Come What May
Albert Bridge School and Reading Elementary School students held a May Day celebration April 30 at Reading’s school.
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A portion of these photo first appeared in the May 9, 2013 print edition of the Vermont Standard.

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Welcome Spring!
Reading Elementary School and Albert Bridge School in West Windsor joined together to celebrate the beginning of Spring, with musical and performances with a May pole and more. Principal Dr. Lou and Music Teacher Ginger Armstrong talk about the event.
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READING — A celebration of life for Stephen Michael Turney, Jr., 49 who passed away on Wednesday, April 10 at Dartmouth Hitchcock Medical Center, surrounded by his family, following a three- year battle with cancer was celebrated on April 13 in Reading at the Reading Town Hall.
He was born March 1, 1964 in Hartford, CT., the son of Stephen M. Turney, Sr., and Mary K. Crowley.
He attended school in East Hartford, Conn., and later Woodstock. He graduated from Woodstock Union High School in 1982. After graduation, Stephen joined the US Navy. Later, he went on to earn an Associates Degree from Community College of Vermont.
Stephen was a kind and caring person, a devoted father, and a loving son and brother. He was a talented wood carver, who enjoyed the outdoors, fishing, baseball, and baking bread. But, what he enjoyed most was spending time with his children, Noah and Olivia, his dog Kojak and his three cats.
He is survived by his two children, Noah and Olivia; his mother Mary K. Crowley and his step-father Douglas Carrier of Reading; his father Stephen M. Turney, Sr. and his step-mother Burgunda Gneiting of Valley Springs, Calif; two sisters, Susan Skewes and her husband David of Canaan, N.H., and Laura Blanchette and her husband Marc of Biddeford, ME; two nieces Sophie and Julia Blanchette; as well as many aunts, uncles, cousins, and his former wife Jennifer Turney.
The family members wish to express their deepest gratitude to his driver, Karyl McGrotty, his physician, Dr. Dragnev and his team, as well as the DHMC nursing staff at One West.
In lieu of flowers donations may be made to the Norris Cotton Cancer Center, One Medical Center Drive, Lebanon, NH 03756.

This obituary first appeared in the April 18, 2013 print edition of the Vermont Standard.

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(This story was first published in the March 21, 2013 edition of the Vermont Standard.)

By Eric Francis
Standard Correspondent
WHITE RIVER JUNCTION – A 24-year-old Reading man who’d been facing up to 60 years in prison for what prosecutors described as a series of heroin-fueled burglaries, outbursts and incidents that raged for months was given a 2-to-10 year sentence last week following an emotional statement from one of his victims.

Ryan Buckley sat stoically and listened as Kasey Quimby, 17, recounted the injuries she sustained as the passenger in a car crash that took place at 1:30 a.m. in Weathersfield in May 2012 after Buckley, under the influence of cocaine, drove the pair into a telephone pole bringing electrical wires down onto the vehicle, and then ran off, through the neighborhood as police and search dogs chased him through the woods for hours until he was captured.

Calling in to the courtroom on a speakerphone, the teen began by describing her leg injuries from the crash. “I have two compound fractures, one of them is still broken, and a metal rod with four screws that goes from my knee down to my (broken) ankle,” Quimby said.

“I had severely bruised ribs and a severe concussion leaving me (only able) to remember bits and pieces of that night but now, as I go on, I’m starting to remember more and more of what happened,” Quimby said, continuing, “I get nightmares from it. I see his face all the time. It never goes away.”

“It’s just hard to remember, to think back to that moment where it ruined my life,” she said. “I can’t run, I can’t jog, I can’t jump. I can no longer do sports and it made it so that I had to drop out of high school because it was just too long of a recovery process.”

“I’m no longer able to do the things I was counting on doing the rest of my life,” Quimby said, concluding, “I’d just like to see justice for what he did to me. I don’t see how he could be like that and just leave me to die.”

Buckley had accumulated a total of four felony and 23 misdemeanor charges before he came into the courtroom in January and stunned both his public defender and prosecutors by defiantly turning down a “global resolution” plea deal and seemingly putting himself on track for a jail sentence that could have stretched into his retirement years.

A much more contrite Buckley was on display last Wednesday when he apologized publicly to Quimby and his family for his “destructive behavior” and thanked Judge Robert Gerety, his new defense attorney, Mark Furlan, and Windsor County Deputy State’s Attorney Rhonda Sheffield for “sorting all this out.”

