Sally Baldwin Utiger '48

9/9/2024

Meredith Morin

Once you are part of the Burr and Burton family, it is an association that can, and often does, permeate a lifetime and span generations. In the 193 years of its existence, Burr and Burton has been fortunate to count many dedicated and illustrious alumni and friends as part of its community. Names like Burr, Wickham, Burton, Henry, and Orvis pepper the archives, forming the basis and rhythm of the school’s history. These industrious pioneers built the school on the hill to elevate and educate the young men and women of southern Vermont.

Burr and Burton Academy continues to seep into the local DNA, sending generations of families through the Seminary hallways. One such family belongs to Sally Baldwin Utiger, Burr and Burton Seminary Class of 1948.

Sally can’t quite remember the first time she came to Burr and Burton–it was just something that always was. Her grandfather on her mother’s side, Albert Lyon, graduated from Burr and Burton in 1890, completing the rigorous “classical” course of study.

“He and his four siblings crossed the mountain via horse and buggy on Sunday and remained in Manchester until Friday in order to attend classes and ultimately graduate and live productive lives,” Sally said. The Lyon family built that “over the mountain” house in Peru in 1803, a house that is still home to Lyon descendants. Sally’s son David and his family live there today, and Sally’s granddaughter Raili, graduated from BBA in 2016, 126 years after her great-great-grandfather, Albert.

Sally remembers spending summers in Peru in the days before electricity and private phone service. “One of my jobs as a little girl was to clean the glass chimneys of our kerosene lamps every morning,” Sally said. “I also remember going to church in Peru with my Uncle Gene. I would help him ring the bell and pass the plate. I remember having a phone with five other families on a party line. We had ice boxes, and the ice came out of our pond, and we kept it in the barn in sawdust.”

During her childhood, Sally’s family were “summer people,” leaving Vermont in the fall to return to Worcester and Boston. Sally’s road to Burr and Burton was paved with her own tenacity and persuasiveness. “I had wanted to spend a year up there [and attend Burr and Burton] when I was younger, and I couldn’t persuade them,” she said. “I finally convinced my parents to let me follow in my grandfather’s footsteps and complete my high school education at BBS.”

“It was such a dramatic change,” she said. “It was my first time away from home. I was like a sponge - I soaked it all up!” Sally lived in the girls' dorm, which occupied the third floor of the Seminary. She fondly remembers her roommate, Jean Wallace Grout, and her friends Priscilla Grummer Storrs, Louise Hart, and Bubsy Vaughan Tuttle. She also remembers babysitting for Headmaster Henry’s children, Peter ’60 and James Henry ’67.

“The school, even back then, had a wonderful reputation. Mr. Henry was the most beloved man. He had a firm and friendly command of the school,” Sally recalls. “I became involved with as many activities as possible, and when it came to classwork, I was one of those nerdy kids who loved school with all the reading, studying, and projects.”

She made the most of her one-and-only year at Burr and Burton, joining the cheerleading squad, playing on the basketball team, and working as the Assistant Editor of the Burtonian (yearbook). In her Senior Poll, her classmates voted her “Best Looking Girl,” and also crowned her “Noisiest Girl.”

“Well, you know, I’m five feet tall and weigh 100 pounds, so I have to make my mark where I can,” Sally said. “I was just SO happy to be there, and I have an exuberant personality.”

Exuberant indeed. And also, just a bit indomitable.

When Sally didn’t make the cut for the ultra-competitive Burr and Burton ski team, she found a way around it and devoted her time to serving on the Bromley Mountain Ski Patrol. Still a fledgling ski area at the time, and before the time of Sno-Cats, Bromley relied on a willing (and inexpensive) workforce of aspiring ski patrollers, like Sally. On Wednesday afternoons after being bussed up the mountain from school, Sally said, “We were assigned to break out various trails by sidestepping and smoothing down the surface. After an hour or so of labor, we skied free of charge anywhere we wished. Those were the days of snow from November to April!”

