Celebrating Each Other

Joe Flynn: Stepping up to fill the vacant Selectboard position

When Wayne Howe stepped down from his position on the Jericho Selectboard, several people volunteered to fill his shoes on an interim basis before Town Meeting Day. The candidate the board chose – Joe Flynn – is no stranger to municipal government, having spent the last eleven years as a member of the Development Review Board. For Flynn, volunteering to serve was an easy decision. His mother had been a role model, working as the postmaster in his childhood town of Burke, New York, and writing that town’s history so he was motivated to carry on her tradition of municipal service. Additionally, Flynn felt this was a way to learn more about the decision-making process in his adopted town. After one meeting, Flynn has already decided the Selectboard is a good fit for him. “The other board members are knowledgeable and patient,” he said, “and the staff is phenomenal in what they do.” For Flynn, the three-hour budget meeting was enlightening. “I pay taxes,” he said, “so I want to know what’s going on.”

When Flynn was in high school, he attended a Future Farmers of America conference. A professor from Paul Smith’s College had a booth there and he convinced Flynn to spend a day shadowing a surveyor so he could learn more about that profession. Flynn was hooked and got his degree in land surveying from Paul Smith’s. He loves that his profession includes both inside and outside work and requires a variety of disciplines ranging from history to mathematics. He has spent the last seven years working for O’Leary and Burke.

Flynn’s volunteer work also extends to his professional field. For the last 12 years he has been on the Vermont Board of Land Surveyors, a body whose members are appointed by the governor. His term will end in 2024. He also served on the National Council of Examiners for Engineering and Surveying as chair of the committee overseeing the development and scoring of exams.

Back when Flynn was going for his licensure, he needed a project and volunteered to help Jericho catalogue existing roads and plot them out. Several years later, when Jericho began the process of mapping out their so-called ancient roads, he already had that information. He has helped other towns including Westford and Plainfield with similar road projects. Flynn enjoys surveying so much that he occasionally does volunteer work on the weekends. He recently helped Bob Krebs, who he considers a mentor, find a 1930 geodetic marker in Grand Isle.

Flynn played baseball, basketball, and soccer in high school and was the captain of the soccer team at Paul Smith’s. He coached soccer for 25 years and ice hockey for 12, crediting Phil Jacobs of Underhill for teaching him a lot about people in the process.

A self-described farm boy, Flynn grew up hunting, fishing, and camping. He has fond memories of getting his hunting and fishing licenses at Mel Mitchell’s Jericho Country Store but although he loves traditions, he is not upset at the way Jericho has changed and appreciates Jericho Ale and Bean which occupies Mel’s former storefront. “It fits,” he said, “because we have a younger, more urban population.”

Flynn married his high school sweetheart and moved to Jericho in 1991, purchasing Selah Babcock’s house which was built in 1835. After growing up in an area with limited services, he enjoys being close to various options in town and doesn’t object to some of the newer business establishments, noting that he can walk across the street in his Crocs to get a gallon of milk. That said, Flynn also enjoys the fact that Jericho is on the outskirts of Chittenden County. “I think we still have our rural character,” he said. Flynn believes his background in civil engineering will be helpful on the Selectboard. “I like to see a balance on maintaining and improving our infrastructure, roads, waterlines, and maybe municipal septic,” he said. Equally important is his enjoyment of learning new things and meeting new people. “Most of the people I’ve been surrounded with have been very good at what they do,” he said. “That’s one of the reasons I want to give back to my town.

Peter Booth: Plunging into volunteer work in Jericho

Peter Booth didn’t waste any time getting involved in Jericho after he and his wife, Amy Beaton, bought their home in 1992. He tried various boards and committees including the Conservation Commission and ran for a seat on the MMU School Board. He attended a meeting of the Underhill ID School and when he discovered that nobody was running for their vacant seat, he accepted the challenge. More recently he served two terms on the Planning Commission and one on the Affordable Housing Committee. He has been involved in Democratic politics for three decades and spent several years as chair of the Jericho Democratic caucus. “I always wanted to be out in the community, meeting and helping people,” he said. “That’s how I like to spend my time.”

