(Reprinted from The Net, December 1996/January 1997, which had excerpted this and reprinted, with permission, from Vermont Women Today)

Elaine Babcock and Grace Hill Photo courtesy of Molly Scheu Molly Scheu Hilda Sokol

How did the Women's Network of the Upper Valley get started? In November 1978, Elaine Babcock of Hanover decided to invite twenty-four women to breakfast with the idea of starting an ongoing group of women. She had joined the American Association of University Women (AAUW) a few years earlier, hoping to meet women of like interests, only to find that the AAUW's Hanover Area Branch had voted to disband. She decided to step into the breach. She wrote personal letters to women whom she characterized as "movers and shakers," inviting them to meet at the Hanover Inn for breakfast. Of the twenty-four women invited, twenty-two came. Elaine had asked a woman lawyer to speak briefly on legal matters pertaining to women, for she knew many women were concerned about credit, property, trusts, divorce and child custody, security, and related issues.

After the speech, which had obviously captured the interest of the twenty-two women, Elaine issued a casual invitation:  "If anyone would like to continue meeting and would like to help me organize something, please speak to me as you go out."  Seven women came forward and agreed to meet for lunch the next week.

"At this organizing luncheon," said Elaine, "we each agreed to take one month and plan the program, topic and speaker. We mapped out the whole year in no time at all. I got permission from Dartmouth College and from the Howe Library to hold meetings, and we were on our way."

The Network has grown continuously since that November day in 1978. It attracts members from Vermont and New Hampshire, covering a wide circle from New London to Haverhill in New Hampshire, and from Springfield to Pomfret to Fairlee in Vermont. Its current membership numbers around one hundred, but fluctuates higher and lower due to women moving in and out of the area.

"We aim to be an open, welcoming organization with as little structure as possible," said Elaine. "We don't want to create a lot of work for anyone running the organization, so we share the necessary duties and stay laid back. We want to enjoy ourselves," she added, "not have to do more than one job as a volunteer."

Two members of the original group, Hilda Weyl Sokol and Molly Potter Scheu of Hanover, explain what the Network means to them.

"As an original member of the Women's Network," says Hilda, a professor at Dartmouth Medical School, "I recognized the need for an organization that could provide a place to discuss gender issues where community and academic women's perspectives could meet. As a college professor, wife, and mother, I wanted a chance to interact with women having varying interests and lifestyles outside the academic community. Over ten years, the Network has reflected not only the diversity of its members, but the absolutely outstanding ability of women to make meaningful niches for themselves in a rural area, where opportunities are perceived to be limited. As a result of my membership, I have the opportunity to see women as multidimensional human beings and to see retirement as a new challenge."

Molly Potter Scheu, who was also at the first breakfast meeting, says:  "When Elaine Babcock assembled us to discuss a possible network for women in the Upper Valley, she filled a need for communication and support for all ages. I rejoiced! The Network just took off. There were small gatherings at first, but they grew and the exchange and education was exciting."