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Tuesday April 20, 2010 Edition
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Home Is The Heart: Turning 90 With Lois Osgood

Tuning ninety with a smile and enthusiasm, meet Lois Osgood
photo provided
Tuning ninety with a smile and enthusiasm, meet Lois Osgood
Celebrating family with Lois Osgood:
Front: Donald & Lois Osgood
Middle: Daughter-in-law Charlotte, 
Daughter-Dianne, and daughter- Marilyn.
Back Row: Son- Richard, Son-in-law Henry, 
and Son-in-law Bill.
photo provided
Celebrating family with Lois Osgood: Front: Donald & Lois Osgood Middle: Daughter-in-law Charlotte, Daughter-Dianne, and daughter- Marilyn. Back Row: Son- Richard, Son-in-law Henry, and Son-in-law Bill.
Lois and Donald celebrated fifty years together than in 1996!
photo provided
Lois and Donald celebrated fifty years together than in 1996!

Tuesday April 20, 2010

By Cookie Steponaitis

    I am very fortunate to have been able to meet Lois Osgood in her home in Vergennes. It is one of the greatest ‘feel good’ experiences that anyone can hope to have. Lois radiates health and a sense of happiness that comes from within and her home, children, grandchildren and great-grandchildren are her heart and her heartbeat. She approaches her birthday on April 19th with a sense of fun and a love of her home and community. “I have been in this house for over 56 years,” she shared, “and I plan to be here for some more.”

    Lois was born April 19, 1920 in New Haven, Vermont and was one of three children. Her father was a Congregationalist Minister and the family moved a lot as he was assigned to parishes in Troy, Vermont, St. Johnsbury and eventually Vergennes. Lois attended school at St. Johnsbury Academy in St. Johnsbury Center. “It is in the center, you know,” she grinned. “Up there they are particular about that.”  After graduating from the academy, Lois spent one year at Green Mountain College with some of her classmates. “Most of the girls were killing some time till they got married,” she smiled and recollected. “I was taking teaching, but I always knew I wanted to be at home and to have a family.”

        She married her husband Donald in 1946 and “I followed him,” she confided. The family settled in Vergennes where Donald was a machinist and repairman for Simmonds. Upon the arrival of their children Rick, Diane, and Marilyn in1947, 1950 and 1955 respectively, the Osgood home was always full of laughter and the sound of children. When asked about the gap in ages from top to bottom Lois smiled and remarked, “That was so you could have a chance to enjoy each child and have them feel the center of your attention.”

      Not only did the Osgood children feel the power and solidity of the Osgood homelife, but so did many of the community as well. “I just as soon stay at home,” remarked Lois, “so we opened up our home to others and I took in children from town whose parents were working. Some right through the whole year and some in the summer. We would usually have besides our own five to eight extra. It really was like a neighborhood community here. I took most of the neighbor’s kids to school as well as my own and I would have the children from a very young age. I remember the Lynk children Greg and Tim. I had one from five weeks old and the other from just a few months old. The house was always busy and always full, but that is what kept me young.”

    The neighborhood children loved to stop off at the Osgood’s and the Osgood children’s network of friends always stopped by for cookies, games and just a hug from Lois. Valley Voice owner Cheryl remembers spending many an afternoon there at the Osgood home and smiles as she shares the strength of those memories. “You were always welcome, always fed and never turned away. She took care of everyone and took time to listen to you.”  

    Lois lost Donald in 1996 just after celebrating their 50th anniversary and it changed her life but also made her focus even more on the tenants of family, church and community that were a part of their fifty years of marriage. “I knit lap Afghans for the RSVP,” she shared. “I learned to knit when I was a teenager and a girlfriend and I went to a camp at Wheelock. We picked berries and loved it there. She had some old needles and yarn. That is when Thelma and I learned how to knit. At first we made wash clothes, but as I got better at it, I would make hand knitted baby clothes as gifts for the children and grandchildren. Now it takes me about a month to finish an afghan and I have two right now that are almost ready to go. It gives me a great deal of pleasure to help out others.”

    When asked about her views on the changes in Vergennes during her over fifty years here, Lois was very quick to sum it up. “I am contented to be here and I don’t want to live any where else. When we first came to this house there were just a few buildings on this road and none in what is now Maple Manor. We often look at pictures of the changes and remark on this family or that one. It is how we look at our lives through the families we know and how they grow and change.”

    Another way that Lois can keep track of her community is on foot. While this interview took place at 9:30 am, which this reporter thought was early for someone approaching ninety, Lois was quick to point out that she had already been on her daily walk which is a one mile loop around the community she calls home. “I wanted to make sure I was here and on time for the interview,” she commented. Ninety, living on her own and walking a mile every day is common place and routine for Lois.

    Taking out photo albums to share, Lois turned page after page with group shots, and individual pages devoted to each child, grandchild and great-grandchild. She told stories about each including them as youngsters, adults and those who come by to keep track of her. “My grandson Ron comes to do my yard work,” she shared. “I told him that everything in the garage is his and all the tools that his grandfather used were always intended for him. He works with metal like Donald did. My daughter Marilyn keeps track of me and I go to the doctor when I need to, but not unless it is necessary.”

    Looking forward to warmer weather, the Memorial Day Parade and special events coming up in her church, the Vergennes Congregational Church, Lois has plans for when the family again gathers to park in her driveway and go up to the parade. She continues to attend church regularly and shares memories of her years in the nursery program, working with Mrs. Goodrich and others to play and teach the children. When asked about the homemaking skills that are not taught as much today, Lois simply shook her head and remarked that something had to be changed about that. “When my grandchildren come into my home,” she shared,  “the only outward sign that I am aging is that I play my Kenny Chesney music a bit loud. They always say ‘grandma, can we turn that down just a bit?’ I can still put on a meal or make them a batch of cookies any time. I am determined to live life to the fullest and love my family.”

    Love indeed. As Lois Osgood celebrates the milestone of being ninety, the community celebrates with her, for in her story, photos and her passion for family is the commitment, diligence and celebration of life that continues to make Addison County a place to live, work and raise a family. “I had come here before I was married to visit my aunt,” she remarked. “It looked like a good place to be and it sure was.” The Valley Voice salutes Lois Osgood and looks forward to sharing her story again at 100 when the number of great-grandchildren will even be more and the cherished photo albums will be even thicker. Until then, she continues as she has always done, to celebrate life, family and the skills that make a house into a home.

 


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