A Double Loss

Orange County lost two of its most talented and public service oriented citizens this week. One was a notable Democrat and another a notable Republican, but they both served in many ways and with great distinction, and left their county, state, and world a better place.

• Vi Coffin singlehandedly turned the tiny town of Strafford into a center of power, both in politics and the arts. Originally from New York City and then Washington, London, Cairo and Toledo, she came to Vermont and served during an important period as president of the Vermont Arts Council. Then she went into Democratic politics, serving as chair of the town, county and finally state Democratic committees, always receiving high marks for fierce integrity and quiet effectiveness.

Upon her death Monday at age 87, former Gov. Howard Dean, now the national chairman of the Democratic Party praised her.

"From the day we first met nearly 30 years ago, I was impressed with how sensible and levelheaded Vi Coffin was, and how deeply she cared for her fellow citizens. Vi was a loyal Vermonter who single-handedly kept the State Democratic Party together during her tenure as chairwoman."

Active to the end, she paid her last visit to Randolph with her husband Ned on March 15, to hear the Chiara String Quartet at Chandler Music Hall.

• Allen Avery, who died Tuesday of a heart attack at age 64, was another citizen of enormous energy and good will. Not content with restoring the Lake Morey Inn in Fairlee to its former glory as one of Vermont’s premier resorts, he plunged into community work.

For years he was Orange County’s only state senator, reëlected regularly even though he was from the less-populated eastern side of the county, and he was held in great respect in Montpelier.

On the local scene, his great interest was education. He served on the Fairlee School Board for years, and his final, perhaps greatest, accomplishment was the creation of the Rivendell School District. It was the nation’s first interstate K-12 school district, and its birth symbolized the creative approach and dogged hard work that were Allen’ Avery’s trademarks.