BRADFORD, Vt. — Mary Dan Pomeroy didn’t set out to get back to working in recreation. But after her husband’s unexpected death last year, coupled with the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, she figured it was time to switch gears.
Pomeroy, 54, became the recreation director for the town of Bradford in September, returning to the rec scene after 16 years in business.
“It feels good. There’s a definite learning curve to figuring out people and what and how everything happens,” Pomeroy said. “But I’m very much enjoying my job. I enjoy the people I work with, and the reception I’ve gotten from the townspeople has been positive.”
Pomeroy (nee Clouser) grew up in Thetford Center and attended Thetford Academy before playing field hockey and studying recreation management at the University of Vermont. After graduating in 1989, she took her first job in Ocean Mines, Md., working for a private resort community. While there, she supervised lifeguards, maintained facilities and helped plan programs and events.
“I love working in recreation, and I love providing opportunities for people of all ages to do different activities and events,” Pomeroy said.
In 2004, Pomeroy and her late husband Mike, who grew up in Springfield, Vt., and also attended UVM, returned to Vermont to raise their family. They settled back in Thetford, where both became active in the community. They bought three local general stores — Village Store in Thetford Center, Baker’s in Post Mills and B&B Cash Market in West Fairlee.
The Pomeroys’ daughter, Michaela, was a standout athlete at Thetford Academy, starring in soccer, basketball and softball. The Panthers won a state title in basketball in Michaela’s junior year, and Mike coached the softball team, but Michaela’s best sport was soccer, which she played at the NCAA Division III level at New England College in Henniker, N.H.
Michaela followed in her mother’s footsteps in getting a recreation management degree. She is now teaching fifth grade in Georgia.
Mike developed a form of leukemia about a decade before his death and was given a life expectancy of eight to 10 years. The couple had agreed that Mary Dan would sell the stores once Mike passed away, but even though they had planned for it, his passing still came suddenly — he died of a heart attack in January 2020.
“I had some guidance,” Pomeroy said. “I didn’t necessarily know that I’d go back into this field. I was ready to handle something more mentally challenging.”
Pomeroy applied for the open position in Bradford, and Jared Pendak, a former Valley News writer who is now the chair of the Bradford Parks & Recreation Commission, said she was easily the strongest candidate.
And in her first two months on the job, Pomeroy has hit the ground running.
“She’s thinking ahead,” Pendak said. “As soon as she started in September, she started putting feelers out and planning for bringing summer camp back (after the pandemic) for 2022. She wasn’t waiting until the spring.”
Pomeroy is working part-time for now but could seek to transition to full-time if she so chooses. Ryan Lockwood, the Selectboard member who is the designated liaison to the Parks & Recreation Commission, said Pomeroy comes to most of the Selectboard meetings to outline her ideas and give them updates on her projects.
“We really gave her an enormous task of helping us promote the town, and she just took it and ran with it,” Lockwood said. “It’s very impressive.”
Pomeroy also is advocating for horseshoe pits to be installed at Elizabeth’s Park, near Bradford Elementary School. This fall, one of her main priorities has been overseeing the construction of the 100- by 40-foot Walter Lee Pavilion, which will provide shelter for the seasonal ice skating rink and protect it from heavy snowfall.
Once the pavilion is completed, Pomeroy is looking into securing instructors for hockey and figure skating lessons during the winter. In the meantime, she is already organizing youth basketball clinics on weeknights for elementary and middle school students, taught by Oxbow High boys hoop coach Justin Smith.
“She came across as very mature,” said Charles “Skip” Barrett, who was principal of Bradford Elementary School for 24 years and now sits on the Parks & Recreation Commission. “She just has that innate ability to listen to what’s going on and (say), ‘I think this will work.’ ”
Benjamin Rosenberg can be reached at brosenberg@vnews.com or 603-727-3302.