In 1982, when Marion Milne, then president of the Chamber, suggested a raffle to retire an operating deficit, little did she realize the result of her idea nine years later ­ the purchase of its own office building by the Central Vermont Chamber of Commerce.

Nor, back in 1956, when Lorraine Beaulieu first went to work for the Barre Chamber, did she imagine ­ in her wildest dreams ­ that 35 years later she would still be working for the chamber in "Beaulieu Place."
Both events have taken place. Marion's idea was expanded to provide income for a building fund that eventually reached $50,000 in raffle proceeds, with another $35,000 in interest, and the chamber's board of directors voted to name the new complex in honor of Lorraine and her years of dedicated service.

Chamber activities in Central Vermont harken back to the mid-30's, when both Barre and Montpelier had their own organizations, housed in each community. They continued in this manner until 1970 when Barre president John Ormsby and Montpelier's Bernard Kelly proposed a merger of the two entities with the prospect of savings through efficiencies in rent and personnel.

The merger was completed in 1971, with Alan Noyes becoming the first president of the combined organization. Shortly thereafter, the office was moved to Berlin, where it shared office space with the State chamber until this year.

As former chamber executive Peter Foote put it, "When the two Chambers joined forces, Lorraine became the den mother of Central Vermont."

Noyes agrees, noting there were very parochial feelings among members of the two formerly separate organizations, and it was largely due to the respect commanded by Lorraine that these feelings were eventually overcome.

The naming of a building for an individual is usually done to honor a large financial contributor, an organization's CEO or a highly regarded public official. To understand why "Beaulieu Place" is named for a secretary in the chamber office, one has to know the story of Lorraine and her husband Jerry over the years.

First of all is Lorraine's unselfish dedication, her modesty and her personality.

In the early 1970's, Lorraine single-handedly ran the office in the interim period between the tenures of Foote and George Malek. Unbeknown to Foote, he says, Lorraine didn't cash paychecks for several weeks during CV's early days, because she worried about the financial security of the organization. Later on, Malek says she underpaid herself for a year, failing to add an authorized wage increase to her checks, for the same reason. This was discovered only when George tried to find out why year-end figures didn't match the budget.

When she started collecting Social Security, she wanted to return part of her pay to the Chamber, so they would get the excess earnings rather than the government.

Working with sixteen CV presidents, plus another fifteen or sixteen in Barre, plus hundreds of directors, "I've yet to hear a bad word about her," says Malek, adding "no matter how bad things are, she's fun to work with."

Malek also adds, "The chamber is her lifeher familyand that's exactly how she treats everyone connected with it. If you want to really upset Lorraine, just say something negative about the Chamber."

Lorraine always has been, and still is, available for chamber work at any hour of the day or night. Many's the time she has greeted tourists at one or two o'clock in the morning and found the lodging for them by phoning some sleepy private homeowner. She has spent countless hours in the Information Booth, along with Jerry, making sure no visitor to Central Vermont went away unhappy.

And, many an officer or director has been called at 6 a.m. to be reminded of a 7:30 a.m. meeting. Both Milne and Noyes count themselves among those needing such reminders.

Never does she say she doesn't have time for something the chamber needs, whether carrying heavy items for the Craft Fair because of a lack of volunteer help or making literally dozens of sandwiches to feed workers and exhibitors at the Fair.

Yet, when nominated for Barre's "Community Service Recognition" award, Lorraine declined, saying, "Others deserve it more." Reluctantly, she did accept the first award ever presented by the Vermont Travel Conference as "Travel Person of the Year" for her extraordinary efforts to accommodate tourists.

One more example of Lorraine's intangible and largely unknown contributions to the community, according to Milne, is the location of a doctor in this area because of her. He had called several Vermont Chambers, but settled on Central Vermont because of Lorraine's enthusiasm on the telephone.

Commenting on Lorraine's long career, Ormsby said, "Lorriane really has taken the chamber to heart as few others have. It takes a very steady disposition and a lot of energy."

Malek said, "She has an amazing ability to state her mind to people who not only accept it, but love her for it. No one else could do it." he said.

Homer Fitts, long time Barre retailer said,"It's nice to see such recognition, because it's so often overlooked. She deserves it ­ and Jerry, too ­ because he's always at her side."

Of course, the chamber's successful move to its own building could not have been accomplished without the contributions of many people. Past presidents Milne, Dexter Landers and Harry Monti, along with Joe Salerno, who served as raffle chairman from 1984 to his retirement in 1990, sold literally hundreds of raffle tickets. But all agree: Lorraine is deserving of every honor accorded her.

This Article appeared in the 1991, Winter Edition of the Central Vermont Magazine.