In 1995, Booth ran for Justice of the Peace, and he has been reelected every year since then. The most visible work done by JPs is staffing elections. “We’re the people behind the tables checking off your name when you come in and out, and handing out ballots,” he said. Less well-known is the work JPs do as members of the Board of Civil Authority which oversees property tax disagreements. When taxpayers contest a reappraisal, the Board is the quasi-judicial body which decides who is correct. They also review applications for abatement of taxes and penalties for late tax filings.

One of the most enjoyable parts of being a JP is performing weddings. Booth said that 20 and 30 years, ago, he officiated a wedding every summer and when civil unions were legalized, he was initially quite busy, but he’s getting fewer calls and hasn’t united a couple in five or six years “That’s one of the more fun parts of the job,” Booth said.

Booth gives back to the community in part because the community has given back to him. In 2001, while he and his family were vacationing in Maine, their house burned down. When they got home, a neighbor who had been watching over the property was waiting for them and immediately called Gaye Symington who offered the family the use of her in-law apartment. An Underhill couple put a $300 credit for Booth and his wife at Jeri-Hill Hardware and a Jericho resident opened an account in the couple’s name at Merchant’s Bank which eventually grew to $30,000 from community donations. Booth used his knowledge of tax appraisals to ask that his taxes be lowered since there was no longer a house on his lot.

In 2001, Booth joined the teaching staff at CVU following stints working at People’s Academy and the Woodside Juvenile Rehabilitation Center. He teaches math from pre-algebra to calculus. Fifteen years ago, a para-educator at CVU had the idea of issuing a fundraising challenge to students for the upcoming Penguin Plunge which benefits Special Olympics. If they raised $15,000, a teacher would shave his/her head. Booth volunteered to be that teacher and was confident the students wouldn’t raise that much money. Instead, they almost doubled the goal by raising $28,000. Booth was true to his word and has taken part in similar challenges – once sporting a mohawk after his students passed their fundraising goal – over the years and proudly notes that CVU has raised over $400,000 for Special Olympics through the plunge.

Booth has always worked with kids. In his second year in Jericho, before having children of his own, he coached a Little Leage team of third graders. “I was the only one who wasn’t a parent who had been strong-armed into coaching,” he said. Since then, Booth and Beaton have adopted four children. Shortly after buying their home, they called the Vermont Department of Children and Families because they were interested in foster care. It was there that learned that adoption was not an expensive process if it was done through the agency, and they proceeded to open their home to four youngsters.

The first three children Booth and Beaton adopted came to them at a very young age. Jesse was roughly six weeks old, Avery was only 30 days, and Aiden was six months old. They were only supposed to keep Aiden for a night but that turned into a weekend, then a week, and then a month, and he just celebrated his 19th birthday with them. The couple thought they were done with adopting until 2008 when they got a call, asking if they could keep a 15-year-old for one night. Booth recognized Jessica as a former student and once again, one night turned into a full-time commitment. This summer, Booth and Beaton flew to Lisbon for Jessica’s wedding. Just before Booth walked her down the aisle, she whispered to him “we’ve come a long way from pre-algebra.”

Although weddings are the most enjoyable part of being a justice of the peace, Booth really likes working at the polls. “You get to meet every voter in Jericho,” he said. “We’re getting more and more isolated behind our screens but when you’re running the elections, every voter in Jericho comes through. Seeing the community face to face is great.”

Catherine McMains: Jericho’s institutional memory

Catherine McMains thought her fifth term on the Select Board, which was scheduled to end earlier this year, might be her last but she was talked into running again. With ARPA money coming in, she sees the opportunity for transformative change in Jericho and wants to be able to help with the process.

McMains began her municipal service with the Development Review Board around the year 2000. She served several years as chair and in 2007, while still holding that position, she was appointed to fill John Shullenberger’s seat on the Select Board when he retired. She won re-election in 2008, and every election since then, resigning from the DRB after the open seats had been filled.

