Middlebury, Vermont

Middlebury, Vermont, 1961-66

In 1961, the family moved to Middlebury, Vermont, where John began teaching as a Lecturer at Middlebury College, and lived in a twin house rented from the college, at 120 South Main Street. John became Middlebury's Director of Freshman English in 1965. After we moved away, that house was moved close to the college athletic fields so that Storrs Avenue could be re-routed through what had been our backyard.

While in Middlebury (or maybe in Williamstown), Flo began working remotely for Technic, doing library research. In the basement of the Middlebury house, Flo installed the first of her four home laboratories.

The deep, rectangular backyard served as a playground for many of the neighborhood kids, and for many of John's students and colleagues. John was an avid badminton player, and installed a regulation-size court, using a couple of truckloads of clay dirt, firmly packed with a roller, and with lines marked by painted stones spaced every foot or so. A Space Trolley provided countless hours of entertainment for young folks. Foot-high boards enclosed a skating rink every winter. Flo and John (mostly Flo) used a garden hose to spray a light mist over the rink when conditions were right, mostly during the night and very early morning. The ice surface needed shoveling upon any precipitation event, much of which was done by David and the neighborhood kids.

 

photo:
Nancy and Flo, July 1962
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photo:
Nancy and Flo, July 1962
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photo:
Flo, Sept 1962 in Providence
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photo:
Flo, Sept 1962 in Providence
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photo:
Flo, Sept 1962 in Providence
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photo:
Flo, Sept 1962 in Providence
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photo:
Flo, Sept 1962 in Providence
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photo:
Flo, October 1962
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photo:
John, Flo, David, Robin, and Nancy, August 1963
The family traveled to northern Maine to view a complete solar eclipse at Uncle Leo's camp on the shore of Brassua Lake. It was a cloudy day that afforded only a few brief glimpses of the sun during eclipse.
(click image for detail)

 

photo:
Flo, Nancy, Robin, Aunt Lena, at Lena's house in Maine (Thomaston?)
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photo:
Nancy and Robin skating
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photo:
Nancy and Robin skating, Space Trolley in background
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photo:
Nancy and Robin skating
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photo:
Robin skating
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photo:
Robin skating
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photo:
Robin skating
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photo:
cartoon reading, For heaven's sake, Florence ... that's a man's job. Why don't you try to get me to do it? This cartoon in a frame sat on a bookshelf in John's study, starting in the 1960s, or possibly earlier.
(click image for detail)