opportunities at UVM for Vermont students. Please make checks payable to the UVM Foundation and send to the UVM Foundation, attn. Norman Warriner Bohn ’64 Scholarship Fund, 411 Main Street, Burlington, VT 05401.
Arrangements are in care of Corbin and Palmer Funeral Home, 9 Pleasant Street, Essex Junction, VT.

Jane Codington Becker
Jane Becker, 86 died peacefully at Eastview’s GardenSong Memory Care Community in Middlebury. Jane cherished her childhood on her family’s dairy farm in Plainfield, New Jersey. Photos capture Jane on a tractor surrounded by farm hands, in the yard with an armful of kittens, and smiling from the rumble seat of her brother’s car. She was an inquisitive, resourceful, independent person loved deeply by her parents, Albert Isaac Codington and Margaret Virginia Leggett, and older siblings Bill, Ginny and Ann.

Jane began a lifelong career in nursing, training at Boston Children’s Hospital. She met and married Harvard medical student David Becker in 1955. They raised four children, Marcie, Jan, Meredith and Steven living in North Carolina, Japan, South Miami, Florida and Weston, Mass. Jane divorced yet prioritized a stable and supportive life for her children. She was the nurse manager of the busy emergency department at Waltham hospital, and then an occupational health nurse until her retirement in the1990s.

Jane then moved to Charlotte, joyfully embracing all facets of Vermont living and the opportunity to be near her first grandchild, John. She worked at the Charlotte library, gardened and cared lovingly for her home on Thompson’s Point, cherished a refreshing swim at Whiskey Bay, and was often seen walking briskly around the point or passing others on her way up Mount Philo. Jane volunteered with Howard Dean’s campaign and walked with Bill McKibben for climate justice. She opened her home to young campaign staffers, VPIRG volunteers, musicians and visiting congregants from a church in Summerton, South Carolina. Jane volunteered at the Charlotte Food Shelf and at Vermont Elder Education Enrichment. She was a believer in community participation and contribution, from Town Meeting to Green Up Day.

To her last day, Jane was a model of resilience and grace. She was a practitioner of great ingenuity in the face of any challenge. She had a wry sense of humor, was whip smart, keenly observant and generous. She savored life in all its detail. She passed along her love of the outdoors and her spirit of adventure and discovery: a quiet paddle on Kennebago Lake, the pleasure of swimming, the joy of a good read in front of a crackling fire, the decadence of a bowl of cherrystone clams. Above all, we’ll remember the warmth of her world-class smile.

Jane is survived by her children and their spouses: Marcie (John) Freeman of Brattleboro; Jan Becker of Boulder, Colorado; Meredith (Peter) Moses of Charlotte; and Steven (Carolyn) Becker of Dallas, Texas; grandchildren Ivy, Roome and Gwendolyn of Dallas, Texas; and John Moses and his wife, Alison, of Los Angeles, and former husband David Becker and his wife, Marylou, of Vero Beach, Florida. She will be missed by her beloved friends Susan and Vincent Crockenberg as well as numerous nieces and nephews. We will be forever grateful to Jane’s extended family, the staff and residents of the Eastview community. In lieu of flowers, please pass along a good book or make a donation to the Friends of the Charlotte Library.