During her DRB days, McMains served on an ad hoc committee of the Chittenden County Regional Planning Commission (CCRPC). When the Jericho representative to that body stepped down, McMains was appointed to fill the seat. When the CCRPC merged with the Chittenden County Metropolitan Planning Organization, the number of representatives from each town was reduced, but McMains remained Jericho’s representative. She spent two years as Vice Chair and two years as Chair, as well as serving as Chair of the Climate Action Committee. She now holds the position of Immediate Past Chair, so she still has a seat on the Executive Committee.

In 2009, McMains co-founded the Jericho Energy Task Force, and she currently serves as chair of that body, as well. The JETF has held several energy tours and Button Up events, sponsored a middle-school poster contest and an annual icicle contest, and hosts a popular winter movie/lecture series. The group has also sponsored electric vehicle presentations, worked with the CCRPC to create an enhanced energy plan for the town, and this fall will hold its first ever Repair Café.

McMains has a Master’s in biochemistry. She worked in labs in Oklahoma and Ohio before moving to Vermont in 1977 for a job at UVM with the Department of Psychiatry. A watershed moment came when McMains got a call that her daughter Casey was the only child who hadn’t been picked up from daycare. She was in the middle of an experiment and unable to leave. Sitting down with her husband Bill, the pair decided that one of them would need to give up their day job and since biochemists worked long hours for little pay, she decided to retire. As Casey grew older and began a career as a glassblower, McMains worked as her business manager.

McMains has seen a number of changes during her years on the Select Board. At the onset, she said it felt as though the staff was siloed and morale was low, so the town asked the Vermont League of Cities and Towns for assistance and eventually decided to switch to a town administrator model. The Select Board still has final approval of projects, so they maintain accountability to the public. For several years, the Select Board alternated chairs throughout the year but of late, they have decided to stick to one chair each year and McMains currently holds that position.

McMains decision to run once more this March was based, in part, on a desire to be part of the process for using the federal ARPA funds. “We were fortunate enough to come through Covid better than a lot of other towns,” she said. “We don’t need the money for the basic things in our budget so that money should be transformative.”

Although her background is in science, McMains is one of the people behind Art in Town Hall, a series of rotating exhibits which began in 2010. Every few months, a new prompt is sent out, resulting in paintings, mixed media, and photographs which grace the walls of the conference room and hallways. Additional artwork is evident in McMains’s garden. Her home has been on the Jericho Garden Tour and her husband is known for making patterns with his lettuce plantings.

For McMains, the positive feeling she gets from giving back to her community and having the opportunity to make a difference outweighs any negatives of public service. One area of frustration is that people who object to projects are more likely to voice their opinions than those who would like to see them through. “We know there are people who want to see things happen,” she said, “but they don’t necessarily come to meetings.”

McMains has lived in Jericho since 1991. “What we like about Jericho is that it still maintains an identity as a community,” she said. “People really do care about each other. We saw that with Covid with people shopping for their neighbors and with conversations about a food hub and food resiliency. That’s the heart and soul of a municipality.”

Jeff York: Settling in Jericho after a lifetime of travel

by Phyl Newbeck

Jeff York comes from a military family. “Every year around July 1, we would move,” he said, “and then we’d land at a new base around August 1 before school started.” The bases were all different but one thing they had in common was a community library and York gravitated to those spaces. When he found himself approaching retirement at IBM, he remembered those sanctuaries of his youth and in 2018, he joined the board of the Jericho Town Library.

“Supporting a small library has always appealed to me,” York said. “One of the best things about Vermont is a sense of community and libraries are a big part of that.” York believes there are a number of ways to support community including getting involved in the schools when your kids are of age, joining houses of worship, or serving on boards and lately, he has chosen the latter. For several years he was a general member of the Jericho Town Library board, but he was soon asked to become Treasurer and he has held that position ever since.

