September 2010
Volume 23, Number 4
North Star Voices
We are pleased to introduce you to some of The North Star's contributing writers.
Sharon Lakey, Danville, VT
Sharon Lakey has always loved a story. Perhaps it all started by listening to Grandma Lula’s stories (with all the gruesome details) on the plains of Colorado. After moving to Danville with her husband, Dwight, and three young children in the fall of 1979, she became interested in the stories that presented themselves in this beautiful place. In 1988, she and her husband reestablished The North Star with lots of help from community members who loved stories just as much as she did. In 1995 it was back to teaching English at Oxbow High School in Bradford, Vt., where she read, edited and published pages upon pages of stories from middle and high school students. After retiring from teaching in 2007, she was pleased to note that Danville and the surrounding area was still lush with stories and authors willing to ferret them out to share with readers. She gladly rejoined the ranks of North Star contributors in 2008.
Nathanial Tripp, Barnet, VT
Nathanial Tripp has been living on a hill farm in Barnet raising sheep and vegetables part-time for 35 years. He has written two books ; "Father Soldier Son" published in 1996, and "Confluence" published in 2004. He has also written many articles, two children's books, and produced several videos about nature, science and the environment. He and his wife, author Reeve Lindbergh, would not trade our life here for anything on earth.
Carla Occaso, Kirby, VT
Carla Occaso started her writing career in eighth grade at U-32 High School in East Montpelier where she served as reporter and editor-in-chief for The Shadow (motto: “The Shadow Knows”). Many years later with continued submissions, her work has appeared in The Caledonian Record, The Burlington Free Press, The Barre-Montpelier Times Argus, The Newport Daily News (Newport, R.I.), Science Magazine, Rural Heritage Magazine, Vermont Life, Vermont Magazine, Country Woman, Maine Organic Farmer, American Police Beat, Northern Woodland Magazine, Northland Journal, The Lyndon Independent, The League of Vermont Writers’ League Lines and the Green Mountain Trading Post. Her piece “My Right Hand Is My Life” won the national 2007 Writer’s Digest second place for feature magazine articles. She was born in Montpelier and grew up in East Montpelier. Carla has lived in Kirby, Vermont since 1998 with her husband, Ray, a superb caterer, and son, Kirby, an excellent middle school student.
Woody Starkweather, West Danville, VT
Woody Starkweather grew up in southern Connecticut, went to the Hotchkiss School and then to Hamilton College, majoring in English and French. He worked in the publishing business for a number of years before going to graduate school at Southern Illinois University, where he received a Ph.D. in Speech and Language in 1970. He then worked as a Professor of Language and Speech Sciences, first at the City University of New York, then at Temple University in Philadelphia. He retired in 2000. In 2004 he and his wife Janet Givens joined the Peace Corps and spent two years teaching English in Kazakhstan. He is the author of a dozen books and numerous scientific articles on speech and language and is recognized as a leading authority on the problem of stuttering. While in the Peace Corps he wrote five novels and 20 short stories, of which the latter were published as a book in 2007. He is an avid musician and singer, performing with several local groups. He lives in Danville.
Justin Lavely, West Danville, VT
Justin Lavely graduated from St. Johnsbury Academy and Lyndon State College with a degree in journalism and writing. After a couple of years as an intern for the The Courier in Littleton, N.H., he also served as a reporter, assistant editor and managing editor. Prior to owning the North Star, much of his writing was focused on hard news, which included a gambit of legal, social and human interest articles for The Courier, The Union Leader and Boston Magazine.
Rachel S. Siegel, Barnet, VT
Rachel S. Siegel, CFA, has been writing Follow the Money since 2001. Her columns and editorials have also been featured in The Ammonoosuc Times and The Forward. She has been a professor in the Business Administration Department at Lyndon State College since 1990, teaching finance, accounting, and, of course, economics. Siegel has a BA degree in English literature and an MBA, both from Yale University. She lives in Barnet, VT.
Dan Williams, Lyndonville, VT
Dan Williams teaches journalism and English at Lyndon State College. He moved to the Northeast Kingdom from Atlanta with wife Susan and son Jimmy in 2006. A grown son, Martin, is an engineer in Boston, and daughter Gretchen is in medical school in Missouri. Williams entered the academic world after a quarter-century in print and broadcast journalism in the United States and Europe, including stints at CNN and Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty.
Dick Boera, Lyndon, VT
A native of Staten Island, NY, Dick attended Princeton University taking leave to enter the Navy as an apprentice seaman in July 1943. His sea duty was aboard a light cruiser serving as an engineering division officer during 1945-46. He is a 1946 graduate of Stevens Institute of Technology and received his Master’s degree in Aeronautics from Cal Tech, majoring in jet propulsion and rocketry – eight years before Sputnik. He worked as an aerodynamicist for the Glenn L. Martin Aircraft Company, then was associated with his dad in the restaurant business for several years. Having served Staten Island Community College as a faculty member and administrator for 13 years, he moved to Vermont in 1970 with his wife, Julie, and six children (now seven), to accept the position of Dean of Business Affairs/Business Manager at Lyndon State College. He retired from the college in 1989 and was named Lyndon’s 1989 Citizen-of-the-Year. Dick is an avid golfer and travels extensively, logging all 50 states, 80 countries, and 7 continents, traveling often on military aircraft as a retired Reservist. He is active in his community as a 57-year Rotarian, longtime justice of the peace, secretary–treasurer of the St. Johnsbury Development Fund, lifetime director of the Lyndon Historical Society, and chair of the St. Johnsbury/Lyndon Industrial Park Board among other activities. He has also served as interim business manager of two school districts during retirement, treasurer of the Caledonia County Fair, chair of the Lyndon Planning Commission, town/village auditor and interim selectman
Lyn Bonfield, Peacham, VT
Lyn Bonfield, “Letters from the Past” columnist, divides her time between Peacham and San Francisco. Since 1980 she has worked closely with the Peacham Historical Association. She has worked as an archivist at the Harvard University Archives, Schlesinger Library at Radcliffe, Urban Archives at Temple, California Historical Society, and since 1985 as the director of the Labor Archives and Research Center at San Francisco State University. As an historian, she has published articles in Vermont History, California History, and other journals, and the book Roxana’s Children: The Biography of a Nineteenth-Century Vermont Family with Mary C. Morrison. Currently she is working on a book about Vermonters in the California Gold Rush. Always on the lookout for original letters and diaries written in the 19th century describing farming, village life, or family activities, if your personal archives contain any of these, please let Lynn know at PO Box 200, Peacham VT 05862 or bonfield@sfsu.edu.
