We were saddened to
learn of the passing of Diana Leonard on March 28, a stalwart of the Cavendish
Historical Society (CHS), she moved to Colorado in recent years to be near family.
One of her friends, and an important historian for Cavendish, Barbara Kingsbury
died just about a week later on April 7. Our condolences to their family and
friends.
Upcoming Events
The Museum is now
open on Sundays from 2-4 pm and other times by appointment
July 2 (Saturday): Plant Sale takes place at the Museum from
8:30-2:30. CHS’s newest publication Aleksandr
Solzhenitsyn: The Writer Who Changed History will be available for sale and
autographs.
July 29 (Saturday): 6th Annual Cavendish Town Wide Tag Sale 9-3
Sept 10 (Saturday): Bible, hymnal and prayer book burial. As a
follow up to the Spring 2015 Newsletter
article, “How to Dispose of a Bible” while some of the Cavendish churches
preferred recycling, there were others that felt it was most appropriate to
bury these items when they became too old to be repurposed. CHS, the town’s
sexton and the Cavendish Baptist Church are arranging for a burial in the Old
Revolutionary Cemetery. If you have Bibles that you would like to be included
please contact CHS at the numbers above. Please note that if you have a Torah,
these need to be buried in a Jewish Cemetery.
Sept 11 (Sunday): Annual Phineas Gage Walk and Talk, 2 pm at
the CHS Museum
Remembering Barbara Kingsbury
It is with deep sadness that we learned of Barbara Kingsbury’s passing on
April 7 in South Dakota.
As many people connected with Cavendish know, Barbara’s book “Chubb Hill
Farm and Cavendish, Vermont” is one of our most important "go to"
reference guides. In fact, as Coordinator of
CHS, her book sits right next to my computer always at the ready for
quick consultation.
What I appreciate about Barbara’s history is not only the incredible
research and interviews, but it’s the juxtaposition of the town’s history next
to Kingsbury family history. It provides a unique perspective and in the
ensuing years since she wrote and updated it, we have found the diary entries
from her husband’s family important in understanding current events.
One year everyone was complaining about “sugar season” being “off.” Reading
Barbara’s book, which contains the maple sugar production of the Kingsbury Farm
for many years, we quickly could see that some years were short, some rather
long, with quality and quantity varying. In short, there really isn’t a
“normal” season.
Barbara was also part of a group that met weekly to cut out newspaper and
magazine articles pertaining to Cavendish. Thanks to this activity, CHS
has a very detailed record of Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn’s time in Cavendish, which
was an important reference when writing the children’s biography, “Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn: The Writer Who
Changed History.”
When I first started working for CHS, Barbara and her husband Paul were
stopping a lot of their volunteer activities. Barbara’s eyesight was failing
and one afternoon she wistfully told me how she wanted to be 65 again. “Oh what
I could do. There is so much more to write about Cavendish history.” Barbara
you gave Cavendish a great deal, much more than you probably realized.
Born Alice Barbara
Burkholder on Nov. 3, 1928, in Chicago, she attended schools in Chicago,
earning degrees from Northwestern University and McCormick Theological
Seminary. Barbara did short-term mission work in Puerto Rico, where she met
Paul Kingsbury from Cavendish. They were married on May 20, 1952.
Barbara and Paul
became missionaries to South Korea with the United Presbyterian Church. While Paul
focused on agricultural work, Barbara helped with an orphanage, taught Bible
classes, English and French. They lived in South Korea for 29 years, most of
this time living in Taejon, Andong and then Kangwondo.
Barbara and Paul
retired and returned to Cavendish in 1982. In addition to CHS, they were active
in the Cavendish Baptist Church and many other local community organizations.
Barbara continued to enjoy bird watching, and identifying wild flowers in the
woods of Vermont, as she had done in the mountains of Korea.
Barbara is survived
by her four daughters, Ellen (Rob) Stearns of Canterbury, Conn.; Grace (Mike)
Muzzo of Downingtown, Pa.; Esther (Peter) Sexton of Brookings, and Alice
Kingsbury of Keene, N.H.; eight grandchildren; six great-grandchildren, as well
as nieces and nephews; and by her sister-in-law, Olive Kingsbury of Cavendish.
On behalf of CHS we extend our deepest sympathies to the last remaining
relative on the Kingsbury Farm, Olive Kingsbury, and to Barbara’s family and
friends.
Watch the
Flowers Grow This Summer
Thanks to Svetlana Phillips, there will be a cascading flower display this
summer on the stump of the silver maple
tree that had to be removed because of serious decay. Over the course of the
summer, we will be photographing the growing and tumbling planting and posting
to the CHS blog, see URL above.
The Book a Community Wrote: The Writer
Who Changed History
Cavendish is known
for having been the home of Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn, the Soviet dissident and
Nobel Prize winner who lived here for almost 18 of the 20 years after he was
exiled from Russia. The town’s willingness to protect his privacy from
outsiders is legendary and as a recent visitor to the CHS Museum noted, “there
is little on the Internet about Solzhenitsyn’s time here, other than people
wouldn’t give directions to his house.”