The library board was not York’s first foray into municipal volunteering. Eight years ago, he found himself chatting with Barry King who was the chair of the Development Review Board. King recommended that York apply for a vacant position on the board, and he did so. This year, he has taken over as chair of that body. “It’s interesting to understand the patterns of development and see how things will plan out long-term for Jericho,” York said. “The decisions we make will affect the town for years to come.”

York sees the DRB as a sounding board, tasked with interpreting the town’s regulations. He notes that the rights of property owners have to be weighed against the rights of the greater community. York recognizes that many people are frustrated by what might seem to be a long and expensive process and his goal is to provide a sense of clarity for those who come before the board. He believes the process is generally a good one and can help the town plan for what it will look like 100 years from now.

York spent most of his career at IBM, first as an engineer and then as a financial analyst in their test area. “I became more interested in the decisions on why we made certain investments and made some products and not others, not just the mechanical wear and tear of a certain metal,” he said. “I wanted to help provide data so we could make the best possible decisions on hiring and letting people go.” York believes that during most of his years at IBM, the company cared about its employees. “IBM attracted a very interesting, intellectually alert group of people,” he said. “There was a lot of vitality, and it was very exciting.”

When he first moved to Vermont, York continued the frequent moving which had characterized his childhood. He lived in Burlington, Winooski, St. Albans, Fletcher, Enosburgh, and Richmond. “I kept moving from place to place but when I got to Jericho 20 years ago, I decided to stay,” he said. “It’s a place that’s rural enough that people still talk to their neighbors but not so rural that it takes an hour to go to the grocery store.”

When York first retired, he and a friend built a small sailboat that he takes out once a week in the summer. He also enjoys kayaking on Waterbury and Green River Reservoirs. In the spring he is part of a program that monitors the nests of peregrine falcons. York is in charge of a section of Smugglers’ Notch and his mission is to check where the falcons are nesting so rock climbers won’t disturb them. Although this year, very few falcon nests were successful – likely because of weather issues – the falcons that York monitored fledged one young. He said that during the ten years he has monitored them, they have almost always produced chicks.

With his military family background, York has seen a lot of the country. He had been living in Atlanta when he decided to move to Vermont because it seemed exotic. “I think it’s the best place in the world to be,” he said. “I’ve never seen anything that has the scale of Vermont in terms of the size of the towns and the lush beauty.” Both of York’s children have resettled in California and although he enjoys visiting them, Jericho remains home.

Catherine Bass: The New Face at Jericho Town Library

by Phyl Newbeck

It’s ironic that Cathine Bass started working at the Jericho Town Library this June just as wildfires from Quebec began fouling the town’s air. Bass is sensitive to wildfire smoke and chose New England as her home because of the air quality but JTL’s new librarian isn’t going to let a little smoke get in her way.

Bass has experience working in both public libraries and school libraries and believes that JTL combines what she likes about each. “I love that a public library services the whole community and that you get to work with people of all ages,” she said “but in school libraries you get to deeply know your community and patrons. This library is so beloved by the people who use it that they use it heavily, but that use is spread among people of all ages.”

Bass’s journey to Vermont has included stops across the globe. Her father was in the U.S. Army, so she travelled a lot as a child including middle school and high school in the Mideast. “I’ve always loved to travel,” she said, “and I was really interested in living abroad as an adult.” After high school she returned to the states and with no specific career plans, she studied ancient Greek and Latin. “There was no obvious next step other than graduate school,” she said, “so I tried teaching English as a second language.” That lead to a job in Finland teaching kids in grades first through sixth.

Bass enjoyed teaching and knew she wanted to keep working with kids, so she went back to school for a Master’s in Elementary Education. She taught fourth grade for a few years but recognized that some of the things she liked about teaching also pertained to library work. The travel bug kicked in again and Bass got a job teaching library and technology classes to students in pre-kindergarten through fifth grade in South Korea. The library classes centered around foundational literacy skills, information seeking strategies, research skills, and media literacy skills. Covid struck and although Bass was impressed with how the government handled the pandemic, she had already decided to move back to the states. She and her husband ended up in Bozeman, Montana.

