• Edith C. Fenton, 88, of West Halifax. Died March 14, 2020 at her home. Edith was born in Medford, Mass. on April 14, 1931, the daughter of the late Edward F. Fenton Sr. and Margaret Pearl (Cafrella) Fenton. She attended local schools, and graduated Medford High School in 1949. Edith worked in the banking industry in both Medford and in Vermont for many years. She was a huge gardener and enjoyed wood carving and blueberry picking. She also volunteered at the Jacksonville Library and many other places. Edith is survived by her siblings Edward F. Fenton, Jr. of West Dummerston, Luella Thompson of Scottsdale, Ariz., and Charles H. Fenton of Medford; and many nieces, nephews and cousins. She was preceded in death by her brother John O. Fenton and sister Mildred J. Shaffer. Memorial information: A celebration of Edith's life will be held and announced later in the summer. To send the family personal condolences, visit www.sheafuneralhomes.com.
• Mary M. Forrett, 88, of West Dummerston. Died peacefully March 17, 2020 at Vernon Green Nursing Home. Born in West Rupert on April 22, 1931, the daughter of Claude and Dora (Woodard) Matteson, Mary's mother passed away two days following her birth and subsequently she was raised by William and Henrietta Jackson-Snow. Mary attended West Rupert Grammar School in Salem (N.Y.) High School and later Brattleboro High School. She had been employed at the former BookPress in Brattleboro, which she retired from as a foreman following over 35 years of faithful service. Previously, she worked at the former United Murray Heel Company in Brattleboro, where she met her future husband, Sylvio “Shorty” Forrett. In 1952, they were married. Her husband predeceased her on Oct. 24, 2019. She loved the outdoors, working in her yard and garden and...
If I found $1,000 in the street, I'd grab it and be a happy camper. Now, the wizards in Washington plan to send me $1,000, maybe more. I'm certainly not rich, but I don't really need the money. I'd like to see some entity in town - the Brattleboro...
We know that this has been an extremely difficult and confusing time for many of our local businesses. For business owners, we also understand that you have had a lot of information thrown at you in a very short period of time. It seems that each time we make...
An open letter to Sen. Bernie Sanders, Sen. Pat Leahy, and U.S. Rep. Peter Welch: In these unprecedented, trying times, I would like you to consider an idea, a proposal that may possibly make you smile at the absurdity that such a notion could ever become a political reality. As we marshal the vast resources of this country to counter the deadly pandemic, I'm thinking about Iran and Venezuela. Iran, of course, is undergoing a huge health crisis with suffering...
Southeastern Vermont Watershed Alliance (SeVWA), the nonprofit organization that does water-quality monitoring from the Williams River in Rockingham to the Whetstone Brook in Brattleboro, is concerned about water issues from all ends of its source. This is true during COVID-19. All of us use our toilets, and then we flush, and the water goes down on its journey back to the water cycle. Unfortunately, thanks to the COVID-19 spread, we are seeing a new item in our water: disinfectant wipes.
Rows of brown paper lunch bags sit on a folding table under a pop-up tent behind Fire Station 2 in West Brattleboro as Academy School kindergarten teacher Maureen Parzych pulls additional meals from a cooler in anticipation of a swarm of students and families. The packed breakfasts and lunches are part of Windham Southeast School District's (WSESD's) food distribution program. As schools and other community spaces close in an attempt to slow the spread of the COVID-19 virus, community members...
The scene: Market 32 (f.k.a. Price Chopper), Tuesday, March 17, the baking aisle. I'm standing in front of an apparently empty flour section. Stooping down, I spy a large bag of speciality-brand flour in the back of a lower shelf. Flour is on my shopping list, but I quickly decide I don't really need it. Just then, another woman appears, initially dismayed at the empty shelves. I point out the large, almost hidden bag and she goes for it. We...
The Brattleboro Development Credit Corp. held its first weekly internet-based conference call on March 20 for businesses and other organizations trying to wrestle with the economic outcome of the COVID-19 pandemic. At this early stage, the full outcome of the pandemic on the Windham County economy remains unknown, and the context changes almost daily. On Tuesday, Gov. Phil Scott “directed the closure of in-person operations for all non-essential businesses,” according to a press release from the governor's office. Yet, as...
Your Windham County legislators want you to know that we are taking the COVID-19 situation very seriously, and are continuing our work, while at home. We are in regular communication with legislative leaders, the administration, one another and you, our constituents. During this time it is so important to watch out for one another, so please do not hesitate to reach out to any of us if we can be of any help during this state of emergency. We, as...
When Albert Camus published his allegorical story The Plague in 1947 about a deadly contagion sweeping the French city of Oran in 1849, he raised a number of questions about the nature of the human condition. “I have no idea what's awaiting me, or what will happen when this all ends,” one of his characters says. Later, Camus reflects that “a loveless world is a dead world, and always there comes an hour [...] when all one craves for is...
The COVID-19 virus is not just affecting the current school year. It is also affecting the Windham Southeast School District's plans for the new school year. The school district's annual meeting, scheduled for March 17, was cancelled due in part to Gov. Phil Scott's ban on gatherings of more than 50 people, which has since been restricted to 10 people. On March 24, the governor, by executive order, enacted further restrictions that effectively prohibit non-essential in-person meetings. Until residents can...
Cashier (name withheld) This interview was conducted with a woman in her late 20s who has lived in the area all her life. She has worked in various supermarkets in the area as a cashier and in other roles; she and her husband both qualify as essential workers. She is vulnerable because she has had chronic respiratory health problems in the past year. She works at one of the supermarkets in Brattleboro and spoke with The Commons on the condition...
We live as if we inhabit the Earth but forget that we, as part of the Earth, are inhabited as well. We have stood in the face of climate science virtually unmoved but then finally, slowly, awaken when we learn of a virus that, from our point of view, intrudes. I am a humane sort of nihilist, taking no joy in people being ill and wishing no one dead. Everyday, I wish for life and love and music. But I...
When snowstorms are coming, folks in Windham County go shopping for food and supplies. Last Monday, March 23, was no different in that respect: Hannaford that morning was crowded, as it usually would be. But there was a difference this time. Amid a global pandemic caused by a new and highly contagious coronavirus, many of the shoppers wore face masks, and some of the shelves - pasta, paper goods - were almost bare. People tried to keep their distances, but...
Saturday afternoon, I checked the weather forecast for the coming few days. Sunday was predicted to be bright and sunny, if chilly. But after that, it would be day after day of clouds and rain and cold. And staying home. Suddenly, an idea shot through my head. “There is something I must do.” Before I even had time to think it through, I found myself designing a ukulele and singing gathering on the Brattleboro Common for the next day. My...