MONTPELIER, Vt. (WCAX) – Mary Wells savors the many seasons on her land in Berlin.
“Probably spring, all of… No, I summer and fall and winter sometimes,” she said.
Wells grew up just down the hill. A tomboy of sorts, she took up a course in drafting in high school. “I like to do things that other girls hadn’t done,” she said.
She tied the knot with Walter at 20. “And we took a ‘40 Ford on our honeymoon, went to Niagara Falls,” Wells said.
They were a team. The couple built their house on 10 acres a half-century ago.
Reporter Joe Carroll: What’s been the most difficult thing in your life?
Mary Wells: Probably losing my husband.
They were married for close to 60 years and raised four girls and a boy.
“But you just go on,” Wells said. And she has, with the independent streak intact.
Last month, an unwelcome visitor showed up.. A game camera captured a hungry bear taking on the compost barrel. “She kept trying. She knocked it over… She’s pulling it out in the driveway,” Wells said, narrating the video. The bear was ultimately unsuccessful.
The 92-year-old works her land, still tapping a few trees for sugaring. She even plows her own driveway. Every Tuesday and Wednesday she drives into the Capital City, climbing the stairs to the business office at Hunger Mountain Co-op in Montpelier. “Makes me feel like I’m doing something useful… And I enjoy the people I work with,” she said. “Keeps me out of mischief.”
Wells submits the invoices and sends out the checks to vendors. She’s now the co-op’s longest-serving employee. “Since October 1st, 1990,” she said.
“Rain, snow, she’s never late,” said Beth Johns, who has worked with Wells for years. “When I first started working here, I had just lost my mom recently and Mary has been like a second mom for a lot of us.”
The job gives Wells some pocket change, but also proof that age has no limits. “I enjoy it,” she said.