Public Tributes
Remembering conservation activist Martha 'Marty' Illick
4/20/21 Local News 22 & 44
Remembering Marty Illick and Terry Dinnan
5/9/21 The Kingfisher Newsletter, Lewis Creek Association
A Tribute to Marty Illick, Leader in Water Quality Protection in Vermont
5/9/21 Linda Patterson, Sea Grant Lake Champlain
'An Everyday Life That They Loved:' Marty Illick and Terry Dinnan
4/22/21 The Charlotte Bridge
Spirited Lewis Creek Advocate and Her Husband Die In Boating Accident
4/19/21 Seven Days VT
Late Sunday afternoon my family and I drove over to Lewis Creek for a short kayak. We pulled up in front of Marty and Terry's house, and Marty came bounding out, passing the peace sign on her barn, waving and offering to help us get the kayaks in the water. She had a huge smile on her face.
We chatted and she laughed as the kids played nearby. She told me in a very funny way about a family of beavers living just upstream. She shared insights into some town governance issues. She was positive and constructive. She told me that one lesson she'd learned over her lifetime was the importance of being collaborative. We talked about women's rights. She was energetic, smart, thoughtful, warm and funny. Seeing kids enjoy the creek seemed to give her huge joy!
As my family and I set off and drifted down the creek in our kayaks, she was standing atop a rock in the sunlight, waving and smiling at us. Marty was a wonderful human I feel lucky to have known. Terry too. Sharing huge gratitude for all the love and care they gave to Lewis Creek, to wildlife and to our surroundings.
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Christina Asquith, Front Porch Forum
April 20, 2021
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Drone photo: Caleb Kenna Photography
Both [Marty and Terry] were good souls, artists and preservationists. Terry became an exceptional stone mason, with large scale projects around New England, and participated in numerous sculpture symposia throughout the world. I was fortunate that we were able to collaborate on this cut-stone sea wall early in his career which we built over several autumns beginning in 1979. Will think of Terry fondly as I do my yearly pointing and repairing on the wall.
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- Lars Larsen
Marty worked tirelessly for decades to protect Lewis Creek, as well as other streams in the Champlain Valley and Lake Champlain. I have looked to Marty’s work as the prototype of how much a committed local watershed organization can accomplish, and to the Lewis Creek Association as an inspiration for local implementation grants offered through the Lake Champlain program. Marty’s and Terrence’s deaths are tragic and untimely. But all Vermonters should know that they have left an indelible positive imprint on their community and on Vermont, and their legacy will continue with all of the watershed stewards they inspired.
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- Senator Patrick Leahy
April 20, 2021
My husband Mark Nash grew up in Charlotte, and we live in his childhood home. His stepdad was the sculptor and UVM art professor Paul Aschenbach.
When we first got here, there were 75 3' concrete spheres in our front yard. Terry, who had lived at our house (and been babysitter to Mark and his sister Elizabeth) back when it was a hippie artist colony, loved how hay bales delineated the topography of a field, and had planned an outdoor art installation with 200 of those spheres. But he only made 75, which got left here (and enjoyed) for many years before he came and collected them.
The spheres were GREAT for a game we invented called Extreme Croquet, and we always told people they were either dinosaur eggs or alien pods.
Marty was a powerful, fearless force for good, and I know that Roscoe Road would be paved now if it hadn't been for her. If I remember correctly, she actually stopped the paving while still in her PJ - though I'm sure someone out there knows the story better than I do.
Marty and Terry helped us out in many, many ways, and I always thought of them as a feature of Charlotte - like the river, the lake, or Mt. Philo. And how achingly, literarily ironic that they died in a river Marty spent her life working to protect.
In fact, I've asked Mike Yantachka what it would take to rename the river Illick Creek. I don't even know if it's possible (and no disrespect to any related Lewises out there), but seems like a fitting tribute.
Be good to each other!
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- Kathy Blume
April 22, 2021