The SWPL Team
“Everybody can be great. Because anybody can serve. You don’t have to have a college degree to serve. You don’t have to make your subject and your verb agree to serve. You don’t have to know the second theory of thermodynamics in physics to serve. You only need a heart full of grace. A soul generated by love.” – Martin Luther King, Jr.
Thank you to all the wonderful people who serve the Pownal community by serving the Solomon Wright Public Library. Thank you for your time, your effort, your love, and your dedication.
Jim Boutin
Trustee
Jim joined the board because he finds community service challenging, educational, and socially rewarding. Sharing ideas and aspirations with colleges that turn into assets such as the Solomon Wright Library truly enriches the culture and citizens of Pownal. He also finds the current trustees and director of the Library to be very dynamic and aggressive in promoting its use, and looks forward to working with them.
Jim's experiences include being a board member of the “Friends of Pownal”, a facilitator for the Pownal Community Development Project, a member of the Pownal Elementary School Board, former chairman of the Southwest Vermont Regional Technical School Distinct Board of Directors, former Director of Technology Services for the Southwest Vermont Supervisory Union, 20 years as an Industrial Arts instructor at MAUHS, and 33 years part time soldier with the Vermont National Guard. He holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Finance and a Masters in Instructional Technology.
Being retired, Jim enjoys reading, especially historical fact and fiction but occasional fantasy and sci-fi. His hobbies include viticulture and winemaking, working in the mechanic and wood shops in his barn, and of course golf.
Bob Case
Trustee
Robert Solomon Wright Case is the grandson of Solomon Wright, and son of Lucy Wright Case and Peter T. Case.
For the past 40 years, Bob has enjoyed working in the mortgage and real estate businesses and is still currently employed and very active in both. He has had long term community involvement in charitable endeavors, coaching, Boys & Girls Club, and even a short stint on the Town of Plymouth's Finance Committee. Bob enjoys mentoring, golfing and, most importantly enjoys spending time with and supporting his three children and eight grandchildren in all their endeavors.
Bob looks forward to contributing his "two cents worth" to helping the Library continue to remain a focal point of the Pownal Community. He would like to be able to give back to the Community for its continued support of the Library, and help continue the legacy of Solomon Wright.
Kaitlyn Hunt
Trustee, Pownal Elementary School Liaison
Kaitlyn lives in Pownal with her husband, Tad, and their two sons, Lyndon and Liam. Aside from teaching, Kaitlyn enjoys spending time with her family and exploring the world with them. She is excited to be on the SWPL board of trustees as the school liaison, and looks forward to strengthening the connection between the two.
Kaitlyn began working in public education in October 2001 as an intensive needs paraeducator at Pownal Elementary. After falling in love with the idea of fostering a love of learning in her students, Kaitlyn continued her education at CCV, Johnson State, and MCLA where she earned her Master’s in Special Education. A lifelong learner, Kaitlyn is currently working toward a degree in Administration while also teaching third grade at Pownal Elementary. She is the coordinator of the summer book mobile program, and cannot say enough about how important that literary connection is to so many of our Pownal students and families.
Willy Jones
Trustee
Willy joined the board in 2010 because he loves to read and thinks it's important that small communities have libraries they can attend and support. Willy taught third grade for twenty nine years at Pownal Elementary School. He has hosted shows on WBTN and Cat TV for many years. He is a card carrying member of Actor's Equity Association and member of Old Castle Theatre Company since 1987.
Mary Natalizia
Board Chairwoman
Mary received a BFA in painting from UMass Darmouth, and an MAT from the Rhode Island School of Design.
