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Presented to Brigid Hodsden, June 2019, attending Plymouth State University
The Bellows Falls Woman's Club scholarship is named for Amy Searles. Who was she? Amy was hired by the club in 1904 to be the area's first district nurse, a forerunner program of today's Visiting Nurse. Here we are, 114 years later, honoring the nursing profession by awarding a scholarship to a graduating student who, as selected by the faculty awards committee, is pursuing training in nursing or other health care related occupation. It is my pleasure on behalf of the members of the Bellows Falls Woman's Club to present the 2018 Amy Searles scholarship in the amount of $1500 to Hannah Harlow. Congratulations and best wishes to you. The October 10 meeting of the Bellows Falls Woman's Club will be held at the United Church, School St. beginning at noon. The Executive Board members will serve a luncheon of soup, sandwiches, dessert, and beverages. A donation of $5 is requested. A presentation on Fit Body Forever will be given by Lisa Dumont and Sarah Manning.
At the September 12 meeting of the club, Dr. Walter Griffiths spoke about women's heart health, citing statistics on the topic and offering suggestions for making healthy choices to help prevent poor heart health. Five women joined the club at the meeting. During the business meeting, led by President Dianne Potter, the budget was approved. It includes many monetary donations to be made in support of area, and beyond, organizations and agencies. Members voted to support a diaper project being established to meet this specific need of families affected by the devastation of the recent hurricanes. Plans for the club year were outlined, including the first fund raiser to support the club's scholarship fund. A food and bake sale will be held on October 28 in conjunction with the Walpole Library's annual book sale at the Walpole Middle School. Details about the food sale will be discussed at the Oct. meeting. Area women interested in joining the club and helping with its projects may call Barbara Comtois, Membership Chairman, at 802-344-0025. The Bellows Falls Woman's Club is a member of the General Federation of Women's Clubs whose signature project is domestic violence awareness and prevention. Two local club members attended the recent state federation meeting hosted by the Castleton Woman's Club. Thank you. Betty Haggerty BELLOWS FALLS — Marlene O'Connor loves when the guys she waits on at the Bellows Falls Area Senior Center call her honey, dear and sweetheart. "It's all in good fun," she said. "It means they're comfortable being around me." Her husband, she said, does the same thing with ladies at the senior center. "It's kind of cute," she said. O'Connor is 82-years-old and this year's Senior of the Year. She's the sort of person who loves being around people. It keeps her young, she said. She spends her free time volunteering and waiting on tables at the senior center. Before that, she was the chair of the local blood drive for 25 years. Senior of the year is voted on each year by members of the center at the Senior Center annual picnic. One of the voters drew a red heart around O'Connor's name, she said. "She gives so much," Executive Director Teagen Kosut said. "To come in and help out with meals is one thing, but to be so warm and so welcoming to people that come here is another." O'Connor got involved with the Senior Center 25 years ago when members of the center asked her to come teach aerobics there. She loves being involved and meeting new people. She also loves working with Kosut. "Teagen's just wonderful," she said. She hangs Kosut's daughters' drawings on her refrigerator. The two are close. One of the things that makes O'Connor remarkable, Kosut said, is her dedication towards others. O'Connor's always concerned with making other people feel comfortable at the senior center. "It's a place for them to relax," she said. Whenever she sees new people at the center she introduces them to the people they're sitting with, "so they're not just sitting with a stranger," she said. She's just happy being around people and making them happy, she said. She's been married to her husband Bill O'Connor for 62 years. The two grew up together in Bellows Falls. They were neighbors and used to play hide-and-go-seek in her backyard. She was in seventh grade and he was a junior in high school when they met. When he graduated high school, he was drafted into the Korean War and by the time he got back O'Connor was old enough for the two to date. They were married when O'Connor was 20 at St. Charles Church in Bellows Falls. The two are parishioners even today. "It's the most beautiful church in Bellows Falls," she said. After O'Connor had her children, she ran a small daycare. The children called her Mono, she said with a smile. Later in life, O'Connor went to work for TD Bank as a teller. She liked being able to interact with people. After she retired, O'Connor worked at the blood drive and taught water aerobics classes. She's always been involved in the community and around people. "Our kids say to us, 'Mom, you and Dad gotta slow down.' I say to them, 'If I start to slow down you get a shovel.'" She thinks being active and, more importantly, being around people is helping her survive. "You've got to be around people to keep it together," she said. The Senior Center is a good way to be around people, said Kosut. "It helps area seniors, to get them out and about, to get them socializing, to get them eating well," Kosut said. "Sometimes people retire and they don't know what to do." Going to the Senior Center helps seniors meet like-minded people who they can do fun activities with, such as Cribbage, Kosut said. "It starts something after that career." The Senior Center is open 8:30 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. Monday to Friday. Meals are served 11:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. Meals costs $3.50 but those who can't pay are still welcome, O'Connor said. Harmony Birch can be reached at 802-254-2311, ext.153. Or you can follow her @birchharmony. Posted Friday, September 29, 2017 7:03 pm Brattleboro Reformer Photo by KRISTOPHER RADDER - BRATTLEBORO REFORMER Members of the Bellows Falls Woman's Club will meet on February 14, at the United Church, School St., beginning at 1:30. The program will be presented by Wayne Blanchard, who will share his expertise in the field of genealogy. Members are reminded to bring non perishable food and personal care items to be donated to Our Place Drop-in Center and to wear red, in honor of American Heart Month.
