Around Town
compiled by Edd Merritt

Congratulations...

to Teressa and Tyler Tomsen, whose daughter Opel Sophia was born October 8 at Fletcher Allen Health Care, Burlington.
to Lisa Marie Henry of Charlotte and Christopher Gribnau of Shelburne, who were married September 26 at Kingsland Bay State Park in Ferrisburgh. The daughter of Thomas and Jean Henry of Charlotte, Lisa and her husband are both graduates of Champlain Valley Union High School and the University of Vermont. She is a piano teacher. He teaches music at Lincoln Community School. They live in Charlotte.
to Zachary Nola, a corporal in the 1st Marine Division now stationed in Helmond Province, Afghanistan, whose photos and an interview are featured on the DVIDS web site. Zach’s responsibility for his unit is to provide public information, and the site contains a video of his interview with a reporter from the Burlington Free Press prior to deployment. Several of his photos of fellow marines with members of the Afghan National Police during a security patrol earlier this month appear along with a story he wrote in which he stresses the importance of winning the support of the region’s population. He says that while the Taliban chooses “intimidation, manipulation and unrestrained violence, coalition forces have chosen to gain support by protecting, listening and interacting with locals through security patrols to the area’s towns.” Zach, the son of Gini and Tom Nola of Charlotte, is a graduate of CVU High School and the University of Vermont. He was a corporate accountant in Boston before enlisting in the corps.
to Jackie Yantachka, a sophomore communications major in the Newhouse School of Syracuse University, who was inducted into the National Society of Collegiate Scholars. The daughter of Janet and Mike Yantachka of Charlotte, Jackie was recognized for her outstanding academic achievement.
to Joseph Trotter and Jacob Hinsdale, seniors at Champlain Valley Union High School, who were featured in the November 13th Burlington Free Press for their development of a solar-powered winch, mounted on armatures made from Legos and able to hoist a 20-gram weight. They built the winch to exhibit green power at the high school’s Renewable Energy Day on November 12. The article said that the one-hour celebration was part of CVU’s “commitment to renewable energy.”
to David Cray and William Gardner, who received gallon pins from the American Red Cross Blood Services, New England Chapter. Reverend Cray received a 19-gallon pin, Mr. Garner, a 39-gallon pin.
to Aileen Chutter, whose quilting was featured in the December/January issue of the national magazine, Quilters Newsletter. The “Challenging Workbook” section of the magazine showed and described her design for a wall hanging that is a variation of the “Whig Rose” pattern.
to Brooke Mossman, who co-organized the 2009 clinical translational research symposium on “Environmental Cancers: Risk Factors, Mechanisms and Therapies,” held at UVM’s Davis Center November 6. Speakers were top scientists in the field, including several from Dartmouth Medical School who spoke about advances in mesethelioma, lung cancer and melanoma. Over 160 scientists, physicians and medical and graduate students attended the symposium.
to Kathryn Blume, whose article on being a “climate activist” was featured in the Green Mountain Section of the November 8 Burlington Free Press. Kathryn is a writer and performer who will take her one-woman show, The Boycott, to the climate talks in Copenhagen, Denmark, in December. She plans to follow that with a second single-person show called Flight, which will focus on her trip.
to Curren Simard and his sister Wiley, both students at the New England Ballet Conservatory, who have been chosen to perform in the Albany Berkshire Ballet production of The Nutcracker on November 28 and 29 at the Flynn Center for the Performing Arts in Burlington. Wiley will dance the part of a clown, while her brother will perform as a party boy and as Fritz in the Saturday evening performance. More than 115 children will join members of the Albany Berkshire Ballet over the two days. Saturday shows are at 3 and 7:30 p.m. Sunday will feature a 1 p.m. matinee.
to Edward Fisher, a sophomore at Connecticut College in New London, Connecticut, who served as an assistant lead electrician in the college’s production of Shakespeare’s The Tempest in October. The son of Mary and Edward Fisher of Charlotte, he graduated from the Lake Champlain Waldorf School.
to the Burleigh family and to Birgit and Andy Deeds, whose recently conserved Charlotte lands were featured in the Vermont Land Trust’s Annual Report for 2008 – 2009. The Burleighs sold a conservation easement on 73 acres of their dairy farm before selling an additional 123 acres of forestland to The Nature Conservancy. Included in the funding groups for the sales were the Town of Charlotte and the Charlotte Land Trust. The Deeds added 41 acres to an already protected 30 they had conserved in the 1990s. It includes 2,600 feet of undeveloped Lake Champlain shoreline along Converse Bay.
to Frank and Elaine Ittleman of Charlotte, who were also featured in the Vermont Land Trust’s annual report for last year, having sold a conservation easement on 113 acres along Route 74 in Shoreham. As part of a large block of conserved farmland, Ittleman’s property is almost all tillable.
to Mary Spicer, D.C., owner of Back in Balance Chiropractic on Shelburne Road, Shelburne. Dr. Spicer successfully completed further training in the Koren Specific Technique for spinal and structural care, which allows her to analyze and adjust the root causes of certain health problems.
to Chris McGee, owner of Maxo Marketing LLC in Charlotte, who recently purchased TRAVELHOST of Vermont magazine. This publication is part of the TRAVELHOST network, rated the number 1 travel magazine in the U.S.
to Leslie Botjer, newly elected to the Board of Directors of the Stern Center for Language and Learning. Leslie has extensive global business and board experience as well as work experience in special education.
to Owen Ladd who was named the Vermont State Representative to the 2009 Vermont Music Teachers Association Student Composition Competition. Owen’s composition titled “Cheyenne Spring-Fantasie in C-sharp Minor” will move on to the Eastern Division competition of the national Music Teachers Association. He is the son of Charlotte and Andrew Ladd of Charlotte.
to Will Bunton and Kathy Ciarimboli who were married September 27 in Hatcher Pass, Alaska. Will, the son of Roger Bunten and Judy Billard of Charlotte, worked for the U.S. Forest Service in Anchorage. His wife, the daughter of Dominic and Jane Ciarimboli of Greensburg, Pennsylvania, has been farm manager for the National Outdoor Leadership School (NOLS) in Palmer, Alaska. They recently returned to live in Vermont.

Sympathy...

is extended to family and friends of George Louis Kehoe of Charlotte and Apache Junction, Arizona, who passed away October 28 at the age of 78. George was a mariner who captained a number of vessels on Lake Champlain, as well as on the St. Lawrence and Hudson Rivers and in New York Harbor. His survivors include Kathleen and Daniel Kehoe of Charlotte. The family asks that online condolences be sent through readyfuneral.com.
is extended to family and friends of Edwin Mattson Paxson, M.D. of Orwell, who passed away November 11 at the age of 83. Residing in Charlotte, he served Chittenden County as a pediatrician for 25 years before moving his practice to Kentucky and later to Poughkeepsie, New York. The family asks that, in lieu of flowers, donations in his name be made to Helen Porter Healthcare and Rehabilitation Center in Middlebury, the Alzheimers’ Association of Vermont or the R.J. McKay Green and Gold Professorship Fund, c/o University of Vermont Department of Pediatrics.
is extended to family and friends of Jennie Stewart of Wells who passed away November 14 at the age of 97. Her surviving family includes her son Harold and his wife, Doris, of Charlotte. The family asks that those wishing to make contributions in her memory do so to the charity of their choice.

Correction:
In our last issue’s obituary of Mary Brewster Manning Foster we failed to mention her sons Stephen and his wife, Margaret, and son James and his wife, Virginia, as being residents of Charlotte. We apologize to them for our omission.