Arden "Booie" Fagelson

Arden "Booie" Fagelson was born on a Thursday in 1936 in Chicago, Illinois, and died on May 7, 2024, at her home in Brattleboro, Vermont, with her family by her side.

Booie was the middle of Billy and Joan Friedman's three daughters. She graduated from Nicholas Senn High School in Chicago in 1954, attended the University of Illinois for two years, and completed her B.S. in Education at Northwestern University in 1958. Booie was a fifth-grade teacher at the Thomas Edison School in Morton Grove, Illinois, for eight years.

She met her husband, Bob, in an elevator at the Illinois Eye and Ear Infirmary. Within two weeks they were engaged, and within three months they were married at the Blackstone Hotel in Chicago. Booie and Bob lived with their three children in the Chicago area until 1975, when they moved to Brattleboro, Vermont.

As a resident of Brattleboro for nearly fifty years, Booie was highly engaged in the community, as a BUHS board member, member of the Brattleboro Sunrise Rotary, and the founder and moving force behind the Secret Santa Program.

Booie always took care of people, whether that meant looking out for her younger sister at sleepaway camp, taking care of her young nephew when her older sister moved in with her family, helping patients as the office manager of her husband Bob's medical practice, or initiating and running the Secret Santa program.

Booie was also adventurous. She traveled extensively as a single young woman to Europe and Israel. She moved away from family and lifelong friends in Chicago to make a new start in Vermont. She also once impressed her extended family by doing a memorable belly flop into the Salmon River in Idaho at the age of 65.

Anyone who knew Booie knows that she was always looking for things to do, and she picked up many hobbies along the way. At different points in her life she painted, practiced calligraphy, sewed, did needlepoint, collected postcards, enjoyed downhill and cross country skiing, picked wild berries, jogged, played bridge regularly, and golfed.

Booie also believed that nothing was worth doing if it wasn't done right. As a result, she often took the lead or did things herself. That said, it seems she could never imagine her children or grandchildren could do anything wrong.

Booie is survived by her husband, Robert Fagelson of Brattleboro, Vermont; children Margee Fagelson of Brattleboro, William Fagelson and Jennie Burger of Austin, Texas, and Adam Fagelson of Brattleboro; grandchildren Madeline Fagelson, Emily Fagelson, and Nathaniel Fagelson; and sister Janie Isackson. She is predeceased by her parents and by her sister, Merle Foster. Her loved ones are confident that Booie sat on the couch before leaving.

In lieu of gifts, the family ask that friends donate to the Alzheimer's Association or the Brattleboro Fire Department.

To share a memory or offer condolences to Booie's family, please visit www.atamaniuk.com.