You could say Liz Gamache will be the first female mayor of St. Albans City after she wins an uncontested race this week. But to be accurate, Gamache had a predecessor.

In 1980, Janet Smith, a Republican alderwoman, became the first female chief executive in the Rail City’s 153-year history. Smith was also the first female mayor in Vermont, which did not let women vote until 1917.

Six days after the swearing in, however, Smith was shot and killed by her family’s 61-year-old gardener, Tauno Jurva, at her Congress Street estate. She had just fired him.... Read more

On the penultimate day of 2011, Dan Pattullo looked out at St. Albans City’s Main Street from inside his Village Frame Shoppe & Gallery, his hands tucked in the front pockets of his jeans, and happily anticipated the new year before him.

“This year was great — my best yet,” said Pattullo, 33, of Sheldon. “Next year will be bigger.”... Read more

Sylvia Nichols Allen snuggles under a light-blue afghan on her leather recliner, offering a stark contrast with the photo of herself on the wall overhead. In the portrait, taken just before Christmas last year in her Essex home, Allen, 64, is standing with her husband of 20 years, Michel, 67. Waves of strawberry-blond hair frame her grinning face.... Read more

Ethan Dezotelle sat at the window-side bar of the Flying Disc music and coffee shop in Enosburg Falls last week. Over smoothies, he reminisced about the fire that ravaged downtown in 2005 and said the blaze sparked a microburst in the town’s arts scene.

“There’s a whole lot going on,” said Dezotelle, 36, a three-year Enosburg Falls trustee. “It’s sort of an unofficial arts district here.”... Read more

Mary Watzin watched in horror last month as muddy waves inundated homes and businesses along the shores of Lake Champlain. It “hurt in a strangely personal way,” said Watzin, who is the dean of the University of Vermont’s Rubenstein School of Environmental and Natural Resources. For more than 20 years, she’s been working on the science needed to protect and restore Lake Champlain.... Read more

When outgoing Flynn Center executive director Andrea Rogers spoke in St. Albans City last spring, Ann Levy didn’t want to miss her chance. She approached Rogers with an idea that had been percolating for 20 years: Why not run buses to Flynn shows from St. Albans?

Not surprisingly, Rogers loved the concept.... Read more

Mother Hubbard’s Bakery, Deli & Country Store is a classic case of the right thing in the right place at the right time. And Raymond Hubbard saw his family’s venture coming 100 years ahead — sort of.... Read more

Jay Fleury is a private man with an aversion to cameras. Ask his age and he replies, “Over 35 and under death.” He could be St. Albans’ most eccentric enigma. With gold-topped cane in hand and either a leather baseball cap or brown ushanka covering his clean-shaven head, Fleury takes daily strolls along St. Albans City’s Main Street, visiting downtown merchants and patronizing various restaurants. He calls St. Albans his baby.

“And I should take care of my baby,” he says.... Read more

Rich Rodriguez has two passions: tennis and acting. He grew up in a tennis-loving family in California, where his father, Ralph, was such a diligent member of the Stanford University tennis team that the school named the trophy clubhouse after him.... Read more

For eight years, Joe Russo scoured 31 towns north of Rutland for the perfect place to open a combination art gallery and café. “I wanted somewhere that we could provide a needed service to the community,” he says. Last August, he found the place: Highgate, land of hockey, Holsteins and homeland security — because it also borders Canada.... Read more