HARDWICK – The freshly cut hay rows serpentine across the hillside, one after the other as the panorama fades away to distant forests under a cloudless sky. The scene is common in Vermont in mid-summer’s heat but the photo was striking in its simplicity as it captured the artistry of what we often don’t see or appreciate.
The photo, by June Cook, was on the front page of the first issue of The Hardwick Gazette I saw, back in early 1986. I had responded to a blind ad in a trade journal for a “Northern New England weekly.” I wrote a letter, sent to a box number to be forwarded on to where I knew not. I expressed the interest my late wife, Susan Jarzyna, and I had in learning about this newspaper and where it was located.
The Gazette was owned then by Karen and Eric Pope. He sent the issue of the newspaper that included that photo and other information. We ended up buying the Gazette in July 1986 and I met June Cook soon after we arrived. I told her the hay field image stuck with me and how much I liked the photo. And I can still see it in my mind’s eye.
As I think back to June’s death this month, I think of the fine work she did over the years for the Gazette. There was that image of the hay field, many more photos and writing that are easy to recall.
June taught at Craftsbury Academy when Susan and I took over the Gazette. She was also the Craftsbury correspondent for the newspaper. She covered events in the town for a year, or maybe two, filling a need we had to be a mirror for the people who lived there. And then, she moved to California.
I think we exchanged holiday cards and probably an occasional update but that was it. That was it until some years later when she stopped by the Gazette office to say hello. She said she had retired from teaching at a community college in California and moved back to Craftsbury. Almost immediately, I asked her if she would like to write for the Gazette. Luckily, she said yes.
I don’t remember what year June again took up her pen and reporter’s notebook. I do know, however, she was an important part of the newspaper for a lot of years.
Her stories on the push and pull to build the wind towers on Lowell Mountain were in-depth. Some readers thought she dwelled too much on the story. Others thought she was on target and welcomed her frequent reports. She went to the site and attended hearings about it. She kept in touch with officials, representatives of the power company, those who opposed the project and those who supported it. Her stories in the Gazette are a record of what happened.
She wrote about Mission New England, a secretive organization that owned land and a compound off the beaten, but not private, path in a secluded part of Craftsbury. Outsiders, including town officials, were not welcomed with ready access to the compound, which led to some legal battles. June had an acquaintance who had an airplane. The two of them flew over the site and she supplied the Gazette with photos to go with one of the many articles she reported about that story.
The starts and stops to build the Highland Center for the Arts were documented with stories of, first, a newly-formed theater group in Greensboro. More articles followed of the pushing and pulling that culminated with the construction of the performance and entertainment space we know today.
Those are a few examples of many stories June reported. They were well written and important, particularly as the Gazette and the Barton Chronicle were often the only news outlets that covered consistently these local issues.
She had a reporter’s instinct to provide needed coverage of the select boards and school boards in Craftsbury and Greensboro, and community events in both towns. In addition, she wrote a lot of theater and music reviews. She also had a wonderful sense of humor, contributing numerous stories over the years for the Gazette’s annual April Fool’s issue, frequently leading unwary readers to be caught by the joke.
And she continued to use her camera to capture scenes that enhanced the Gazette’s pages.
Newspapers are often referred to as the first page of history as they report events as they happen. June was a strong contributor to reporting that history. Her work over the years is a proud legacy left to the Gazette, its readers and those in years to come.
Thank you, June.
Connelly was editor and co-publisher of The Hardwick Gazette from 1986-2017.
