In the last year of the pandemic, Vermont has lost . Those people were our family members, our friends, and our neighbors.
Early in 2021, VPR reporters began reaching out to family members of Vermonters who died after contracting COVID-19. This is the fifth in a series of stories about their lives and what they left behind. Watch for three more stories throughout the week. Find stories and memories of those lost from their loved ones, .
Cathy Pratt lives on Airport Road in Fayston, in the Mad River Valley. Donald Gene Alter lived across the road from her for the past 20 years.
鈥淲e had like the typical, lovely, neighbor experience,鈥� she recalled. 鈥淵ou know, 鈥楬ey, I鈥檓 in Burlington, I might not have unplugged my coffee maker, could you go check?鈥� The I-gotta-get-my-snow-tires rides, 鈥楬ey I鈥檓 at Costco, what can I pick up for you?鈥欌€�
"[Neighbors are] not your family but then you realize they kind of are, even more so." - Cathy Pratt
Especially in Vermont鈥檚 small towns, neighbors depend on each other. Whether an acquaintance or a friend, they鈥檙e the people who come over during power outages and help look for the dog when she runs off.
Cathy and Don used to go for walks together down the dirt road. Occasionally they鈥檇 watch movies. Once, he took her on a motorcycle ride. He was kind to her son.
鈥淪o it was pretty intimate that way,鈥� she said. 鈥淲e didn't hang out socially really, we went to a few gatherings with him but we didn't 鈥� we weren鈥檛 social friends like that.鈥�
Alix Klein and her sister, Devin Klein Corrigan, weren鈥檛 related to Don, either, but they loved him too. He was their dad鈥檚 best friend. Alix can still picture the two of them together.
鈥淒onny would usually have a denim flat shirt and a leather vest; he used to ride Harleys a lot so he always had that slight Harley look to him,鈥� she said. 鈥淢y dad was probably sitting in a pink polo shirt, both of them probably with like a margarita, hanging out, watching the sun set.鈥�
Don was a classicHe loved sunshine and reggae. He鈥檇 been in the military and had worked in photography. He was into both eastern spirituality and Harley-Davidsons. His house in Fayston was full of plants.
He was tall, with broad shoulders, long arms and legs. He had a moustache and a deep voice that he used to make people laugh, said Devin.
鈥淗e was at every family holiday. He was at every single one of my birthdays from the time I was 14. He missed the last two ... He was absolutely an integral part of what my experience of community and family was, growing up here,鈥� she said.
Don was ill in the last several months of his life. Then, last spring, he got COVID-19. He grew sicker and sicker. Devin called him weekly, even when he was hardly able to respond. She remembers yelling into the phone, 鈥淚t鈥檚 Devin, I love you. And at one point he said, 鈥極h, Devy, I love you too.鈥欌€�
That was their last conversation. Don Alter died on April 12, 2020. He was 81.
Don鈥檚 neighbor, Cathy Pratt, watched the ambulance pull away the last time Don left his house. After she found out he wouldn鈥檛 be coming back, she told Don鈥檚 brother, who lives in Virginia, that she could clean out the house. She and her son spent the summer and part of the fall across the street, putting Don鈥檚 belongings in boxes. For Cathy, cleaning out Don鈥檚 house was a way of saying goodbye to her neighbor of 20 years.
鈥淸Neighbors are] not your family but then you realize they kind of are, even more so,鈥� she said.
Alix Klein got some of Don鈥檚 houseplants; an aloe, a jade and a Christmas cactus. Her sister Devin has a ring Don gave her. She never takes it off.
Cathy said she鈥檚 never had a neighborly friendship like the one she had with Don. New neighbors moved into his house last month, and hopefully, she said, it will happen again.
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