Eleanor Ott had a genius for bringing people together. In the book-lined dining room of her 19th-century farmhouse in Maple Corner, she ran an eclectic backwoods salon, hosting women's discussion groups and rune feasts to fête the solstices. At her table, you might find yourself elbow-to-elbow with a close friend of the crown prince of England, a psychic healer from Iceland, or a photographer who had documented the Civil Rights movement.
In spring 2015, Stella Holt, then a competitive skier and graduating student athlete, made a 13-minute documentary film that chronicles the life of Fred Fayette Jr., a longtime assistant Nordic ski coach at the University of Vermont. In one scene, Fred stands along a racecourse calling out times and words of encouragement to the skiers as they speed by. To those who knew Fred from his four decades of volunteering with the UVM athletics department, it was no surprise that he inspired a student athlete to tell his story in her senior project.
Nicole Killian was especially proud of the time she saved a woman's toes. A patient arrived at the emergency room with frostbitten feet so severe that staff were considering amputation. But Nicole, then a nurse practitioner at Champlain Valley Physicians Hospital in Plattsburgh, N.Y., objected. Instead, she committed to pouring gradually warmer water on the patient's feet for hours until they thawed.
As a young child, Jesse Clements frequently traveled from Boston to Vermont to spend time with her aunt, Joan. Their favorite shared activity was drawing. They would lose themselves in the process, surrounded by craft supplies and pencils strewn across the basement floor. As Jesse presented her creations, Joan lavished praise. "She was just the most encouraging [person]," Jesse, now a grade school teacher in Berkeley, Calif., recalled during a recent phone call with Seven Days.
For the last 30 years, as local listeners and players know, Glenn Taulton performed solo, with his band, G-Thang, and with numerous musicians at spots around Burlington: stealing the show with "My Girl" on karaoke night at the St. John's Club (his karaoke buddy, Rich Graham, said by email that he was lucky to sing backup for Glenn on Temptations' songs), joining Bobby McFerrin on vocals at the Flynn for "He's Got the Whole World in His Hands" and performing in Lyric Theatre's Finian's Rainbow on the same stage.