Sheffield told the court that sitting in jail for months had already allowed Buckley to detoxify from drugs and the sentence both sides had agreed to, “allows him to enter that window in his 30s by the time all his supervision is completed with the hope that he will have grown up by then.”

Judge Gerety replied from the bench that because Buckley’s case, “involves the accumulation of a large number of charges during a period of months (it) complicates the court’s decisions on sentencing a bit.” However, the judge said, when it comes to plea agreements, “the court’s role is to evaluate whether the sentence the parties have agreed to comes within a ‘range of reasonableness’ (and) the court does think this sentence comes within that range.”

“There are two felony convictions and a number of misdemeanor convictions and these felony convictions will have a significant impact on the defendant in his life,” Judge Gerety said before turning directly to Buckley and concluding, “Make it so that when you come out you’ve got a life ahead of you and, most importantly, make it so you don’t engage in the same kind of conduct again.”

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Easter egg hunt with games and face painting was held at Bartley Field in Reading on Saturday.
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A portion of these photo first appeared in the April 4, 2013 print edition of the Vermont Standard.

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Reading Elementary School is one of three Vermont schools that have been nominated to the U.S. Department of Education (US ED) Green Ribbon Schools program, which recognizes schools that “save energy, reduce costs, feature environmentally sustainable learning spaces, protect health, foster wellness, and offer environmental education to boost academic achievement and community engagement,” according to a release from Montpelier Monday.
The schools have the chance for national recognition of their efforts to conserve energy and promote health awareness among both students and staff.
An overall winner will be chosen in April.

By Katy Savage, Standard Correspondent

The Town of Reading approved $531,755 for the Selectman’s 2013-14 budget at its Town Meeting Saturday. An $898,120 Reading Elementary School budget was also approved.

The Town voted to appropriate $5,000 to the Reading Community Recreational Space on Article 7.

The following were elected to office positions:

• Robert Allen was voted to continue as chairman of the Selectboard for a three-year term.
• Richard Sullivan was voted Lister for a three-year term.
• Heidi Fielder was voted Town Grand Juror for one year.
• Kenneth Norcross was voted Town Agent for one year.
• John Philipin was voted Reading Elementary School Director for a three-year term.
• Howard Sanderson Jr. was voted Trustee of Public Funds for three years.
• Jonathan Springer was voted Moderator for the ensuing year.
• Susan Goodhouse was voted Cemetery Commissioner for a three-year term.
• Penny Allyn was voted Library Trustee for a five-year term.
• Patrick J Maher was voted Auditor for a three-year term.
• Rayna Bishop was voted Auditor for a two-year term.
• Chris Titus was voted to be the Woodstock Union High School Director for three years.

The Town approved $3,900 for the Visiting Nurse and Hospice of NH & VT. On Article 13, $1,500 was approved to the Ottauquechee Community Partnership. On Article 8, $800 was approved to Pentangle Arts Council. The Town voted to appropriate $500 to Windsor County Partners on Article 12 and $500 to the Spectrum Teen Center on Article 14. On Article 15, $300 was approved to the Woodstock Area Job Bank. The Town voted to appropriate $250 to Volunteers in Action, $250 to The Current and $50 for Green Up Day.

Read more about Reading’s Town Meeting in the March 7 edition of the Vermont Standard.

To The Editor,

Jonathan Swift in his A Modest Proposal suggests in a very rational well-phrased tone that we cannibalize our children. Deliberately ludicrous, of course, but I suppose that would cut down on the school-age population and make a local school unnecessary in Reading. The approach of tearing down all affordable housing will ultimately accomplish the same thing. Affordable defined as housing where families can live who cannot afford anything better.  Not that they don’t want better, but that they can’t afford better.

Will closing the school lower taxes?  Does a billionaire need to have his taxes lowered? Do people who can afford fancy houses and horses and lots of land really need lower taxes? Or do they just want more money to spend for bigger houses, more horses and more land. Are they concerned about our children or their pocketbooks? They say that our children are deprived of social and sports activities. Our children will not be accepted socially by their peers who live in the wealthier town proposed as the “right” place to send our children. Our children won’t get “to play in the game” of all of those wonderful sports activities. They will be the ones who sit on the “bench.”

The thing that holds this town together is the local fire department and their families, but if there is no elementary school in Reading will they go somewhere else where they can be nearer to where their children go to school. Do we want that? Will we choose to cast aside that valuable asset, the cement that holds the town together to please the upper echelon?

Oh dear, I surely hope not.

Hazel H. King

Reading

(Editor’s note: This letter did not run in the Feb. 28 edition to due space reasons.)

