Welcome to Berta, Darcy and Maxine

by Claudia Dalton, Membership Chair

As membership chair, I am pleased to report that we added three new members to our ranks in January, all of whom are Bennington residents: Berta Winiker, Darcy Webb, and Maxine Stadnik. Since it’s not possible to introduce them in the customary way at one of our social events, we thought we’d present a short profile of each of them. This month we introduce Berta Winiker.

Berta is a retired librarian who worked at Mount Anthony Union High School from 2001 to 2016.  She earned a BS degree in Human Development from the University of  Massachusetts in 1974, and was certified as a school library media specialist through the University of Vermont in 2002.

Originally from the Framingham, MA, area, she is a longtime Vermont resident.  In the 1980s she lived in Jeffersonville near Smugglers Notch, where she and her husband ran a mom and pop grocery store for several years.  She moved to Bennington in 2001 to take the position of librarian at the high school.

Berta also is fabric artist who has specialized  in appliqué for the past forty years, starting with quilted calendars that she sold at craft fairs.  She displays her wide range of creations—including stuffed animals, wall hangings, Keepsake Memorial pillows—on Facebook. Her craft business is called Bartleberries:  Domestic Art in Cyber.

Berta’s first introduction to AAUW was two years ago, when she attended a new member reception at my house as a guest of Rose-Marie Pelletier.  At that time she was busy working part-time  at the McCullough Library in North Bennington and involved in a number of volunteer activities, including teaching youngsters cross-country skiing.

As a result of shutdowns caused by the pandemic, however, Berta was furloughed from her job at the library. Likewise, the programs she had volunteered for were closed, with the sole exception of Vermont Foodbank’s VeggieVanGo program. Wanting to stay active and involved, Berta felt it was an opportune time to join AAUW.

She has already become an active member,  joining the Scribble  Sisters and attending their latest Zoom meeting on Wednesday, January 27. [See her first Scribble Sisters piece.]  She notes that writing and poetry are new interests of hers—she was inspired by recent Zoom programs given by local poet James Crews through the McCullough Library.

She also participates online in DailyOM.

Berta has two grown sons and a young grandson. Her favorite pastimes are those that keep her outdoors and physically active: bicycling, gardening, and kayaking.