In Montana, Bass worked as a library assistant on a bookmobile and although she enjoyed it, the pandemic limited the services they could provide. The couple wanted to return to the northeast where they both had strong support systems and also to escape the wildfire smoke. “I became interested in air quality issues when we lived in South Korea,” Bass said. “I’ve done a lot of research on information dissemination on wildfires and secondary effects. I knew New England would suffer too, but I wanted to get as many years of clean air as possible.”

One of Bass’s best friends had moved to Vermont and was living on a farm in Peacham and working at the Morrisville Centennial Library. She encouraged Bass to look for a Vermont job and Bass’s husband agreed. For now, she is living in an apartment and commuting to Boston to see him on weekends, but he hopes to be moving to Vermont as soon as possible and at the very least, come north to visit her on weekends.

Bass’s first summer program was with the Four Winds Nature Institute, and it attracted 21 people. The library’s weekly summer programs include a Tuesday “crafternoon” for kids seven and up, a Wednesday morning family story time for families with kids five and under, Thursday morning story time yoga for kids three to six followed by a late morning playgroup for kids six and under, and a Friday morning drop-in maker club for kids seven and older. Recurring events include outdoor yoga with Ginny Churchill and musical story time with Miss Emma. Bass said she is really looking forward to a back-to-school carnival which will be held on August 19 and the annual Pet Parade which will also be held on August 26.

Bass admits she misses teaching a little because in school libraries, children are a captive audience whereas in public libraries, a bit more outreach is necessary. She is looking forward to finding more ways to engage the community. Bass said she has been impressed with how welcoming Jericho residents have been. “People have stopped by to say hello and to introduce themselves,” she said.

Now that Bass’s position is full-time, she is hoping to expand the services the library offers and is open to feedback about programs, events, and even library hours. This summer, Saturday hours are being extended from 10-2 to 10-4. Bass has heard the story of how her job hours were increased during Town Meeting and notes that one of the things she loves about the state is the way people are involved in local government.

“I feel very grateful that the town voted to make this a full-time position,” she said. “I would love to work in partnership with anyone interested in new programs or ideas. This is a great community space for people in town.”

Jessica Alexander: The Friendly Face at Town Hall

In a sense, long-time Town Clerk Jessica Alexander returned to her youth. The Jericho native attended the Saxon Hill School for the equivalent of Pre-K and Kindergarten and the room where she now serves as Town Clerk was the first location for the teachers and youngsters who were part of that program. In 2001, Alexander returned to that room when she was elected Town Clerk, a position she has held for over two decades.

Alexander has deep roots in Jericho. After the Saxon Hill School, she attended first and second grade at Jericho Elementary School and third and fourth grade at what was known as the Center School. The Center School had some facilities in the Jericho Community Center, and others in the building next door. There was no kitchen, so meals were cooked at the elementary school and transported to Jericho Center.

When she attended middle school, the dividing line between Browns River and Camel’s Hump Middle Schools went through Jericho Center so Alexander attended Camel’s Hump, followed by Mount Mansfield Union High School. She graduated from UVM with a degree in physical therapy and still works in that field on weekends.

After graduation, Alexander worked as a physical therapist in Massachusetts and then did some traveling PT. She spent four years in South Carolina before moving back to Vermont and working at what is now UVM Medical Center. “I was looking for a change,” Alexander said. “Someone asked my mother to run for Town Clerk. She wasn’t interested, but she suggested that I look into it.”

Alexander already had some familiarity with the job. Back in seventh grade, she did a report about the history of the house where she grew up which – coincidentally – had been built by Jericho’s first Town Clerk, Louis Chapin. She shadowed the assistant clerk, Debbie Fitzgerald, and decided to give the job a try, making ten campaign lawn signs which she placed strategically around town.

That 2001 race was the only time Alexander has faced another candidate; she has run unopposed ever since. Although some municipalities elect town clerks every three years, for Jericho it’s a single-year term. Some towns have also moved to make town clerk an appointed position, but Alexander hopes Jericho won’t go that route. “I like being elected because I feel like I’m working directly for the people,” she said.

