Thelma N (Norman) Underwood

Thelma Beatrice (Norman) Underwood, 98, died January 3, 2025, in the comfort of her home in Brattleboro, with family by her side. Thelma was born at the Brattleboro Mutual Aid Maternity Home on Walnut Street, on January 27, 1926, to Charles Emmet Norman and Mildred Prescott Norman. She was delivered by Dr. Grace Burnett, Brattleboro’s first woman doctor, since Memorial Hospital, as it was then known, didn’t yet have a maternity ward.

Thelma’s very early years were spent in Vernon, VT, where she attended school in a one-room schoolhouse, with the family later relocating to Brattleboro. Entrance into fourth grade at Green Street School was emotionally challenging, Brattleboro being the big city to her. She graduated from Brattleboro High School, which now houses the Municipal Building on Main Street, in 1943. She applied to and was accepted for a war-time federal nurses’ training program in New York State, but shortly thereafter, while riding the bus to work, she noticed Floyd Underwood, recently discharged from the army following combat wounds in North Africa. She declared to a friend, “I’m going to marry him”, and two weeks later, on March 17, 1944, she did. Always impetuous, Thelma dove happily into married life, though everyone thought it was unlikely that a marriage between people who had known each other for two weeks would survive. She proved them wrong, and the marriage lasted for 59 years, when Floyd passed away in August of 2003.

Thelma’s first job, at 13, was cleaning the newly-built Cabin Park cabins in West Brattleboro, a few of which still exist on Rt 9, earning five dollars a week, a handsome wage for a young person at that time. At 15, she worked at Evans’s Luncheonette in the Paramount Building in Brattleboro, which she recalled fondly. After high school, she worked at the American Optical on Putney Rd until her marriage, and after her marriage short stints stitching coveralls at Hooker, Corser and Mitchell on Frost Street for a war effort government contract, working at Houghton & Simonds on Main Street, as well as stitching baseballs for Spaulding on Birge Street, soldering panels for another company on Birge Street and taking in some sewing at home from individuals. She stayed home with her two daughters until 1953, when she took a full time job with the Holstein Friesian Association, retiring from there in 1988, after 35 years of service. An extremely talented seamstress, Thelma sewed throughout her life, creating countless garments for her two daughters and going to her sewing machine virtually every night after dinner. She also created wonderful teddy bears and other items for her grandchildren. In 1963, she created new uniforms for the entire Brattleboro Union High School majorette squad and used the proceeds to fund a family trip to the 1964 New York World’s Fair.

Through the years, Thelma was the extremely organized keeper of the family’s history, safe guarding old family objects and memorabilia, creating many beautifully done photograph albums that included both very old and current photos, and undertaking the enormous task, decades ago, of having slides made of countless old photographs, thus preserving them and providing the foundation for the next generation to have the slides digitized. She also created the legendary, enormous scrapbook of newspaper clippings of family news and countless other items, a family treasure, which never failed to be a focus of interest to any visiting person, family or otherwise, flipping through the years and years of all kinds of memories. It didn’t matter how many times we had looked at this volume, it never, ever got old, and continued always to be edited or updated by Thelma. 

Thelma and Floyd rarely strayed far, happy just to be at home in Brattleboro. The family didn’t have a car until 1962, when Thelma bought her father’s Nash Rambler, following his death. Prior to acquiring the Rambler, Thelma would leave work at the Holstein, walk up Main Street to the First National grocery store, on the bottom level of what is now the Brooks House, do her grocery shopping, and leave the store with three big paper bags of groceries and walk up High Street hill with her arms wrapped around these bags, which would start to tear open before reaching home. Always rugged and non-complaining, Thelma simply did what needed to be done. After acquiring the car, she hired a driving instructor and got her license. This opened up the world considerably for Floyd and Thelma. However, even with a car, Thelma continued to walk to work at the Holstein every day, and attributes her long life in part to her earlier extensive physical exercise, unusual even in the 50’s and 60’s. Thelma was determined, talented, and to the point with her opinions, yet often felt inferior to others. She was a hard worker and extended kindness to children and adults who were in need of emotional or material assistance. She had the O-negative blood type, the universal donor, greatly in demand, and donated more than six gallons of blood over the course of several decades.

