Esther
Farnsworth of Montpelier, Vt., died peacefully on August 1, 2025, at
the Hummingbird Center in Berlin, Vt. Esther was born in Springfield,
Mass., on December 8, 1928, one of four children born to Gladys and
Donald Havens. The family later moved to Burlington, where she
graduated from Burlington High School and the University of Vermont.
Esther married her college sweetheart, Hobart Cook, and they lived in
New York, Connecticut, Texas, Michigan, Ohio and New Jersey while
raising four children.
In
1975 she married her lifelong friend Harlan Farnsworth. Esther and
Harlan lived in Montpelier, where Harlan was a Montpelier High School
math teacher. Esther worked in the Montpelier office of the Times
Argus and as the church secretary at First Congregational Church
in Burlington and Bethany Church in Montpelier.
They
were active members of Bethany Church, where they sang in the choir
for many years. She traveled twice to San Antonio Grande, El
Salvador, where Bethany Church has established a sister community
program to support education for youth.
Esther
and Harlan hiked, canoed, biked, camped and skied with the Montpelier
section of the Green Mountain Club. They went on extended canoe trips
on Lake Champlain and in the Canadian wilderness. Esther and Harlan
traveled by bicycle in Vermont, Holland, Denmark, the British Isles,
Germany and Sweden. Her outdoor activities included snowshoeing,
biking, kayaking and vacationing in Nova Scotia with her two
daughters. She traveled to Haiti, Lebanon, Cuba, Bolivia, Israel and
to many beautiful parts of Canada.
Esther
was a member of the 251 Club of Vermont, and for two years, she
traveled to photograph and write about all of Vermont’s cities and
towns. She was featured on the CBS program “Sunday Morning” in
October 2022, singing the Vermont state song.
Esther
and Harlan were among the founding members of Central Vermont Habitat
for Humanity. They served on the board and helped to build several
houses; Esther enjoyed learning to install shingles while standing on
a scaffold.
For
many years, the Farnsworths welcomed international refugees into
their home, including families from El Salvador, Guatemala, Bosnia,
Tunisia, the Democratic Republic of the Congo and Rwanda. The
Montpelier Rotary Club gave the Farnsworths the Good Citizens Award
in 1995.
Esther
was a member of the Raging Grannies singing group, the Women’s
International League for Peace and Freedom (WILPF), and the
Association of Retired Citizens sewing group. For 18 years WILPF
sponsored Esther and her friend Linda Leehman as producers of the
central Vermont public access television program “Down by the
Riverside, News and Views.” In that capacity, they traveled to
Beijing for the United Nations Conference on Women, and to Bolivia in
2007 to WILPF’s International Congress.
She
traveled to the Soviet Union in 1983 and 1986 with the U.S.-U.S.S.R.
Bridges for Peace program.
Esther
spent many hours working with friends in the Montpelier Peace Park
along the river on the Montpelier recreation path until the 2023
flood. Esther’s friends and family hope to bring back the beauty of
the park in the coming months and years.
Esther
was predeceased by her husband, Harlan; her brothers, Frederick,
Everett and Clifton Havens; her sister-in-law Anne Devaughn; and her
former husband, Hobart Cook. She leaves her son, Bill Cook, and his
wife, Ann, of Spring Branch, Texas; daughter Sally Cook of
Burlington; daughter Anne Adams of Yulee, Fla.; son Tom Cook and his
wife, Robin, of Loranger, La.; stepdaughter Norma Farnsworth and
Norma’s partner, John Roman; stepson David Farnsworth and his wife,
Tracy; sister-in-law Flossie Havens; many grandchildren and
great-grandchildren; many nieces, nephews and cousins; and many
friends in Vermont and around the world. Esther lived at Westview
Meadows in Montpelier for 16 years and cherished her Westview Meadows
family, neighbors, friends, and all the wonderful and caring staff.
Esther’s
family wishes to express their special thanks to Dr. Rachel Gaidys
and the Palliative Care team at Central Vermont Medical Center,
Elliot RN and Jamie MSW of Central Vermont Home Health and Hospice,
Suzanne Richman of the Hummingbird Center in Berlin, and all staff
and all her friends at Westview Meadows. Many thanks to her friend
Theresa Lever of Montpelier, as well as all her other loving friends
in the central Vermont area.
Esther
asked that her friends and family remember her with joy, contentment
and gratitude. To honor her memory, go for a walk outdoors, dig in a
garden, listen to an opera, eat a maple creemee, read a good book,
and have a good laugh with friends and family. A Celebration of Life
will be on Saturday, August 23, from 1 to 3 p.m. at Bethany Church in
Montpelier. Please visit awrfh.com to share your memories and
condolences.