Alexander said she really enjoys working in the office and continuing to learn about her hometown. “I’m connecting with history,” she said, “and it gives me a sense of place.” In working at Town Hall, Alexander is continuing a family tradition of community service. Her mother Emilie spent nine years each on the boards of Jericho Elementary School and MMU, worked as the librarian at the Jericho Town Library, and also served on that board. Her father Stuart spent some time as Jericho’s Health Officer and over 30 years on the Planning Commission as well as being one of the principal authors of the Third History of Jericho.

In her spare time, Alexander enjoys taking care of her four horses. “They ride and drive,” she said. “They can pull a carriage.” She has entered the horses in some local shows but not in any high-pressure competitions. Alexander used to take part in the annual Dragon Boat festival but took a break during Covid. She hopes to return to dragon boating in the future.

When Alexander first started working at Town Hall, she saw a lot of the parents of kids she had gone to school with and got to check up on her classmates. These days, she sees a whole new generation, some of whom have never known another person serving in her position.

During her tenure, Alexander has seen a real change in technology. When she started, the office had a dot matrix printer and used the FoxPro database. Jericho started using an electronic voters’ checklist in 1998 and these days, that information is kept on the Secretary of State’s server. Liquor licenses are now renewed via a web portal rather than by mail. Another change is the digitization of the land records. “We still keep the volumes,” Alexander said, “but we have scanned the images and most title searching is done on the computer.” That’s important because Alexander believes future generations will be unable to read the cursive writing on the document or figure out the system of index cards.

Alexander misses Jericho’s dirt roads and the triangular intersections which have been replaced by T stops for safety. She and a friend on Schillhammer Road used to go on four-hour horseback rides through town but now that land connectivity is gone and there are fewer farms. Alexander is pleased that groups in town are working to try to reestablish those trail connections.

One real positive that Alexander sees in town is a new emphasis on diversity, equity, and inclusion which she also sees in her physical therapy work. “There’s a whole new outlook for people’s well-being,” she said. “Vermont may have a head start on the nation in that area because we make a lot of decisions locally. We have a strong voice in what we do.”

Soit Ole Musa: Student Representative on the Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Committee

A senior at MMU, Soitmatua (Soit) Ole Musa is part of a racial equity group called Cougars of Color. Their goal is to bring about change in the way the school and community discuss racial issues from a BIPOC perspective. When the advisor for that group told Musa the town of Jericho was forming a Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Committee and was looking for student volunteers, he decided to apply.

Musa was the first person appointed to the committee. “It’s been great,” he said. “I really enjoy the work and think it’s really important.” He noted that even policies that aren’t directly exclusionary might not have been created with DEI values in mind so they might be unintentionally causing harm and should be examined.

Musa isn’t fazed by the fact that he’s surrounded by adults on the committee. He admits that he doesn’t know all the procedures for committee work and respects the fact that the older members are well versed in that. “I really enjoy and value their wisdom on how we have to run as a group,” he said. “They’re great people and I respect them as mentors.” Musa said he has always spent time with people older than himself so working on the committee isn’t a stretch.

Musa believes Jericho needs to improve access to housing to be more inclusive. “We need to work on our housing values,” he said “but that opens up a whole can of worms because you’re dealing with homeowners who may not want more neighbors. That becomes a larger conversation and that’s where the committee comes in.” Musa also thinks it’s important for Jericho to attract more diverse residents. “This is one of the whitest places I’ve ever been,” he said. “My graduating class has five Black people, and the grades below only have a couple. Attracting a more diverse presence would help Jericho’s growth.”

Musa was a member of the Vermont Youth Philharmonia for two years and has been part of the Vermont Youth Orchestra since eighth grade. He plays French horn and this year he is the principal player. “I’ve been really committed to that,” he said, “and it’s been an amazing and formative experience.” In addition, Musa has been a member of the marching band since middle school and was twice invited to the Big E. “Marching is a completely different beast,” he said. He is unable to play the French horn in the band, so he plays a mellophone which he described as looking like a big trumpet. “You can use a French horn mouthpiece,” he said, “but it’s still quite different. It’s harder than being an ensemble player because you’re applying all that musicianship but also moving. You’re trying to remember the ebbs and flows of the music as well as where you’re supposed to be physically.”

