Judith Alice Gorman

BRATTLEBORO -- The sudden death on March 30 of Judith Alice Gorman silences one of Brattleboro's most astute social and political commentators.

Gorman's column, “Paper Cuts,” appeared in the Brattleboro Reformer and other area newspapers since 1996 under both her own name and the pen name Alice Homestead.

Hired originally by Reformer managing editor Glenn Drohan to write book reviews, it soon became clear that with her wit and insight, Gorman was destined to be a columnist. Each week, whether taking aim at the world's injustices or poking fun at society's foibles, Gorman's well-researched prose captured a crisp cross-section of our lives and livelihoods.

In a September 2002 column on telemarketers, she wrote: “Right after we've poured the milk on our cereal, are up to our elbows in soapsuds, under the hood of the car, up a ladder cleaning the gutters, juggling six grocery bags, or just stepping into the shower. Nine times out of ten, if you drop everything to run for the phone, it will be a real estate opportunity from an untraceable number somewhere in the Great Okefenokee Swamp, yet another calling plan with unlimited free minutes after midnight, or a ‘Please hold for the next available representative.'”

In a 2000 column on the National Rifle Association, she assumed the voice of its spokesman: “Hello folks. Your old friend Charlton Heston here. Most of you know me as the guy who comes into your homes every Easter Sunday, right before the ham is carved. I'm the big swinging dude in the long schmatta, who's married to Yvonne DeCarlo, and speaks directly to God. But whether I am parting the Red Sea, painting the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel, winning a chariot race, or taking back our planet from the Apes, my mission is to lead my kind of people to the promised land.”

Economics were a favorite subject, as were politics. Long before most of the nation's columnists stepped forward, Gorman was pointing to the follies of the Bush administration. “We need to inform Bush that our primary concern is not whether or not he gets the guy who ‘tried to kill' his dad. We are more interested in the fact that he is running our country into the ground,” she wrote in 2002.

Gorman did not just write about her strong beliefs; she lived them. In 2004, a half-hour after editor Kathryn Casa was fired, Gorman quit in protest, ending a long and cherished relationship with the Reformer. Less than a week later, organizers met at Gorman's home to begin a discussion that would ultimately lead to the creation of a new community paper, The Commons.

She wrote periodically thereafter for the Vermont Guardian and The Commons, where her final column was published in November.

Not only was Gorman's prose world-class, her culinary talents were, as well. She created the incomparable appetizers and desserts for her friend, Michael Fuller, at T.J. Buckley's.

Born Judith Alice Albaum on July 12, 1939, she was the only child of Frieda and Harry Albaum of Brooklyn, N.Y. She earned a bachelor of science from University of Rochester, and was a doctoral candidate at Yale University. While at Yale, Gorman met and later married Robert Gorman, an architect and painter. The couple lived in New York until 1970, when they bought and restored a farm in Richmond, N.H.

Gorman moved to Brattleboro in 2000. Here she wrote, created her amazing food, joined the co-op, and was a regular and loyal patron of Brooks Memorial Library. She never failed to see the magic of this region -- whether in the daylilies in Newfane, the apple picking in Putney or the wisdom of Florence Howe at the Putney Road Agway checkout.

A passionate gardener, every spring Gorman coaxed a small crop of herbs and vegetables and a profusion of flowers from the yard of her Union Hill home. Her refined taste and respect extended to artwork, beautiful cars, and animals, especially dogs and Arabian horses.

But most of all, Gorman was defined by her extraordinary charity and kindness toward friends, and by the intense pride, dedication and love she had for her children -- Melissa Gorman, a Boston architect, and Sasha Gorman, a labor organizer and consultant in Madison, Wis. -- and her grandchildren, William, 16, Henry, 7, Elinor, 5, Esme, 4, and Finn 1, of Madison. She had profound intuition and respect for childhood and children.

Gorman is survived by her children and grandchildren and her former husband.

She is also survived by her writing, a magical chronicle of our lives and times.

Donations in her memory may be sent to the Brooks Memorial Library Book Acquisition Fund, 224 Main St., Brattleboro, VT 05301.