ELVIRA “VERA” McGOVERN FLIGHT

MIDDLEBURY — Elvira McGovern Flight, known as Vera, died peacefully on Dec. 14, 2024, after living a long and productive life. She was 94 years old and lived at Eastview in Middlebury.

She was born in 1930 in the front bedroom at the house she would share with her immediate family, her maternal grandparents and the boarders her grandmother took in to help with expenses during the Great Depression. They lived in Putnam, Connecticut, which at that time was a thriving mill town. She was the oldest of three children, and sharing a home with her grandparents allowed both her parents to work. She was especially close with each of her grandparents. She loved going to her grandfather’s garden to help pick weeds and harvest vegetables for the family table. She also loved to tell stories of teasing her grandmother by untying her apron and then running up the stairs to the only room with a lock on the door; the one bathroom in the house.

Vera attended the public schools in Putnam and quickly was encouraged by her teachers who appreciated her keen mind and work ethic. In first grade her teacher was Gertrude Chandler Warner best known as the author of “The Box Car Children” books. This connection to children’s literature helped fuel a lifelong love of reading and interest in children’s literature and teaching. She became the first member of her family to attend college. She paid her way by working at a dry cleaners and a factory that made parts for transistor radios. She graduated from Willimantic State Teachers College (now Eastern Connecticut State University). In her senior year she met her future husband, David Strong Flight, who was there attending a special one-year program to get a veteran’s certified to teach.

Their first teaching jobs were in Greenwich, Conn., where they settled after being married.  They had a life plan for those early years, in part because at the time women couldn’t be in the classroom once they were “showing” they were pregnant. The plan was that Vera would teach until their first child and then she would spend 10 years raising them before heading back into the classroom. While living in Greenwich they had three children: David Hurdman (1955), Ellen Marjory (1957) and Susan Lois (1960.) In 1960 they moved to St. Louis, where her husband had a job as a school principal. Then in 1963 they moved to Chicago so that he could earn his Ph.D. at the University of Chicago. After getting the family settled, Vera returned to teaching first grade at the Laboratory School at U of C.

By 1969 the family was on the move again, this time to Amherst, Massachusetts. Here Vera began teaching at the Smith College Campus School. While there she met children’s book author Jane Yolen whose daughter was in her class. This connection further inspired Vera’s interest in Children’s Literature.

VERA McGOVERN IN EIGHTH-GRADE

In 1975 the family moved to Plantation, Florida, where Vera’s husband had taken a job at Nova University in Fort Lauderdale. With this move, Vera’s career took a turn as she began working at the University promoting their master’s degree programs for working classroom teachers. At the same time she returned to her own studies and earned a Master’s degree in her mid 50s. One of the things she most enjoyed about this work was traveling to national and international conferences to market the programs for teachers.

Starting with their honeymoon, Vera and David made yearly visits to what became their beloved family home and retreat in Hubbardton, Vermont, affectionately called “The Farm.” Vera in particular was keen to have her children and grandchildren imprinted on the property. Family time in the early years involved camping “in the worst campsite” of all, according to Vera. There was no electricity or running water. There was however a “three seater” outhouse. The most popular family activities were going to High Pond for skinny dipping, a ride up the hill at dusk to look for grazing deer and eating “corn from Woods farm stand” as the main course of the evening meal. To this day the family loves eating corn on the cob and taking an occasional skinny dip.

Twenty years ago, at the request of their children and being tired of hurricane season in Florida, the senior Flights moved to Vermont full-time. They first moved to a condo in Middlebury and then, when Eastview opened, they were some of the first residents at the Inn. They and their children were especially comforted by the range and availability of care at Eastview.

One feature of Vera’s life was her ability to make friends across age-groups wherever she lived. In Vermont she made friends in the Garden Club, at her book club and at the family’s church, Champlain Valley Unitarian Universalist Society (CVUUS.) And, finally she created bonds with the caregivers, other staff, and residents at Eastview.

Vera was predeceased by her husband of more than 60 years, David. He died in 2016. In 2023, her son, also David, died. The wind seemed to go out of her sails when her son died. She missed these two important Davids being in her life. She is survived by her daughters Ellen and Susan and son-in-law Whit Larrabee. Three grandchildren also survive her: Zachary Strong Larrabee, Emma Goodspeed Larrabee and David Raina Flight.

Susan and Ellen are deeply grateful for the attentive and loving care Vera received at Eastview in assisted living and in her final months from Stephanie Stoddard, her hospice nurse from Addison County Home Health and Hospice. A memorial service for Vera will be held at 1:30 p.m. on March 1 at CVUUS at 2 Duane Court in Middlebury. There will be a reception in the fellowship hall following the service. ◊