The January 10 meeting featured students from the Westminster Center School who, under the leadership of music teacher, Ashley Paine, sang several selections to entertain club members and guests. Plans are being made to host a public high tea on May 7th. Watch for details. Several members attended the Feb. 4 Winter meeting of the General Federation of Women's Clubs of VT., hosted by the GFWC/Okemo Valley Club in Ludlow. The Bellows Falls Woman's Club is a member of the General Federation of Women's Clubs, whose signature project is domestic violence awareness and prevention. Area women interested in joining the club and helping with its projects may call Barbara Comtois, 802-344-0025. PR by Betty Haggerty The first meeting of the year will be on Tuesday September 13th at 1:30pm, with Newfane author Archer Mayor whose topic is: "What inspired my different careers - Writer, Police, Medical Examiner".
Archer Mayor is the author of the highly acclaimed Vermont-based series featuring detective Joe Gunther, which the Chicago Tribune describes as “the best police procedurals being written in America.” The 27th book, PRESUMPTION OF GUILT is due to be published September 27 th. The 26th book, THE COMPANY SHE KEPT, is due In paperback the end of August 2016 (Minotaur/St. Martin’s Press). He is a past winner of the New England Independent Booksellers Association Award for Best Fiction—the first time a writer of crime literature has been so honored. In 2011, Mayor’s 22nd Joe Gunther novel, TAG MAN, earned a place on The New York Times bestseller list for hardback fiction. Before turning his hand to fiction, Mayor wrote history books, the most notable of which, Southern Timberman: The Legacy of William Buchanan, concerned the lumber and oil business in Louisiana from the 1870s to the 1970s. This book was published in 1988 and very well received; it was republished as a trade paperback in 2009. Archer Mayor is a death investigator for Vermont’s Office of the Chief Medical Examiner, a detective for the Windham County Sheriff’s Office, the publisher of his own backlist, a travel writer for AAA, and he travels the Northeast giving speeches and conducting workshops. He has 25 years of experience as a volunteer firefighter/EMT. Mayor was brought up in the US, Canada and France and had been employed as a scholarly editor, a researcher for TIME-LIFE Books, a political advance-man, a theater photographer, a newspaper writer/editor, a lab technician for Paris-Match Magazine in Paris, France, and a medical illustrator. In addition to writing novels and occasional articles, Mayor gives talks and workshops all around the country, including the Bread Loaf Young Writers conference in Middlebury, Vermont, and the Colby College seminar on forensic sciences in Waterville, Maine. Mayor’s critically-acclaimed series of police novels feature Lt. Joe Gunther of the Brattleboro, Vermont, police department. The books, which have been appearing about once a year since 1988, have been published in five languages (if you count British), and routinely gather high praise from such sources as The New York Times, Washington Post, Los Angeles Times, New Yorker, and others, often appearing on their “ten best” yearly lists. Whereas many writers base their books only on interviews and scholarly research, Mayor’s novels are based on actual experience in the field. The result adds a depth, detail and veracity to his characters and their tribulations that has led The New York Times to call him “the boss man on procedures”. His 27th Joe Gunther book, Presumption of Guilt, is coming out this Fall and there will be an event at Village Square Booksellers (owned by member Pat Fowler) in Bellows Falls on Friday Oct 21 at 7pm. The Bellows Falls Womans Club and Village Square Booksellers will cohost an author event with Vermont Author, Kate O'Connor, on Tuesday Nov 13 at 1:30pm. Kate O-Connor served as an aide to Howard Dean from his swearing-in as Vermont governor in 1991 to the last day of his presidential candidacy in 2004. Her book, Do the Impossible, reveals what happens inside a presidential campaign. Please RSVP to the bookstore by Nov 12th at 802-463-9404 so that the Bellows Falls Womans Club will know how many extra chairs to set up. For more info on the book or to pre-order it for Kate to sign: http://www.villagesquarebooks.com/event/kate-oconnor-do-impossible-bf-womans-club Learn about Fall Mountain's Horticultural Program Tuesday March 13!
Hope that you can attend our next meeting - this is always a fun event when students from one of the schools entertain us with Holiday music!
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Patricia Paltiel FowlerMember of the Bellows Falls Woman's Club, since 2003, Communications Committee, Archives
August 2023
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