Ironically, after graduating from Burr and Burton and heading to Middlebury College, Sally did score a spot on their ultra-competitive ski team. “Middlebury was the perfect fit for me because of course offerings and skiing opportunities. My grades had been good, and I was greatly encouraged by Mr. Henry, who had also attended Middlebury,” Sally said.

After graduating from Middlebury, Sally met her future husband, Robert Utiger, while working. They married in 1953, just as Robert was heading to medical school in St. Louis. They raised three children and moved back to New England in the late 1980s when Robert became the Deputy Editor of The New England Journal of Medicine. “Bob’s academic medicine career took us to live near several large medical centers from St. Louis to Philadelphia, to Washington, DC, to Chapel Hill, and then back to Boston,” Sally said.

Throughout this time, Sally devoted herself to raising her family, while putting her substantial talents and characteristic exuberance to work volunteering. “In my family, volunteerism was strongly encouraged and supported. As a Girl Scout in the 40s, I made afghan (blanket) squares for the National Red Cross, and that started me on a path of community service,” she said.

“I would have to say that after raising a family, the next greatest achievement in my life was being involved with the birth of the National Head Start Program,” she said. In 1963 in St. Louis, Sally Joined the Women’s Community League and turned her focus to working with children living in poverty. “After several years of hard work, the Junior Kindergarten began with the blessing of The Office of Economic Opportunity, and provided the seed for Head Start,” she said. “Today, the value of preschool education for all children has certainly passed the test of time, and being a part of its beginning is a great source of personal pride.”

In 2005, Sally was inducted into the New England Tennis Hall of Fame for her work as a United States Tennis official. As with so many of the things that Sally pours her heart into, tennis began as something she loved, so she naturally explored ways to bring that love to others.

“I began playing tennis in the 1960s in St. Louis while my children were involved in swimming,” she said. “I needed to keep busy and stay active while they swam at practices and meets.” During that time, she became a swimming judge and transferred her new love of sports officiating over to tennis. In 1978, she became a certified tennis official and began officiating at local tennis events and college matches, eventually moving up to the professional circuit. Sally received the Nick Powel Award in 2003, which is a national umpire award presented annually.

“Tennis has been a huge part of my adult life. Anyone who has moved around a lot can appreciate the need for stability, consistency, and enjoyment,” she said. In her 2005 Tennis Hall of Fame acceptance speech, she quipped, “I got a late start in the tennis arena. However, it is said that once you are over the hill, you begin to pick up speed, and I guess that’s been true in my case.”

Over the years, Sally has given back to Burr and Burton in large and small ways—prioritizing philanthropic support for the school, while also serving as her class liaison. She graciously shares her enthusiasm with her fellow alumni and sings the praises of Burr and Burton as often as she can. In 2018, Sally received the Burr and Burton Alumni Service Award for her volunteer service to Burr and Burton and to her broader community.

After a wonderfully robust conversation replete with stories of school traditions and teenage trouble (ringing the bell in the belltower, and sunbathing on the roof of Seminary), Sally pauses to say, “Even now, at 91, it’s important to me to have those memories. Sometimes my son looks at me and says, ‘You learned all of that at Burr and Burton?!’ And, I say, ‘Yup, I did!’ [Burr and Burton] has stuck with me like glue!”

When asked about all of the significant changes to Burr and Burton over the course of the 74 years since she graduated, Sally can’t help but steer the conversation back to what remains.

“Burr and Burton has adapted so well to what goes on in the world. They’ve been able to adapt, pick up the ball, and go with it,” Sally said. “It’s not cookie-cutter. It’s change, change, change, and they put the right change with the right people, teachers, and leaders.”

When asked what advice she would give to the graduating Class of 2022, Sally lands on something that was clearly a guiding principle during her whirlwind year as Burr and Burton’s resident mover and shaker. “Do everything you can. If you fail, just get up and start again. Pick your path and do the best that you can with it, and don’t be afraid to make changes along the way.” She reminds me that even though 74 years separates her from her own graduation day, “It’s that feeling of belonging that has stayed the same,” she said. “What these students get at Burr and Burton is a foundation, a stepping stone into the future. How lucky they are!”

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