Alison Mann Etherton, 91, passed away on November 21, 2025, at Wake Robin, a continuing care retirement community in Shelburne, Vt.
Alison loved her family and friends and was always reading at least one book. She had a beautiful singing voice and enjoyed playing the piano, restarting piano lessons in her eighties. She enjoyed making and eating delicious food in good company. She valued kindness and public programs to increase access to education, housing, health care, parks and the arts. She was a loving wife, mother, sister, daughter, neighbor and friend.
Born on October 10, 1934, in Boston, Mass., to Helen Benson Mann and Frederic Sturgis Mann, Alison grew up in the Boston suburbs of Braintree and Weston. She was an encouraging and fun older sister to her two much younger sisters. An avid reader, Alison graduated from Bates College in 1956 with a major in English literature. Following college, she worked in rural Mexico as a volunteer with the American Friends Service Committee.
Alison met Bud Etherton after a dinner event at the Arlington Street Church in Boston, when he volunteered to wash the dishes, and she volunteered to dry them. They married in 1957 and moved to Pullman, Wash., for four years. There they had their first child, Kirk, in 1960, and Bud earned his PhD in biology at Washington State University. Bud’s early research and teaching positions enabled the young family to live in a variety of places, which Alison loved. They lived near the University of Edinburgh in Scotland; at Vassar College in Poughkeepsie, N.Y.; and near Argonne National Laboratory outside Chicago, Ill. While at Vassar, Alison worked in the college’s placement office, where she counseled students on finding meaningful summer jobs and internships. This experience prompted her to earn a master’s degree in counseling from George Williams College while living outside Chicago.
The family moved to South Burlington in 1968 when Bud accepted a professorship at the University of Vermont. Alison took a position supporting job placement at what is now the Vermont Department of Labor. In 1971, Bud and Alison’s daughter, Laura, was born. Alison grew to love living in Vermont. She joined multiple book groups and spent time cross-country skiing, canoeing, playing tennis and taking her daily two-mile walks around Mayfair Park. She and Bud joined the First Unitarian Universalist Church and started English and Scottish country dancing. In 1986 Alison started a career as a real estate agent, a job she continued for 30 years. She enjoyed getting to know towns all around Vermont as she worked with people to help them buy or sell their home.
In 2019, Alison and Bud moved to Wake Robin in Shelburne. Before moving there, Alison was a little intimidated by the impressive careers many Wake Robin residents had earlier in their lives, but once she and Bud moved in, what struck her most was the kindness of the community.
Alison is survived by her husband, Bud Etherton, of Shelburne, Vt.; son Kirk Etherton and daughter in-law Lucy Holdstedt of Somerville, Mass.; daughter Laura Etherton and son-in-law Adam Marx of Portland, Ore.; sister Heidi Mann of Cambridge, Mass.; sister Wendy Roberts and Charles Eggleston of Los Angeles, Calif.; and many nieces, nephews and cousins. Alison’s family, friends and neighbors loved her and will miss her.
The family would like to share their gratitude for the care and support that Alison and her family received from the Wake Robin community, including residents, providers and staff, as well as UVM Medical Center and Bayada hospice providers.
A service will take place in 2026. In lieu of flowers, contributions may be made to COTS, a nonprofit providing housing and homelessness prevention services in Vermont, at cotsonline.org/donate. Please visit awrfh.com to share your memories and condolences.