1956

Staying open to new possibilities is a counsel we've all heard at one time or another. Mark Mitchells acceptance of that counsel is a story worth telling. Ayear ago the Democrat representing Barnard, Pomfret Woodstock, Quechee and West Hartford in the Vermont House of Representatives decided to retire after six years. Avery well-known Republican candidate, from a family that had occupied one of Vermont's Senate seats for three generations, was considered a shoe in for the vacated seat. The Democrats needed someone to carry their flag and turned to Mark, who had chaired the local Barnard party committee for a number of years. His openness to the possibility of serving morphed into a desire to win and then into victory.

When asked to explain how a newcomer without significant name recognition pulled it off Mark confided that he ignored the counsel he had been given and upfront admitted his lack of experience in state government to anyone who asked. What he promised was openness to the ideas of others. As he moved from one candidate meeting to another he gained the confidence of voters. Outspent seven to one, Mark nonetheless won the seat and thereby provided his party a super majority in the House.

Barely a month into his two-year term I asked Mark what had been his most significant learning to date. Without hesitating he shared how dramatic was the difference of working with 180 colleagues in the House compared to his previous experience as an architect heading up a small firm. In that circumstance his peers were the competition and his staff his lieutenants. Reciting the oath required of every representative and senator turned out to be a very emotional moment, reminding him, as it did each of his colleagues, that the legislature was to serve all the people of the state.

In Vermont the House and Senate meet Tuesday through Friday, from early January into the summer. The first two and a half months are spent largely in hearings and than drafting legislation to be debated and either defeated or made into law. Marks appointment to the natural resources and energy committee has been a natural fit, given his concerns for energy conservation and global warming and his background in designing energy-efficient buildings while applying existing building codes. Vermont will soon be renegotiating two-thirds of its energy supply from Canadian and Vermont suppliers. He's hoping tax and other incentives can be offered to encourage small-generation plants using geodthermal or cowpower methane technology to reduce Vermont's present dependence by half by 2050.

"When I moved from England to Ireland, I was English; when I moved to America, I was Irish; and, when I moved to Vermont, I was a flatlander. I finally belong somewhere. Vermont is now truly my home!" Well done, Mark!

News has come of the deaths of two more classmates, Tony Richter, in an automobile accident, and Bill Norton, who chose to end dialysis after a successful kidney transplant in 1984. Obtuaries will appear in the DAM.

P.O. Box 968, Quechee, VT05059; (802) 295-8912; stewwood@aol.com