Musa has played at the District Festival since grade 7 and has gone to All States each year of high school except for his sophomore year when Covid led to its cancellation. This year, the group is playing the last movement of the New World Symphony which Musa described as having a massive horn solo. “It’s really terrifying,” he said, “because it goes really high.”

Musa’s musical talents extend beyond the horn. He has also taken part in chorus since grade 5 and this year, on the realization that he had never attended a vocal festival, he went to the New England Chorus Festival and enjoyed the opportunity to sing with a group of 200 others.

Not surprisingly, given the fact that music is such a huge part of his life, Musa will be attending the Berklee College of Music in Boston this fall. In addition to French horn performance, he will be studying film and media composition.

Musa has thoroughly enjoyed his time in Jericho and although he’s not sure where he’ll end up after graduation, he does have one thought. “A long time from now, when I have kids,” he said, “I’d love to have them go to MMU.”

Soit Plays a Sample of Strauss - Click Here to Listen

Peter Miller Davis: A Career of Skis and Trees

The third burglary at Peter Miller Davis’s home in the North End of Burlington was the final affront. “They stole the hose off the front of our house,” he recalled. His wife Karen was pregnant with their first child, and she saw an ad for property that abutted the UVM Research Forest which was where Davis had studied forestry. “As soon as I got here, I knew that they’d be taking me out in a casket,” he said. “I knew it was where I wanted to spend my life. I just felt a connection to the land.”

When Jericho formed a committee to oversee the Mobbs Farm in 2008, Davis immediately applied. He took five years off when he worked at Stratton Mountain School but got back on the committee as soon as that job ended, and he’s been a member ever since. The property is near his house, and he spends time skiing, biking, and running on the trails.

Davis’s career has been a fascinating series of twists and turns. He was on the UVM ski team and after graduation, he decided to focus on downhill in the hope of making the national team. On a whim, he offered to be a forerunner at a race at Pico and ended up joining the Peugeot Grand Prix ski circuit which he described as the B tour. That year, the primary circuit folded, so the faster racers ended up joining the B tour, upping the level of competition. Davis spent three years racing on the tour and thoroughly enjoyed the opportunity to travel the world.

After retiring from racing, Davis started a business doing tree work in the summer while coaching several different ski clubs in the winter. He began doing some event announcing and had a local radio show called Friday Morning Funway on WRUV from 1980 to 1986. Davis enjoyed announcing ski races but since there were very few spectators, he launched an experiment to bring the mountain to the people instead of vice versa.

In Burlington, snow was trucked in from the airport for an event that became the annual Burlington Winter Festival. The first year was so popular that race registration had to be capped at 250 people. Davis called the local television stations and got so much publicity that Anheuser Busch signed on as a sponsor and Busch City Ski was born. The group hosted 26 events a year across the country and found that the ones at beach resorts were the most popular. One event was held in front of the US Capitol.

The ski events were on weekends and Davis continued to do tree work during the week but in 1991 he opted for more steady employment, signing on with Canstar Sports which was based out of Swanton. When Nike bought the company and moved it to New Hampshire, Davis balked at relocating so they allowed him to work out of his home for the last six years of his 11 years with the firm. From there he went to Rossignol where he managed a snowboard brand.

Davis spent five years at Stratton Mountain School when his son, a Nordic racer, attended. From there, it was three years as the Executive Director of the USA Snowboard Association and a couple of years building the adventure center at Stowe. In 2008, looking to return to his forestry roots, Davis posted on Jericho Front Porch Forum about his desire to get back into tree work and immediately got 37 calls. These days, his work life is a combination of forestry work and event announcing.

Davis chairs the Mobbs Committee and one of the things he loves about it is that everyone contributes. “It took the whole team to get Mobbs conserved,” he said, of the work which involved the Jericho Underhill and Vermont Land Trusts. “It was a three-year long process, and everyone was part of it.” Davis was gratified that when the question of conservation was put to the town for a vote, 91% were in favor.

