The Upper Valley is truly a generous region when it comes to supporting worthy causes. The growth of The Prouty, now in its 34th year, is just one example. Another great example, taking place each year in Lebanon on Father’s Day, is Skip’s Run.

This annual fundraising effort is named after former Lebanon resident Skip Matthews, who succumbed to brain cancer in 2003. Each year, this event raises funds for brain tumor research at the Norris Cotton Cancer Center at DHMC. Over the years, the popular run has raised a total of $165,000 for brain tumor research, said race director Denis Ibey.… Read More

Laughter is indeed the best medicine

George Bernard Shaw and West Lebanon’s Margaret (Maggie) Tangway may have never crossed paths during their lifetime, but the legendary Irish playwright, critic and polemicist wrote a quotation that was tailor-made for the incomparable 93-year-old diva.

“You don’t stop laughing when you grow old, you grow old when you stop laughing.”

A sense of humor and making others laugh have been a mainstay for Maggie who has resided at the Quail Hollow Senior Living Community since 2010. Those traits carried the lively lady through a stint as an Ensign in the United States Navy during War World II.… Read More

When we can link ourselves with our past, we more fully appreciate who we are today and how we got here. We seem to need to travel our historical path in order to continue on our present – leading to the future – path.

One way we do this is to explore what an ancestor might have been ‘made of,’ to see if we find similar traits in ourselves.

There is a small, beautiful brick building in downtown Lebanon on the Green that you have driven by hundreds of times, and may have even felt you were being watched. You were!… Read More

Jonathan Verge Returns to Lebanon and Performing Arts in the Upper Valley

I met Jonathan Verge on the first day of first grade at School Street School. I remember that he was the new kid and he had somehow poked himself in the eye with a pencil. Mrs. Lerner asked me to escort him to the nurse’s office, and we’ve been friends ever since.

Jonathan recently returned to the Upper Valley after more than a decade away pursuing a theater career in New York and Chicago, working as an actor for years and later deciding he’s better suited to the director’s role.… Read More

Robert Plante has walked over 7,500 miles during the past 27 years, raising more than $300,000 for cystic fibrosis research. That means he has taken about 13,200,000. Each step was taken with great dedication and purpose, because of his desire to assure that there would someday be a cure for a disease that most of us are barely aware of.

Cystic fibrosis is a life-threatening, genetic disease that causes persistent lung infections and progressively limiting the ability to breathe. There are about 30,000 people in the USA (70,000 people worldwide) today, with around 1,000 new cases diagnosed each year.

In the 1950s, children with CF rarely lived long enough to attend elementary school.… Read More

School administrators take note: Those assembly speakers you find to address a hall full of fidgety students can indeed change lives. Dan Hopkins is living proof. His new business, GrassTrack Safaris, has its roots in one of those assemblies.

Now living in Lebanon, Dan grew up in Rumford, Maine. In the early 1980s an assembly lecture (by Charles Darwin’s great-grandson) introduced him to African game and environment. The explorer suggested that Dan and a friend accompany him on his next trip, which seemed like pie in the sky. But relatives from LA who worked in commercial aviation insisted he should not miss this opportunity.… Read More

Last spring, my husband and I decided to join a CSA (Community Supported Agriculture) farm. We had talked about it for a few years and finally decided to take the plunge. Last year was different for us, because we were feeding a hungry toddler and suddenly our food choices were affecting another person, too.

The concept behind a CSA is simple: consumers join the farm in the spring, paying for their entire season’s produce in advance, often at a modest discount. Then every week they receive a basket of delicious, local, seasonal food. Some farms even partner with local workplaces, so that members get their produce delivered to their desks each week –a great option for busy families!… Read More

100 Years and Still Going Strong

I sat down recently with Paul Boucher, President of the Lebanon Chamber of Commerce, who spoke at length about his 17 years at the “helm.” But, the first thing he said was startling! “When I retire in June, I hope the next president has as much passion for the job as I feel I had!” I guess we assumed he would be at the helm for a very long time. However, even though retirement was looming, his heart, mind, and energy were still very enthusiastically engaged with Chamber activities.

First, he wanted us to understand the solid foundation upon which the Chamber had been built and how it remains strong today.… Read More

More Than Just a Grocery Store

Imagine the year 1936. The average annual salary was $1,730, if you were fortunate enough to have a job. You could buy a loaf of bread for 8¢, a pound of hamburger for 12 ¢, and rent was $24 per month. The Great Depression was in full swing, and times were hard. There was no television, only newspapers and radio.

Yet here in the Upper Valley, a collective of 17 Dartmouth professors and their spouses found the inspiration to establish the Hanover Consumer’s Club in an effort to save money by cooperatively purchasing food and fuel.… Read More

Those of us who have visited or read about wild animal rehabilitation centers generally understand that the people behind the scenes are doing some pretty incredible work. The amount of training these individuals have to undergo in order to be able to care for wild animals is intensive. There is often the dangerous potential for animals to react fearfully if they are not used to humans. There are sad stories that go along with the work, and sometimes it’s hard to let those stories go.

What is often forgotten is the part played by everyday citizens, the ones who take time out of their busy schedules to bring in these injured animals.… Read More