READING — A graveside service with military honors will be held in the spring in the Brownsville Cemetery in West Windsor for Cyril S. Hodgeman, Jr., 88, a former longtime resident of Reading, and a resident of the Vermont Veterans Home in Bennington for the past five years, passed away Sunday morning, Jan. 6, following a period of declining health at the Southwestern Vermont Medical Center in Bennington.
He was born April 7, 1924 in South Woodstock, the son of Cyril “Sam” and Hazel Belle (Clay) Hodgeman.
He received his schooling in Reading and Springfield and graduated from Springfield High School in 1942. He later completed postgraduate courses in Springfield.
He was a veteran of the US Navy serving during World War II on the USS Vulcan while learning the trade of Pattern Maker. Following his honorable discharge he returned to Vermont.
He married Bessie M. Gonyea in Brownsville on Nov. 20, 1947. Mr. Hodgeman apprenticed in the machine tool industry under Winston G. Churchill of Proctorsville, VT at Fellows Gear Shaper in Springfield and retired from Lucas Industries in Springfield in 1976.
Cyril was a member of the Reading Volunteer Fire Department and the American Legion Post #25 in Windsor, the Disabled Veterans of America and the Blind Veterans of America.
He enjoyed woodworking, gardening, fishing, hunting and listening to audio books and enjoyed his music.
Survivors include one daughter, Cyrilla H. Prescott of Manchester, NH, one brother, Stanley H. Hodgeman and his wife Judith of Springfield, VT, one brother-in-law, Albert Gonyea of Saxtons River, VT and one sister-in-law, Helen Bemis of Rutland, VT, several nieces, nephews and cousins.
His wife of 62 years passed away on April 23, 2009. He was also predeceased by his parents and one son, Cedric Sheldon Hodgeman in 1951.
Memorial contributions may be made to the American Legion Post #25, at PO Box 540, Windsor, VT 05089.
The Knight Funeral Home in Windsor is entrusted with the arrangements. Condolences may be expressed to his family in an online guestbook at www.knightfuneralhomes.com.

This obituary first appeared in the January 17, 2013 print edition of the Vermont Standard.

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READING — A funeral Mass for Helen Elizabeth Kaija, 89, who died Dec. 13 at Historic Homes of Runnemede will be celebrated at 11 a.m. on Saturday, Jan. 5, 2013 at St. Francis of Assisi in Windsor, followed by burial in Mill Brook Road Cemetery in Reading and a reception at her Hurricane Hill home. There are no calling hours.
She recently lived at Stoughton House, formerly the Windsor Hospital, where she was first employed as a registered nurse in Vermont after graduating from St. Luke’s Hospital in Newburgh, N.Y.
Mrs. Kaija was a public health nurse and worked as an RN at Windsor, Springfield and veterans hospitals.
Survivors include three children, Arnold Kaija, Julie Martin and Kevin Kaija; 11 grandchildren; and a great-grandchild.
She was predeceased by her husband, Tauno Kaija in 1987; and four siblings.
Memorial contributions may be made to Historic Home of Runnemede or Reading Elementary School.
This obituary first appeared in the December 20, 2012 print edition of the Vermont Standard.

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A portion of these photo first appeared in the December 6, 2012 print edition of the Vermont Standard.

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Read the story – Reading Old Time Ball Returns

The ball is a tradition dating back to the early 1900′s. Now organized by the Ladies Auxiliary of Reading, which was formed just a year ago. Proceeds from the ball will go to the Auxiliary’s fund for emergencies.

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A portion of these photo first appeared in the November 8, 2012 print edition of the Vermont Standard.

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As of 9 a.m. Green Mountain Power is reporting the following outages in our area:

Barnard – 242

Bridgewater – 19

Hartford – 231

Hartland – 120

Killington – 149

Reading – 2

Pomfret – 30

Plymouth – 25

West Windsor – 4

Woodstock Village – 1

Woodstock Town – 106

By Gwen Stanley, Standard Staff

READING — A beloved tradition has been brought back to life in Reading.

The Reading Old Time Ball, a celebration that began in 1915, but hasn’t been held since 1994, is back and will be held Saturday, Oct. 27 from 8:30 p.m. until 12:30 a.m. at the Reading Town Hall.

The ball is now organized by the Ladies Auxiliary of Reading, which was formed just a year ago. Proceeds from the ball will go to the Auxiliary’s fund for emergencies.

Reading resident Shiri Macri said the Auxiliary came together as a result of Irene.

