HARDWICK – Lisa Sammet, Jeudevine’s librarian from 1993 through 2022, recalls that day in January 2018 as “one of the best days of my life.” Her spirits were at a low ebb, as a bond vote to approve her long-hoped-for expansion project had been voted down. The Jeudevine board chair had resigned and little private money had been raised. She wondered if the collective energy existed to breathe life back into the project. Then the phone rang.
A man’s voice greeted her with “I want to start by noting that this is not a crank call.” He introduced himself as the attorney for the estate of Parker Ladd, a man Sammet had never known. The estate had directed almost half a million dollars to the Jeudevine Library. That one remarkable gift re-energized the board and provided a solid financial footing on which to grow funding. The process began again.
But the question remained. Who was Parker Ladd?
Parker Ladd was born in Hardwick in 1929. He lived on West Church Street, just down from the library. The library became a refuge for him. He read voraciously and went on to major in English at the University of Vermont. Joyce Slayton Mitchell, four years his junior, lived across the street from his home. “I adored Parker Ladd,” she recalled. She marveled at his intellect and at his knowledge of books and plays. He often recommended reading for her. Their friendship continued across the decades. She was a regular visitor to his home in New York City. He left a key under the mat for her and often provided her with tickets to Broadway shows.
Following his graduation from UVM, he served in the United States military and spent time in Sweden as a bookseller before returning to the United States. Mitchell visited him in Stockholm and sat in on rehearsals for a play he was producing. He returned to the United States and began his career in publishing in Los Angeles. Soon thereafter he relocated to New York where he achieved great success at Scribners. He then moved to the American Association of Publishers and rose to its presidency. His career in publishing spanned 35 years.
His partner for more than 50 years was Arnold Scaasi, a New York fashion designer who designed dresses for Hollywood stars (Sophia Loren, Elizabeth Taylor, Barbra Streisand) and first ladies (Barbara Bush, Hillary Clinton). Together, Scaasi and Ladd were regular attendees at the city’s most exclusive social events.
Along with gossip-columnist Liz Smith, the two men were instrumental in growing Literacy Partners, a nonprofit program to promote literacy among underprivileged parents, caregivers and children. In 1986 they organized the first Literary Partners Evening of Readings, a grand annual gala at which well-known authors are invited to read, and students of the program share their successes. One article quoted Ladd as believing that reading was the definition of civilization. Over the years the foundation raised more than thirty-seven million dollars.
Within that high society world Scaasi and Smith were the celebrities, but Ladd “was the glue that held them together” said Jane Friedman, one-time CEO of Harper-Collins. It fell to him to attract top authors to the gala. Following his death in 2017, the CEO of Literacy Partners, Anthony Tassi, remembered him as “charming, elegant and uncommonly generous of spirit . . . a walking advertisement for the literary lifestyle. A lifelong bookworm from Vermont, he read nonstop.”
Ladd and Scaasi married in 2011. They shared homes in Manhattan, Palm Beach and Quogue (on Long Island). Ladd’s niece, Karen Baker, recalls that in each of those homes “the bookshelves were full and there were piles of books on the floor”.
Ladd died in 2017 at age 89. He never forgot the town where he grew up. Had he followed the news from Hardwick about the struggles to expand the first library he had loved? Did he understand that his gift would help bring a Jeudevine dream to reality? Thanks to his generosity we now enjoy an expanded library that sits at the center of our community, fully capable of meeting 21st-century needs, but, at heart, there to serve as a sanctuary for patrons and to encourage us all to share in his lifelong appreciation of books and devotion to reading.
