LINCOLN — Susan Kevra, the daughter of late Lincoln resident Mary Anne Kevra, had come to the Green Mountains for the summer to tie up lose ends and finalize the sale of her mother’s South Lincoln home.
A contra dance caller who lives in Nashville with her Grammy-nominated guitarist husband Russ Barenberg, Kevra welcomed the opportunity for the homecoming.
Though Susan Kevra and her sisters were raised in New Jersey, the whole family migrated to Vermont when Kevra and her mother fell in love with the Green Mountain State during a trip to drop Kevra off at Middlebury College’s summer language school. Now, sister Nola lives in Ripton and is the owner of Nola’s Secret Garden; another sister lives in Montpelier and is a professional flutist.
They were welcomed into the community with open arms, Susan Kevra says. Mary Anne Kevra found the church community in Lincoln particularly welcoming.
And the area became home in other ways.
“I called my first dance in (Bristol’s) Holley Hall in 1991,” said Kevra, who has since called dances all over the United States and Western Europe, and makes her living doing so in Nashville.
During a recent impromptu visit to the Lincoln Historical Society, Kevra was moved by the town’s history and the dedication of the historical society volunteers, many of whom are in their 70s and 80s. The volunteer who was there the day Kevra visited spoke to her and Barenberg about projects they hoped to complete in the future.
The couple immediately offered to host a music and dance fundraiser.
“It’s just what we do,” Kevra said with a laugh.
A contra dance benefit for the Lincoln Historical Society will be held Friday, July 5, in Burnham Hall, with performances by Pete Sutherland and Oliver Scanlon on fiddle, and Barenberg on guitar.
All proceeds will go to the Lincoln Historical Society. General admission is $8, it’s $5 for full-time students and Lincoln residents.
“It’s a way of saying thank you to Lincoln for the kindness of neighbors during her mother’s time here in Lincoln,” Kevra said.