“As with many towns, on the day after Irene we all showed up at the fire station. No one asked us to, we just did. We then spent the following days and nights cooking and feeding the many rescue workers who were out there in the community helping people, cleaning up, fixing roads, etc. So long as they didn’t stop, neither did we. With no organization and no money, we were able to make sure that everyone from the chief to the road crews, to people stuck in their homes, to people with no homes were in some way cared for,” Macri said.

In Reading’s most recent town plan, issued in 2010, reinstituting the Old Time Ball is listed as an idea for improving the cultural and historical resources in town.

The original ball was held as part of a day honoring the dedication of a new building given to the town by Reading resident Wallace F. Robinson in 1912.

In 1915 the first official ball was planned with the idea of convincing young people who’d moved away from their hometown to come back for a visit. From the beginning, the ball incorporated a turkey supper, which during the Lenten season was served past midnight to accommodate Catholics who were abstaining on Fridays.

Resident Esther Allen wrote an extensive piece about the ball for the town’s history books. According to Allen, the ball’s first committee was comprised of Burton Newton, George Burnham, E. Watkins and Merritt Amsden.

Great emphasis was on the food at the ball.

“To put on a supper, it took days in the kitchen filled with bustling ladies of the community. They all had a hand in making a great array of pies: apple, mince, lemon, pumpkin…cakes, dozens of rolls and gallons of cranberry sauce. Homemade pies were always part of the dinner and always made by our local ladies,” said Allen, in the book.

Normally, all of the food was solicited from women in the community, but this year, the group will provide all the food.

The music featured at the ball changed from decade to decade.

In 1921, the ball featured Sherwin Full Orchestra, and later, the Blue Jackets and Allen’s Old Time Orchestra were integral parts of the event. Later, square dancing was introduced as part of the routine; dances were called by Wayne Allen until his death in 1992.

Allen writes that a concert preceded the ball in the early years, and Reading residents would dress in the finest to attend, using ball cards on which a gentleman could reserve a dance with a lady of his choice.

Allen writes of the concerts: “The rich, swelling rhythms of the overture put the crowd into a gala mood for an evening of dancing which got underway with the ceremonial Grand March at 8:30 p.m. followed by quadrilles, round, contra, waltz and fox trots. Some of the dance names were, the fisher’s Hornpipe, Lady Washington’s Reel and the Portland Fancy. Many of the dances were intricate and difficult to execute, and floor directors were on hand to keep things going smoothly and correctly. If the dancers got out of step, the floor director stopped the dancing and straightened out the tangle.”

“Harland Hawkins and Hugh Copeland were two of the early floor directors who for many years prompted the dances and kept the dancers stepping lively. As the clock ticked towards 2 a.m. the orchestra broke into the strains of ‘Home, Sweet Home’ or ‘Goodnight, Ladies’ and another Old Time Ball was over,” Allen writes.

There’s no dress code for the ball, and over the years people have shown up in everything from tuxedoes to a pair of jeans.

As for dancing, don’t feel you have to be a wallflower. Help will be given for those who don’t know the steps.

Allen writes of the dance moves at the old balls, “Many of the dances were intricate and difficult to execute, and floor directors were on hand to keep things going smoothly and correctly. If the dancers got out of step, the floor director stopped the dancing and straightened out the tangle.”

For more information about the Reading Old Time Ball or to reserve tickets, see Town Clerk Amy Harkins at Town Hall or call Shiri Macri at (802) 484-9930.

Editor’s note: Due to a production error, the full text of this story did not appear in the Oct. 18 edition of the Vermont Standard. The full story will run in the Oct. 25 edition.

Fox News set up camp on The Green in Woodstock to catch reactions from locals on Mitt Romney’s presence in the Woodstock/West Windsor area for the week. Romney is preparing for upcoming presidential debates at the West Windsor home of Kerry Healey.