Van Parker, Danville, VT
Van Parker and his wife Lucille (Lucy) are seasonal residents of Danville. They live in West Hartford, Conn. during the colder 6 months of the year. Van is a United Church of Christ minister who served churches in Ohio, Michigan, and Massachusetts and, from 1968 to 1995, in Windsor Conn. His hobbies include vegetable gardening, growing blueberries and raspberries, walking, reading (particularly history) and writing. Van graduated from Middlebury College before going to Yale Divinity School and has many Vermont family ties. Van and Lucy are the parents of three children and grandparents of seven, including twins born in February 2008. Their home in North Danville has become a family gathering place, both at Christmas and during the summer.
Marvin Minkler, St. Johnsbury, VT
Marvin Minkler is a native Vermonter, who returned to the Northeast Kingdom in 1994, and will never leave again. He works for a mental health agency. An avid book collector and reader, he owns Marvin Minkler Modern First Editions, an on-line book business. His hobbies are reading, listening to music, writing poetry, book reviews, and collecting stuff. He lives in St. Johnsbury with his wife, Mary, little girl Lizzy, three cats and Buddy the dog.
Martha A. Evangelista, Peacham, VT
Martha was born in Massachusetts and spent her early years on Cape Cod with her feet in the sand and her head in the clouds. She is an alumnus of North Carolina Outward Bound and a true believer that the exploration of and the cohesiveness with nature is essential to the physical, emotional, and psychological well being of our youth. At ten years old she decided that she wanted to be a farmer in Vermont and has been moving north ever since. In 1989 she moved to E. Ryegate, Vermont and became an organic vegetable farmer. Unfortunately dreams and principles do not pay the mortgage on a farm, and she reluctantly sold the farm and moved to a small house in Peacham. Martha worked for many years at Planned Parenthood of Northern New England as a medical technician thus supporting her other strong ideals. Writing has always been an important part of her life from poetry, to newspaper articles, to short stories. As a true believer in our first amendment rights and in complete agreement with Thomas Jefferson that dissent is the highest form of patriotism, she regularly writes letters to the editor. As a strong believer in the vital future of our country, Martha often works with challenging students in public schools and is an outspoken advocate and aid in their education. She volunteers regularly with local school groups, political organizations, and Green Mountain Pug Rescue. She can often be found at her daughters’ basketball and softball games supporting their teams by yelling her head off. Martha has yet to write the great American novel, but she plans on accomplishing this in her lifetime. Her favorite quote is from Woody Guthrie – “Take it easy, but take it”. Her final request is to have her ashes spread over Race Point in Provincetown, a place she finds extraordinarily sacred. You can reach Martha at: poetsheartinvt@yahoo.com
Isobel P. Swartz, St. Johnsbury, VT
Isobel P. Swartz was born, raised and educated in England but she thinks of herself as a world citizen! She came to the U.S. in 1965 and has lived in New York and Vermont -- Danville and St. Johnsbury. She taught high school science in the UK, Switzerland and the U.S. She was a childbirth educator for Caledonia Home Health Care for 30 years, a job she really loved. She has been married for 40 + years to a very patient man. She is the mother of three daughters, grandmother of four boys and two girls. Currently, she works at the Fairbanks Museum as a Radon Program Coordinator and as an archivist. Her interests are varied and eclectic: travel, education, history, politics, international affairs, health care, women’s issues, environmental issues, gardening, biking, kayaking, the ocean, music, poetry, reading, and writing about all of these and anything else that stimulates her mind or gets her riled up! She also likes to cook, sew and quilt. In fact, most things interest her to some extent. Her columns are a reflection of her interests, concerns and personal history.
Virginia Campbell Downs, Lyndon, VT
Virginia Campbell Downs is a graduate of Lyndon Institute. She attended theUniversity of Vermont during World War II years and was one of the editors of UVM’s newspaper. Following graduation, she was hired as a reporter, feature writer and photographer for the Burlington Daily News. After two years on the newspaper she joined the staff of Avisco News, a magazine for employees of the American Viscose Corporation in New York City. Noticing an ad one day by M.W. Kellogg, an international engineering company, in the New York Times for a writer to start an employee company magazine, she applied, was hired, and started a bi-monthly, Kellogg World. She returned to Vermont in 1953 to marry St. Johnsbury lawyer John Downs, and continued writing regularly for the Burlington Free Press , the Caledonian-Record, Vermont Life, Yankee, Lyndon Independent, and currently, for the North Star Monthly. Books she has written are Northeast Kingdom Cookbook, Life by the Tracks, Mansions and Meadows - Lyndon the Way it Was, Voices from the Kingdom, and, recently, a Civil War memoir, Luther B. Harris: A Prison Story, which she co-edited with Denise Brown, also of Lyndon.