Cavendish Women You Should Know: Phyllis Bont

Phyllis at her loom

--> By the time Phyllis Bont arrived in Cavendish in 1957, she was a nurse, wife and mother. From Grand Rapids, MI, Phyllis attended Wayne State University and graduated from Butterworth School of Nursing. Married to Dr. Eugene Bont, they had looked at various towns in Vermont before agreeing that Cavendish was the place for Gene to start his medical practice at the Black River Medical Center (BRHC).

Prior to the Bonts arrival, the physician serving the Cavendish/Proctorsville area died. Two fatal car accidents occurred and Cavendish found they could not rely on Ludlow for medical coverage. Community leaders meet with the University of Vermont Medical School and were advised to equip a medical office and then recruit a physician. 

Kenwood Mills, who purchased Gay Brothers Mills and its holdings in 1951, donated the stone building to help form the new BRHC. Phyllis was attracted to Cavendish because members of the community donated their time to renovate the building and workers at Kenwood Mills had $1 a week withheld from their pay to help create the medical facility.

Black River Health Center

In addition to raising seven children, Phyllis was involved in numerous community activities along with being a visiting nurse. In the 1970s, it was agreed at a family meeting that Phyllis would enroll at the University of Vermont’s in what would be their third graduating class of nurse practitioners (RNPs). For a year and a half, Phyllis worked Monday and Tuesday for the Visiting Nurses and from Tuesday night to Friday night she would attend class in Burlington. Some of her clinical experiences were at the BRHC, where Gene had recognized the critical need for physician assistants (PAs) and RNPs in the delivery of health care in rural areas.

“I wanted to do a better job as a visiting nurse,” Phyllis gave as her reason for returning to school. However, once she had received her RNP, she found that she became frustrated when doctors did not acknowledge her ability to diagnosis patients. Given that Gene had been using PAs for quite some time, she joined the BRHC, where she worked until 1988, when they relocated to Albany Medical Center (AMC).

AMC offered its own set of rewarding experiences and challenges. Phyllis not only worked on the front lines of the AIDS epidemic, but she also expanded her role in the Family Medicine Department to include being a teacher and preceptor. Because the Bonts still called Cavendish home, they would return on weekends. Phyllis volunteered her time, and even her home, to those affected by HIV/AIDS in Vermont and New Hampshire.

When Gene and Phyllis decided to retire, they returned to Cavendish after having spent 11 years in Albany. Phyllis was quite adamant that she didn’t want to spend her retirement cleaning the large house, nor was she interested in being a nurse. In addition to spending time with her children and grandchildren, she returned to a childhood passion-weaving.

Phyllis's favorite pattern that she has woven.

Phyllis thanks her 4th grade practical arts teacher for allowing her to make use of a loom from grades 4-6. After that she didn’t have an opportunity to weave again until the 1970s, when she took classes in Charlestown. However, it was when she hung up her stethoscope and started collecting fibers that another whole career took off.

One of the original founders of Six Loose Ladies, Phyllis not only helped to staff the store, that for many years was on the corner of Depot Street and Route 131, but she taught weaving and sold her incredible shawls, scarves and other items. 

One of Phyllis's shawls

Phyllis continues her career as a healer through fiber arts.  The gorgeous shawls and scarves she makes is her way to continually wrap someone in loving-kindness. Her shawls, in particular, come with a note about wrapping it around you when you need a hug.

In the series Cavendish Women You Should Know, Phyllis knew all of the women being featured and her memories of them will appear in upcoming posts.

Listen to an interview of Phyllis on Vermont Public Radio.