GMC Bread Loaf 2012 Annual Meeting

GMC President Will Wiquist and GMC Board President Marge Fish attended the Bread Loaf annual meeting held on January 28th. The highlight of the event was the presentation by Marge of Honorary Life Membership certificates to Jan and Harris Abbott in recognition of their many years of volunteer leadership with club hikes, trail construction crews, social events and family outings in the Burlington and Bread Loaf sections. Recent club awards recognized Ruth Penfield for creation of the Bread Loaf website and Facebook page. Cecilia Elwert stepped down after dedicated service as president for three years and one year as vice-president.

At our Jan. 28th Annual Meeting, GMC President Marge Fish presented Jan & Harris Abbott with an Honorary Life Membership. 

GMC's Executive Director Will Wiquist was also on hand to offer his congratulations along with almost 40 members & guests.

The following is the text of the award speech, read by Marge Fish:

"Just look up “Abbott, Harris” or “Abbott, Jan” in the index of GMC’s illustrated 100th Anniversary coffee-table book, A Century in the Mountains: Celebrating Vermont’s Long Trail (2009) and you can easily see why they deserve to be recognized as honorary life members. Their names appear in nearly a dozen articles and photo captions which speak to their involvement with club social events, hikes, trail construction crews, and family outings as far back as the 1950s.

Jan and Harris were active members and volunteers of the Burlington section for many years and remain involved as life members. Harris began volunteering with the section as Trail and Shelter Chair when he was only about fourteen years old, and remained active in that role throughout the 1950s and 1960s. He then served as Vice President from 1967-68 and as President from 1969-70. Jan was Vice President in 1977 and President in 1978. Says Dot Myer of the Burlington Section, “Jan made my job as Vice President interesting by putting me in charge of volunteers for rebuilding Taylor Lodge.”

Since the mid-1980s, Jan and Harris have also been members of the Bread Loaf section, with which they’ve led countless hiking and bicycling trips. Jan served on the GMC’s board as Bread Loaf Director for one term (2006-2009), and participated in the club’s Membership Committee during that time. Lois Kraus of the Bread Loaf section writes, “[Jan and Harris] have been constantly active event leaders and always welcoming new people and encouraging us to keep involved.”

The Abbotts were co-chairs of registration for the 1985 ATC Conference in Poultney, Vermont. Kim Simpson, who worked with them for nearly every minute of the weeklong event, says, “Their dedication, leadership and hard work were key factors in the success of the event in the midst of a number of challenging circumstances.” Twenty four years later they once again stepped forward to hold key committee positions for the 2009 Festival in Castleton, Vermont. Harris chaired housing and Jan chaired exhibits. They were both at the Festival for the full week and were helpful wherever they were needed."

~ Marge Fish, GMC President

Congratulations, Jan & Harris! All of us in the Bread Loaf Section are very pleased and proud that you are part of our Section. Thank you for dedication,  time & efforts devoted to GMC all these years!  

Photos from Past Special Events