louise on the left (coast)

George Francis Lewis, an English teacher at Brattleboro Union High School for 24 years and well-known figure in local civic, educational, and Episcopal Church circles, died Sunday, Dec. 18 after a period of declining health. He was 90.  In addition to his career at BUHS, Lewis was a resident of Guilford since 1968 when he, his wife Laura and daughter Louise settled there. He was a dedicated member of St. Michael’s Episcopal Church in Brattleboro for nearly 50 years, and a lifelong lover of the opera. Many no doubt saw Lewis over the years as he drove around Windham County in one of a series of Volvo sedans he owned, always easy to spot thanks to a unique Vermont license plate that read OPERA. Lewis was born on Nov. 19, 1926 in Richmond, Staten Island in New York, the son of Robert Miller Lewis and Louise Betty Charlotte (Arbogast) Lewis. He graduated from New Dorp High School in 1944 and then joined the Army where he served in the final months of World War II, eventually working as

Clearly, this was a show that didn't seem so far fetched to a kid abruptly transplanted from New Orleans, to New England, who now lived in a cluttered little home across the street from a graveyard and abandoned church in Vermont. A place so rural and peculiar that kids skinny dipped at recess, or counted beans for math and some even smoking pot by 4th grade. A place where the Grown Ups lived for The Opera, or attending Bach organ recitals held in derelict barns, and would think nothing of driving hours down to New York City just to see anything starring an Original British Cast . This was a world were there were wild winter storms, and long, summer days where not even a plane over head could disturb the remote cool green of the summers days. A world where grave stones were places to play hide and seek, and no matter what time of day, the Grown Ups never missed even one cocktail party being thrown by Vermont's most glamorous Episcopalians. It was elegant, and eccentri