studying briefly in England where he spent time around“ much older buildings than I had ever experienced, which was amazing.” After considering graduate school, Luke decided to come back to Vermont, stating,“ I loved it too much.” He returned to work with Kean full time from 1996 on, eventually buying the business from his mentor.
“ A through-line for me,” Luke said,“ is growing up on a Vermont dairy farm and spending time around barns, embedded in
18 VERMONT MAGAZINE the agricultural world, and then spending much of the rest of my life trying to preserve— and even grow— that culture.”
Sarah’ s Vision and a Shared Mission
Luke and his wife Sarah originally met in college, but they reconnected around the time Luke was taking over his mentor’ s timber-frame business. Sarah, a business major, had worked in nonprofit and educational restoration projects, including
Schooner Adventure in Gloucester, MA, where she helped teach visitors about the value of saving the past, of restoring instead of discarding.
When she and Luke began their life together, she was ready for a new path.“ Here I was with this artist,” she said of Luke,“ who had this incredible vision and passion for the same things I did, and it just made sense that I could be helpful on the business end.”