In her later life, Thelma enjoyed biking, walking and snowshoeing in the country with Floyd, mainly in the woods and trails of Guilford and Hinsdale, where they both loved the solitude and peacefulness. She successfully pursued the acquisition of various military medals that Floyd had earned during his service in WWII, but not received, including the Purple Heart, and arranged them beautifully under glass for display. She was a past president of the Women’s Evening Club, and enjoyed activities with her many friends from the Holstein. For more than 25 years, Thelma contributed countless hours to VFW Post 1034, including serving 20 years as the Ladies’ Auxiliary Treasurer, and being in charge of food for sale at Bingo each week, a task that she prepared for all week, shopping for supplies and then cooking pies, soups and other items. For most of those years, Thelma made all of the food, having help only to put together the prepared sandwich makings and other items. She kept expanding the menu, and people lined up for her food, raving especially about her pies. Her efforts made a great deal of money for the Ladies’ Auxiliary, which then went to worthy causes supported by the VFW. For some of those years, she also made pies for the American Legion Friday night fish fries. In 2018 she was featured as a Super Senior by Burlington’s Channel 3 News, in which she was interviewed while engaging in her activities at the VFW. She was very strong, both in body and personality, and forged ahead no matter what. She was into her 90’s before stopping the bingo cooking, slowed down by age and also by moving from her condo, where she had a large kitchen. A year after Floyd’s death in 2003, Thelma began 16 years of companionship with Roland Therriault, who passed away in 2020.

Living such a long life, Thelma saw many changes in the evolution of technology. She knew that her ancestry was Irish, English and Swedish on both sides of her family, and a few years ago her DNA was submitted to ancestry.com, which confirmed what she knew, but also gave her the remarkable experience of being contacted by a man in England and a woman in Sweden, with whom she had DNA matches, who provided further information. At the age of 94, she requested her first computer, and her granddaughter got her completely set up with a brand-new iPad, internet, email, Facebook and basic information for getting her started, and Thelma never looked back. Even at her advanced age, she required remarkably little computer support and her iPad became her link to the world. She loved being a presence on Facebook, as well as sending and receiving emails and Skyping with family.

Ever since the construction of the new bridge between Brattleboro and Hinsdale began, Thelma’s stated goal was to live long enough to see the bridge completed. On Christmas Day, in the midst of her rapidly failing health, she was able to accomplish her goal, and had a slow, leisurely ride from the VT side to NH and back again. This in effect became not just a physical bridge, but a bridge for her to leave her nearly 100 years of life behind. Content with crossing her bridge and being back in her own home, she let go of her life completely over the next several days.

Thelma leaves behind two daughters, Sheila (Paul) Blecharczyk of West Roxbury, MA, Sharon (Ron) Viarengo of White River Junction, VT, stepson Frank (Priscilla) Underwood of West Chesterfield, NH, grandchildren Ian (Howie Chen) LaRose, Noah LaRose, Kara (Jeff) Hall, Nathan (Elizabeth) Blecharczyk, Justin (Heidi) Blecharczyk, step-grandchild Wendy Underwood, and great-grandchildren Kellen and Kendrick Hall, Ava and Max Blecharczyk, Bodhi Blecharczyk, Isadora and Charlotte Chen-LaRose, and step-great-grandchildren Franklin, Daniel and Benjamin Farnham. In addition to her husband and parents, Thelma was predeceased by her brother, Donald Norman, sister, Christine Page, nephew, Brent Harrington, and step-grandchild, Scott Underwood.

Ker Phaneuf Funeral Home is in charge of arrangements. Enormous thanks go to Trusted Choice Elder Care, whose owner, Emily Mitchell, and her wonderful staff, provided above and beyond compassion and care, 24 hours a day, to Thelma during her final week. In lieu of flowers, the family requests that donations be made to this wonderful eldercare company, to assist in making sure they can continue their amazing work. Donations can be sent to Trusted Choice Eldercare, LLC, PO Box 30, Spofford, NH 03462. Thanks also to Bayada Hospice for their very brief involvement, but nevertheless prompt and compassionate response to our call for help. There will be a private family gathering at a later date, and burial will be next to Floyd in North Cemetery, Vernon, VT.