She is a visual artist focusing on oil painting and mixed media drawings. Website: marynatalizia.com
Mary taught public school for 34 years, moving to the area in 1986 to teach art, ceramics and AP studio art at Mt. Anthony Union High School. She also taught at North Bennington Graded School and, for the last 24 years of her career, at Pownal Elementary School. Hergreatest joy of teaching was connecting students with professional artists from all disciplines, facilitating creative problem solving and visual storytelling through developmentally appropriate curriculum. Upon retiring 4 years ago Mary wished to maintain her connection to the wonderful children of Pownal through volunteering and serving on the library board. Since she began volunteering she has offered arts and crafts programs, run the Summer Reading Program with former director Linda Hall, staffed the circulation desk and chaired the renovation committee. Mary is currently serving as Chair of the Board of Trustees and looking forward to continuing to volunteer in our beautiful new library!
Julius Rosenwald
Trustee
Julius Rosenwald is a cantankerous old grump who makes up for his habit of cursing like a sailor with his unwavering support of the Solomon Wright Public Library. He has faithfully served on the Board of Trustees for approximately 150 years and will undoubtedly continue to advocate for the library, and the Pownal community, forever.
Richard Williams
Trustee
Richard , a graduate of Siena College, moved to Pownal 14 years ago. Upon retiring in 2017, he accepted a position at the Bennington Free Library. His duties there consist of Circulation and Reference Librarian as well as maintaining all the Library computers.
When approached by SWPL to join the Board, he thought it a wonderful opportunity to give back to the town and his neighbors in Pownal.
Karen Gallese
Volunteer
At a young age, Karen remembers learning to write her name so she could get a library card from her town library. Thus, began her love of books and reading. When Karen first moved to Pownal, over 32 years ago, one of the first places she visited, along with her three children, was the Solomon Wright Library. Karen spent 35 years in the field of public education in Massachusetts as a teacher, special education administrator, and principal. For the last ten years she has been involved in other areas of public education, and for four years, was the director of the Oak Hill Children’s Center in Pownal.
Karen resides in Pownal with her husband Robert. Together they have three children, Allison, Andrew and Anna.
Anne Marie Jarvis
Volunteer
Anne Marie grew up in the Boston area and has worked in the Human Resources field at the Peabody Essex Museum and the Boston Symphony Orchestra. She moved to Pownal with her family in 2014 and began volunteering at the Solomon Wright Public Library in 2019 as a way to connect to the Pownal community. Currently, Anne Marie is involved in early childhood and preschool education. Making music and story telling are among her favorite things to do.
Julie Mackaman
Volunteer
Julie is a freelance writer who moved from San Francisco to Pownal in 2002 and never looked back. She worked her way through college in the school library and is today a card-carrying member of public libraries in Vermont, Massachusetts and Minnesota. She has been a volunteer at the Solomon Wright Public Library since 2010, as best she can remember as her calendars don't go back further than that. (Her photo shows her on one of the happiest mornings of her life, watching sunrise over the Annapurna Massif in Nepal.)
Megan Randall
Volunteer
Concerned about our democracy, Megan Randall became a volunteer in the fall of 2016. Libraries have always fostered democracy in America because they welcome all to the “banquet between minds” that reading and writing can be. A former English teacher, Ms. Randall loves literature and is a voracious reader. She also gardens and keeps bees, and is co-chair of Pownal Proud, a group that seeks to reduce roadside litter and curtail illegal dumping in Pownal.
Dawn Rodrigues
Volunteer
After teaching at colleges across the country, Dawn Rodrigues retired to a farmhouse in Pownal, where she lives with her husband and their animals. A former English teacher and educational technology specialist, Dawn was pleased to find a volunteer opportunity that fit her background. She especially enjoys helping patrons use the many free ebooks and audio books available through the library.
Damien McCaffery
Director
Damien McCaffery joins us from Philadelphia, where he served Jefferson University's Gutman Library as electronic resources librarian for five years. In an earlier life, McCaffery worked as a pop culture writer in New York for about a dozen years. A B-boy of a certain age, McCaffery's love language is sample-based hip hop. He and his wife, the artist Shelton Walker, live in Shaftsbury, with their very good dog Joni.