Authors abound here in Vermont’s Northeast Kingdom, writing in many different genres. Who are some of these authors, and where to they get their ideas.
Tanya Sousa of Coventry was a recent guest on the Northeast Kingdom Voice television show. She and the host of the show, Scott Wheeler, the publisher of Vermont’s Northland Journal, will talk, among many things, about the collaborative spirit among many of the region’s authors.
To watch this segment click HERE
The man who brought us the Can-Am Speedway in Coventry, VT, Charlie Nadeau, has passed away. Charlie was a lifelong businessman. During the 1980s, as the owner of Nadeau’s Landfill on the Airport Road in Coventry, he transformed a section of it until a dirt race track. People came from near and far to have several years’ worth of fun. The track was a real family affair for the entire Nadeau family.
Our deepest sympathies to the Nadeau family.
Rest in Peace, Charlie.
have been hearing a lot in the news about the serviceman, Matias Ferreira, who lost both of his legs in Afghanistan, and how he refused to abandon his dream of becoming a police officer. His dream has now come true. I am inspired by him achieving this milestone! 
With a raging debate going on about nominating Neil Gorsuch to the U.S. Supreme Court, the following is an article I wrote in 2005 about a Supreme Court justice with a genetic link to VT’s Northeast Kingdom – Sandra Day O’Connor. Thelma Wilcox, who is featured in this article, has since passed away.
Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day O’Connor’s Link to Coventry
by Scott Wheeler
Thelma Wilcox, town clerk of Coventry between 1974 and 1994, will never forget the visitor who walked into her office one day.
“I was doing some work when somebody walked in,” she recalled on Friday, July 1, 2005. “I looked up and there was Sandra Day O’Connor. She didn’t introduce herself. I just knew who she was.”
The Supreme Court justice was visiting the area to research some of her family’s history in Coventry.
Wilcox, who is 87, said her contact with O’Connor remained very professional, with little chatting between them, but she said she was impressed with the graciousness of the judge.
When O’Connor announced on July 1, 2005 that she is retiring from the U.S. Supreme Court [she retired January 31, 2006], the news took some court watchers by surprise. In recent months there had been speculation that the 75-year-old judge was contemplating stepping down, but most people who follow the court thought ailing Chief Justice William H. Rehnquistwould retire first. O’Connor’s announcement served to increase the speculation about Rehnquist.
President George W. Bush has nominated John Roberts to replace O’Connor. Roberts’ appointment to the bench isn’t a done deal. Confirmation hearings scheduled for late August or early September are sure to spark lively debate.
Much has been written about the fact that Judge Rehnquist is a part-time resident of Greensboro (who has passed away since this article was written), but little has been written about O’Connor’s connection to the region. Her ancestral roots are in Coventry. Day Cemetery on Pine Hill Road in that community is named after her ancestors, and she has a number of distant relatives still living in the region.
In 2002 O’Connor and her brother H. Alan Day published a book called Lazy B about their lives growing up on the family ranch in Texas. In the book they mention their family’s connection to Vermont and how their grandfather H.C. Day risked everything by abandoning the stability of his boyhood community for the adventures and risks of the Wild West. The following is an excerpt from the book:
H.C. Day, our grandfather, was a New Englander—shrewd, conservative, careful with his money, intelligent, not afraid to tackle new ventures. He was named for Henry Clay, whose Whig politics were popular in New England before the Civil War. H.C. Day worked on the family farm in Coventry, Vermont, until 1865, when he turned twenty-one. Then, a free man, he opened a general merchandise store on the Canadian border, some ten miles north of Coventry. He made a nest egg and moved west to Wichita, Kansas, a central hub in the westward expansion. There he opened a building-supply business, furnishing materials for the rapid expansion of that city after Congress abruptly appropriated lands claimed by several Indian tribes. He acquired a cattle ranch outside of Wichita, as well as various other properties….
Sandra Day O’Connor was born in El Paso, Texas, on March 26, 1930, to Harry A. and Ada Mae (Wilkey) Day. President Ronald Reagan appointed her to the high court in 1981, making her the first woman to serve on the U.S. Supreme Court.
Today (March 21) is World Down Syndrome Day, a special Day for Olivia Brosseau of Glover. Although born with Down Syndrome, she hasn’t let it hold her back. In addition to being an anti-bulling advocate, the graduate of Lake Region Union High School is a student at the Community College of Vermont, and she is the Vermont ambassador for the National Down Syndrome Society. She is a true community leader. The following are words that Olivia shares in honor of World Down Syndrome Day.