Now that he’s no longer racing, Davis enjoys having a quiet ski at Mobbs and credits Dan and Chris Smith for their work grooming the trails with a Snowdog. This winter he was also thrilled to see the use of the sliding trails by local kids. The Mobbs Committee is now focusing on grant opportunities and has just submitted a request for $20,000 in trail maintenance funds to improve the condition of the property’s bridges.

Davis is hoping to establish a subcommittee to look into the feasibility of a community garden at Mobbs. A test patch close to the Brown’s Trace parking area showed that the soil was suitable for agriculture. Davis is also working on the Mobbs Farm orchard which currently has a dozen trees. He is hoping to add more apple, pear, plum, and northern climate peach, in addition to blueberry and raspberry bushes. He envisions a picnic area where people can relax, and wildlife can flourish. I call those my “big, hairy, audacious goals,” he said with a smile.

Sarahjane Dube: The Consummate Volunteer

By Phyl Newbeck

Sarahjane (SJ) Dube has a lot on her plate. In addition to her full-time job as a Research Specialist at UVM, she’s got two young children at home and she’s taking graduate courses in epidemiology. On top of that, she chairs Jericho’s Affordable Housing Committee and is a member of the new Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) Committee.

Dube moved to Vermont in 2008, purchasing a small home in the New North End with the goal of trying to decide if she and her husband wanted to stay in Vermont. They built up some equity and when their son was born in the fall of 2012, they decided to make their next move. Basing their decision on what they could afford, the status of the schools, and proximity to skiing for her husband, the two found a split-level ranch in Jericho in 2013 which would also provide room their new daughter.

Initially, Dube concentrated on her job and raising her family but during the pandemic, she was able to attend evening meetings via Zoom and became intrigued by the options to serve her community. Dube watched Select Board and Planning Commission meetings while rubbing her daughter’s back and when Bob Robbins posted on Front Porch Forum that he needed people for a new Affordable Housing Committee, she volunteered. “I didn’t have the expertise,” she said, “but I was willing to help.”

When Robbins left the committee, Dube took over as chair. “There was a need,” she said, “and I was willing to try it until the following March when the term would expire.” March came and went and Dube is still the chair. “I just fell into it,” she said.

While listening to Vermont Edition, Dube learned about the Declaration of Inclusion movement across the state. She approached Town Administrator John Abbott who told her that the Select Board had just tasked him with creating a Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) Committee. Dube again raised her hand to volunteer, and the committee has just adopted a charter.

Dube’s day job is as a research specialist at UVM in the Department of Psychiatry. She is involved in two research projects. One is with the Vermont Center of Behavior and Health and the second one is part of the national Adolescent Brain and Cognitive Development study. Although those areas are very different from the ones where she volunteers, Dube believes her expertise in information gathering, analysis, and reporting has been useful in her municipal volunteer work.

Dube is studying for a graduate certificate in epidemiology which she believes will provide a good background for a potential move into the field of social justice through public health. All of this doesn’t leave much time for hobbies, but Dube said she likes to have busy hands. She enjoys knitting, crocheting, and quilting, as well as hiking, reading, and being outside with her dog.

Dube’s entry into the world of municipal volunteering coincided with her daughter aging out of her toddler period. “I was just starting to be more than a mom,” Dube said. “I was coming out of the fog and woods of the infant and toddler years, and I got excited about having a brain that was working and having some time on my hands.”

Another impetus for Dube’s volunteer efforts was her concern about the state of the world. “Between the pandemic and the social and cultural state of the country at that time, things got dark,” she said. “I went to a place of feeling overwhelming despair but then I started thinking about how I could help people.” Dube started by sewing masks and offering to run errands for immunocompromised people. “Those little acts of agency made me feel a little better and a little more empowered,” she said. “I was finally able to come out from the early years of motherhood and connect with people again. I wanted to be more connected and to serve my community.”