SOUTH READING — Funeral services will be private for Franklin “Web” Coleman, 95, who passed away peacefully on August 9, 2012.
He was born in Cambridge, MA in 1917. He attended Cambridge Latin School and graduated from Harvard in 1938 where he was a varsity swimmer.
He served in WWII as an ambulance driver for the American Field Service. He spent many years working as a Management and Benefits Consultant with Towers Perrin, Tillinghast Nelson and Warren, Hansen Consulting Actuaries, Hewitt and his own independent communications practice. He taught mathematics, advertising, management and communications.
He was married to the late Barbara Smith Coleman and together worked at the foundation she started, Smith Center for Healing and the Arts in Washington, DC. Smith Center offers retreats and support for cancer patients. Web was passionate about its mission, programs and helping people living with cancer.
Web was also married to the late Mary Nicholson Coleman for twenty-seven years and together they enjoyed competitive trail riding, sailing, skiing and life in the mountains of Vermont. He was active in the Green Mountain Horse Association and with Mary won many trail riding trophies and traveled many states with their horses.
Web is survived by his daughter Coral and her husband Charles Kirker of Milton, VT, their daughter Kelsey, and a network of extended family and friends.
Web enjoyed trail riding with his horses Mimbo and Arabel, sailing his boat, the Pelican, and swimming wherever possible. He was an enthusiastic traveler of the world and a lover of nature and the outdoors. He was an avid reader and strong supporter of poetry, which he continued to teach well into his eighties.
Memorial donations may be made to Smith Center for Healing and the Arts (www.smithcenter.org).
Remembrances may be offered at www.cabotfh.com.
The family conveys its heartfelt thanks to the staff at Woodstock Terrace, Woodstock, VT for their extraordinary compassion and care.
This obituary first appeared in the August 16, 2012 print edition of the Vermont Standard.

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Reading-W. Windsor Food Shelf
The Reading West-Windsor Food Shelf (formerly the Reading Food Shelf) held a donor appreciation party on Aug. 28.
Photos Provided by Reading West Windsor Food Shelf

A portion of these photo first appeared in the August 9, 2012 print edition of the Vermont Standard.

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Vermont 100 Mile Ride & Run
The third weekend of July sees the annual Vermont 100 mile Ride and Run; a horse and ultra-marathon race that weaves it way around Hartland, West Windsor, Woodstock, Pomfret, Reading and Brownsville. The race proceeds benefit Vermont Adaptive Ski and Sports. This year was the 24th Annual Ride and Run with 290-100 mile runners starting the race at 4 AM on Saturday morning. This year also saw the inaugural 100K race with 35 runners making the 8 AM race start. The horse race consists of a 100, a 75 and a 50-mile endurance ride. Race organizers have lots planned for the 25th anniversary next July including a T-shirt design contest that could land the winner a free race registration.
Nancy Nutile-McMenemy Photos

A portion of these photo first appeared in the July 26, 2012 print edition of the Vermont Standard.

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READING — A memorial visitation will be held on Thursday July 19 (today) from 6 – 8 p.m. at the Cabot Funeral Home for Catherine I. Aiken, 79, who passed away on July 14, 2012 at Genesis Elder Care in Lebanon, NH following a long illness. She was surrounded by her daughters.
A graveside service will be held on Friday, July 20 at 2:00 p.m. in the Pine Grove Cemetery in North Springfield, VT
She was born on August 21, 1932 in Cavendish, Vermont the daughter of Charles and Ellen (Kelly) Senna.
Catherine grew up working on the family farm in Cavendish and spent a number of years logging with a team of horses. On May 9, 1953 she married Paul Aiken. Together, Paul and Catherine were the caretakers of the Thaeder Farm in Reading. In addition to her caretaking work Catherine raised four daughters.
Catherine loved her four daughters and enjoyed supporting their many years playing softball and seeing them in horseshows. She was also a strong Red Soxs fan and enjoyed watching horse pulls. But her greatest job was to be surrounded by her family.
Catherine is survived by her four daughters and their families; Beth Ann Sawyer of Quechee and her sons Jonathan and Brian, Kim Cloud of Reading and her husband Jim and daughter Chelsea, Jody Schulz of Woodstock and her husband Bruce and two children, Hunter and Madison, Marsha Aiken of Barnard and her son Ethan; Catherine’s two sister; Mary Singleton and Evelyn “Pat” Rowlee Vittum, sister-in law, Janet Senna all of Reading. She is predeceased by her husband Paul, one brother Joseph, and four sisters; Agnes Senna, Helen Senna, Nora “Tink” Vittum and Margaret “Peggy” Jenkins.
Memorial donations may be given to the Genesis Activity Fund, 24 Old Etna Road, Lebanon, NH 03766
Arrangements are under the direction of the Cabot Funeral Home in Woodstock. Condolences may be offered by visiting www.cabotfh.com

This obituary first appeared in the July 19, 2012 print edition of the Vermont Standard.

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Parading… Around
Reading celebrates their annual Old Home Days with a parade, activities and fun.
Nancy Nutile-McMenemy Photos

A portion of these photo first appeared in the July 2, 2012 print edition of the Vermont Standard.

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