Vermont Public is independent, community-supported media, serving Vermont with trusted, relevant and essential information. We share stories that bring people together, from every corner of our region. New to Vermont Public? Start here.

© 2025 Vermont Public | 365 Troy Ave. Colchester, VT 05446

Public Files:
WVTI · WOXM · WVBA · WVNK · WVTQ
WVPR · WRVT · WOXR · WNCH · WVPA
WVPS · WVXR · WETK · WVTB · WVER
WVER-FM · WVLR-FM · WBTN-FM

For assistance accessing our public files, please contact hello@vermontpublic.org or call 802-655-9451.
Play Live Radio
Next Up:
0:00
0:00
0:00 0:00
Available On Air Stations

If you're looking for good news, Gordon Hayward has a story to share

Two men sit at a table inside a room with red walls decorated with photos and art.
Howard Weiss-Tisman
/
Vermont Public
Gordon Hayward, left, interviews Ryan Golding one recent morning at Golding's office in Brattleboro. Golding took over his family's business, Mastaler Cleaning.

There’s a lot of bad news out there.

And Gordon Hayward, who lives in Westminster, was sick of hearing about it.

So he pitched an idea to the local newspaper to contribute positive stories about the working people of southern Vermont.

Hayward said he talks with people who are not seen, but who work, day in and day out, to keep the community in southeastern Vermont running.

Hayward said they work in the hospital, and they pick up our trash. They drive buses and clean buildings and run day care centers.

“These people have their stories,” he said during a recent interview in his office, which is on the top of floor of a converted 1830 barn. “I wanted to help them tell those stories. And in the midst of all of the conflicts and complexities of the present political system in the country today and in the world, that these are important stories to be known.”

Hayward used to teach English at Brattleboro Union High School.

And one warm spring day he looked out the window of his classroom, at the green grass and flowering trees, and decided he had to make a change.

That decision led to a long career in garden design and writing. Hayward has published nine books and he’s toured the United States, lecturing on garden design and working in some of the most beautiful gardens in the country.

When he retired, just as he turned 81, Hayward was in a bit of a deep funk over the state of our world.

The changing climate, conflicts across the globe and concern for the direction of his own country — and community — got him thinking that there must be other stories to tell.

I think, in a way, it’s building democracy at its purest level, that is the person-to-person relationship. Now whether this is world changing or not, doesn’t matter. It’s about the change that happens within individuals; both readers and subjects.
Gordon Hayward

Hayward knows the 24-hour news cycle will not slow down because of his profiles, but he does believe that these stories matter; and how we see ourselves and the people who share our community with us makes a difference in how we go about healing our world.

“I think, in a way, it’s building democracy at its purest level, that is the person-to-person relationship,” he said. “Now whether this is world changing or not, doesn’t matter. It’s about the change that happens within individuals; both readers and subjects.”

Katy Emond first met Hayward when she was opening up a day care center in Putney.

Emond held an open house, and Hayward came by to check it out.

The day care center now serves more than 50 kids from southern Vermont and New Hampshire, and Hayward dropped in to ask if Emond wanted to take part in his community profile series.

“Every worker contributes to our communities and our society, and we can’t get by without anybody,” Emond said. “You know we all have a part to play and a role to play. And it’s all important work, that sometimes really people don’t get the appreciation that they should, you know, so being able to highlight that, I think is great. And I’m honored to be part of a group that is recognized for hard work and serving their community.”

One hand holds a clipboard with a sheet of paper attached, the other hand writes notes.
Howard Weiss-Tisman
/
Vermont Public
Gordon Hayward takes notes during an interview. Hayward interviews people he knows; the people who wash his windows or pick up his trash, but he also now receives tips from Brattleboro Reformer readers about people who serve their community and deserve recognition.

Melanie Winters, Brattleboro Reformer's news editor, said Hayward pitched the series about a year ago.

She’s heard plenty from readers who are looking for more positive news in the paper’s coverage, and she said it was easy to find the space to run the profiles.

“Sometimes the bad news is the breaking news that has to get covered right away. You know, we can’t put that on a back burner,” Winters said. “We can’t put that off for another day. And sometimes we’re stretched a little thin, and we’re chasing down the breaking news, and you know, the taxes, and the select board meetings, and the school board meetings, and we don’t always get to do those nice feature stories as much as we'd like to. And so he pitched this to us, and we were like, ‘Run with it dude. Run with it. We love it.’”

Hayward is not burying his head in the sand. He knows there’s a lot of work to be done to repair his community, country and planet.

But he believes this is an important first step. To confront it at the ground level. To see each other, and recognize each other, and try to understand where our neighbor is coming from. So we can work together toward whatever future we’re all stumbling towards.

“I think what matters is community,” Hayward said. “That’s the motivation, the basis of the motivation for this whole thing is strengthening community. We’re not alone. We share with other people. We share a life with other people, and all that matters. In little ways, very little ways, but it’s there, and it sticks. … It stays with you.”

Hayward will write one story a week until early spring, when he’ll take time off to tend to the gardens he shares with his wife Mary at their home in Westminster.

Have questions, comments or tips? Send us a message.

_

Howard Weiss-Tisman is Vermont Public’s southern Vermont reporter, but sometimes the story takes him to other parts of the state.
Latest Stories