Bob and Mary Ann Chaffee are retired schoolteachers from South Burlington. They have not missed a Vermont Humanities Council Fall Conference since 1981.

Dr. Gretchen Rous Besser of Morrisville has often been a pioneer. After graduating from Wellesley College in 1949, she received a Fulbright scholarship to study in Paris the first year the program went into effect under the Marshall Plan. Gretchen has also been a pioneer in leading and supporting the Vermont Humanities Council.

Barbara Mieder is a retired teacher of German and Latin who served on the board of the Vermont Humanities Council for ten years, from 1986 to 1995, including two years as chair. Barbara and her husband, Wolfgang, started a fund at the Vermont Community Foundation to benefit VHC.