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I connected with Dean West , who indeed had more details to share . As a child , Dean remembers smelling the delicious aroma of donuts coming from the Lowers ’ place while Ila was baking . He , his sister , and other neighboring children would frequently call on Ila who always gave them the donut holes to enjoy . Dean also remembered that the Lowers raised their grandson , Ernest LaBrie , from infancy . He knew that Mr . LaBrie had moved away to the Montpelier area years ago , but did not have any contact information for him . I have to credit Google for supplying me with a post office box address for Ernest . I sent him a letter inquiring about his grandparents ’ baking business , and eagerly waited and hoped for a response .
When I shared what I had learned about the Lowers with one of my sisters , Joan , she gladly got involved in my pursuit . With her accounts with ancestry . com and newspapers . com , she was able to uncover more details . Joan suggested we go on a “ field trip ” to Johnson to find the Lowers ’ gravestone , and to try to pinpoint , from the photo , just where their home and donut stand stood all those years ago ! We made a date for the following week to
This photo shows the Lowers ’ bake stand , near the edge of Main Street in downtown Johnson , back in the late 60s and early 70s . It was most likely demolished , along with the other surrounding buildings , to make way for the present-day structures .
meet in Morrisville for lunch , and decided to drag our sister , Martha , along to join in on the fun !
From the Lowers ’ obituaries we learned that Bill died in 1971 , at the age of 73 , and Ila died four years later , in 1975 at the age of 67 . They were both buried in the Lamoille View Cemetery in Johnson . After our lunch that day , we set out to find the Lower ’ s gravestone in that cemetery . The family monument was a lovely polished , black , marble stone . The back of the stone showed the years of Bill and Ila ’ s deaths , and , to our surprise , the names of twins , Adrian and Adrianna , who had a birth date and a death date of 1935 . We hadn ’ t learned of these twins yet as they were not in either of the Lowers ’ obituaries .
That night , I was flooded with emails . Joan was finding a lot of treasures on the online newspaper websites containing several newspaper articles that showcased Ila ’ s baking talents ! It turns out , Ila was a first-prize winner in many baking contests at the Champlain Valley Fair throughout the 1960s . She won prizes for her plain donuts , glazed raised donuts , cinnamon donuts , jelly donuts , cakes , breads , and baked beans !
When I had just about given up hope in hearing from him , right after Christmas I was thrilled to receive a voicemail message
This photo shows a parade of congregants on Main Street in Johnson on their way to the ground breaking ceremony for the new United Church ( c . 1970 ). If you look closely at the first building on the right ( which would have been the Grand Union Store ) there is a sign advertising Ila Lower ’ s fresh baked goods . ( photo courtesy of the United Church collection )
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