The Alumni Association dedicates the Spirit and Service awards in honor of former alumni. The Spirit and Service Awards in 2026 are dedicated to four longtime Hardwick residents, all of them dedicating most of their lives to the Hardwick area. 

This year the Service Awards are named in honor of Art Chase and Wendall Ainsworth, two people who gave their lives to serving this community. Both were born in Hardwick.

Art Chase was 83 when he passed last year, he was born in 1942 and graduated from Hardwick Academy in 1961. Chase started out farming the Massey farm in North Greensboro and had a couple other jobs before finally joining the maintenance staff at Hazen Union, where he would work for the next 37 1/2 years.

Chase was an original founder of the Hardwick Rescue Squad in 1965, where he volunteered until retiring in 2020. He was a 17-year member of the Hardwick Fire Department. Chase also worked with the Hardwick Police Department for 20 years and was a town constable. He was married to his wife Alice for 61 years. After his retirements, Chase still volunteered his services at many places and businesses and loved to hunt and camp with family and friends.

Ainsworth was born in Hardwick in 1941 and graduated from Hardwick Academy in 1959. He was a past president of the Alumni Association. He married his high school sweetheart, Ann Hodgdon, in 1960 and they spent the next 64 years together.

Ainsworth worked at a number of businesses, including Rock of Ages, Central Tire and Coca-Cola as well as Barr’s Better Beverages and Grand Union in Hardwick. He was a 22-year member of the Hardwick Fire Department and the Vermont Trappers Association. Like Chase, Ainsworth loved the outdoors and spent his lifetime watching and participating in his family’s athletics activities.

The Spirit Awards are being dedicated in the memories of Lorraine Hill and Beverly Pape. Both just recently passed. Hill was 96 when she passed. Lorraine was born in 1929 in Danville and attended Walden Schools. She graduated from Hardwick Academy in 1947. 

Hill started working in town at the telephone company and the granite sheds. She and her husband Wilfred opened two businesses, Hill’s Diner and Hill’s Men’s Store in town. She also worked in the guidance department at Hazen Union. Lorraine ended her career working for the Vermont Department of Social Welfare. She was named employee of the year in 1992 and got a letter of Commendation for Gov. Madeline Kunin in 1985.

Beverly Pape was 96 when she passed last year. She was born in Hardwick in 1931 and graduated from Hardwick Academy in 1949. She began a lifetime of teaching in the Barre/Montpelier area, first teaching in a one-room school house and then teaching junior high for a couple years. Pape finally settled into a lifetime of teaching second grade at Hardwick Elementary, retiring in 1996. She was voted Most Outstanding Teacher in the Orleans Southwest District in 1984-85.

Anderson Williams is the 2026 recipient of the Future Endeavors award. Anderson is a trailblazer in his own sense and has been an entrepreneur soon after he took a Building Business class with Jay Modry. Anderson is learning the ins and outs of how to start and maintain a business, something he has been doing ever since, even pursuing an online Small Business Management course through CCV. All these lessons have served him well, as he is now the owner of A.W. Lawncare, LLC, a local Hardwick business. Anderson is also an avid member of the Hardwick Fire Department. Congratulations Anderson!