That is about to
change, with the publication of Aleksandr
Solzhenitsyn: The Writer Who Changed History. The author, Margo Caulfield,
the Coordinator of CHS, is very clear that this is a community effort that
started in the 1970s when a group of CHS volunteers met weekly and clipped
articles pertaining to Cavendish, from local and national newspapers and
magazines. Through their efforts, Solzhenitsyn’s time in Cavendish was well
documented and these archives were key in writing the chapter “Life in the
West.”
 |
| Isabele Gross |
The inspiration for The Writer Who Changed History came from
former third grader Isabelle Gross. As part of CHS’s outreach to children,
Solzhenitsyn’s experience as a Captain in the Russian Army during WWII was
included along with the stories of other Cavendish veterans. Isabelle became
extremely upset about how Solzhenitsyn was arrested on the front lines and
imprisoned just because he wrote to a friend about his concerns with Stalin.
She kept on saying, “This is unfair!” and had many questions including “Was he
okay?” “Did they hurt him?” By showing her pictures of Solzhenitsyn living in
Cavendish, his children and grandchildren, her concerns were eased. It became
clear that having a book might be a better way for Isabelle and other students
to understand that Solzhenitsyn’s war experience was literally just one chapter
in a very amazing life.
The Cavendish Community Fund provided funding
for editing, while the Vermont Humanities Council gave CHS a grant to develop
the book’s companion website, [http://www.thewriterwhochangedhistory.com] which
was created by Cavendish resident and webmaster Katie Hamlin. The site includes
a study guide and curriculum that teachers and book groups can use. Finally,
private donations helped with other costs.
Caulfield states,
“There were three things I thought were important. The book needed lots and
lots of photographs that on their own could tell the story.” Thanks to the
generosity of the Solzhenitsyn family, who provided the majority of the book’s
photographs, a number of these pictures have until now, not been seen in the
west.
Equally important
was the look of the book. “It needs vibrancy and color. We don’t want kids
turned off because it appears dark.” Another Cavendish resident, Julia Gignoux,
was able to provide the right mix. Responsible for the layout and design,
Gignoux made The Writer Who Changed History come alive, resulting in a final
product that is appealing to all ages.
The third element was that the book had to
include Solzhenitsyn’s writing. “When you mention his name, people immediately
think of “Gulag Archipelago,” but his body
of work is vast and includes plays, poems and so much more. As much as possible
I thought it important to rely on these resources so that Solzhenitsyn gets to
tell his own story but at a level children will understand.” The Writer Who Changed History includes
excerpts from speeches, interviews as well as text from his books.
Of most importance
are the people of Cavendish. Their cooperation and willingness to protect
Solzhenitsyn from the prying eyes of the public, made it possible for him to
complete “The Red Wheel.” That same Vermont spirit brought many locals together
to make The Writer Who Changed History
possible.
The book is
self-published by CHS and is available for purchase at Create Space
(www.createspace.com), Amazon.com and at the Museum. All proceeds from the sale
of the book will be used for the Society’s Solzhenitsyn Project, which includes
a permanent exhibit, archives, education and outreach.
I have worked here for almost eighteen years. It has been the most productive period in my
life. I have done all that I wanted to
do.....Our children grew up and went to school here, alongside your children.
For them, Vermont is home. Indeed, our whole family has felt at home among you.
Exile is always difficult, and yet I could not imagine a better place to
live, and wait, and wait for my return home than Cavendish. Solzhenitsyn’s Farewell speech at Cavendish Town
Meeting 1994
CTES 6th Graders Working in
the Cavendish Cemeteries
On May 3, through a
combined effort of CHS, Cavendish Town Elementary School, the town and sexton,
the sixth graders, along volunteers went to six of the seven town cemeteries to
lay flags on veterans graves, clean and learn more about the history of the town.
CHS provided lunch for the students and volunteers. Special thanks to: our drivers/volunteers Penny Trick, Pat
Moore, Pang Ting, Woodie and Gail Woods; best ever Mac & Cheese-Jillian
Flinn; and to the Gross family for all of their help with the luncheon at the
Cavendish Baptist Church.
BECOME A MEMBER, RENEW YOUR MEMBERSHIP, DONATE
If
you have not joined the Cavendish Historical Society, need to renew your
membership, and/or would like to be a volunteer, please complete the form below
and sending a check, payable to CHS, to CHS, PO Box 472, Cavendish, VT 05142.
All contributions are tax deductible.
Name: _______________________________________
Address: _______________________________________________
Phone Number: _____________________ E-Mail:
____________________________
Membership
Level
__
Individual Member $10 ___ Senior
Member 65+ $5 ___ Sustaining Member $500
__
Household Member $15 ___ Contributing
Member $250
Volunteer
___
I would be interested in serving, as a volunteer .I would be interested in
serving on the following committee(s):__ Program Planning __ Fundraising __ Building (Museum)
__Archives _ Budget –– Cemetery __ Hands on History
Donations are always welcome and can be
designated as follows:
__ For
general purposes __ Educational Programs __Publications
__
Archeological Activities _
Museum & Archival __
Special Events
__
Rankin Fund __
Williams Fund __ Solzhenitsyn Project
__
Other (please specify) __ Cemetery Restoration __ Preservation Projects
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