Spotlight on Volunteer Wendy Germain

 It has been our good fortune to have Wendy Germain on our team since 2013. She has been an energetic, creative, active volunteer who gets things done. In mid-February Nancy Kleban spoke on the phone with Wendy since she is in Florida for the winter--her first winter in recent years away from Monterey. Amazingly, her mother’s Florida home is in a community that includes quite a few people from the Berkshires! 

Wendy was born and raised in New York City. Her father, Jerry Germain, bought a house for the family on Lake Garfield in the 1960s. It was a winterized home, and Wendy spent weekends and holidays here with her family throughout her teen years. She remembers her sweet sixteen party out on the lake, with Tom Mensi, Jim Dutcher, and John Camp. But after Wendy started college, and then as life moved her around from place to place, her trips to Monterey for many years were only to visit her parents.

In the summer of 2013, Wendy came back and focused on helping Jean, her mom, promote her book of jazz photographs, taking her around to local festivals and venues. Jean had been taking photos of jazz greats and big bands at the Sarasota Jazz Festival for many years. Someone saw the photos and said they should be published. And they were, in a book titled Jazz from Row Six (copies are available in the Monterey Library).

Joe Baker was collaborating with Jean to create a website to sell the book and her photos. That summer Joe mentioned to Wendy that a group was working on turning the Edith Wilson house into a community center.

From her early beginnings in the world of work Wendy was, for reasons unknown to her, attracted to startups. She was drawn to entrepreneurial spirits--people who see things that other people may not see at the time. Her first project was Music Inn in Stockbridge, turning it into a venue for rock music in 1970.  “We were 18, 19, 20. There was jazz in the 1950s but more contemporary music at Music Inn had never been done before.”

She went back to college and studied Social Justice, particularly intrigued by work being done in New York City to establish street academies in some of the rough areas. With financing from the Vanderbilts, Wendy started a street academy in the basement of a church in North Adams. These schools are primarily for inner city kids who have been through the court system, providing a different type of education for kids who can’t make it in public schools. It was 1971 and she was still in college.

Over the years, Wendy, working with a team of 5-6 in a basement in Cambridge, started a computer software company, Lotus Development, creators of Lotus 1-2-3. That was in 1981. Wendy says opportunities just fell into her lap, she did not go out looking for them. Another notable one: she met a woman working with homeless families and got connected with Better Homes and Gardens magazine. A BHG editor came to Boston, met them, and set up the Better Homes Foundation, providing programs and grants for homeless families all over the United States.

Hearing Joe Baker talking about a vision for the Wilson house sparked that entrepreneurial part of Wendy. Joe invited Jean and Wendy to a fundraiser party. Jean knew a lot of people in town, had done a lot of volunteer work in the library. Wendy met Cara Carroll, Karen Anderson, Mary Makuc, and Evelyn Vallianos that evening. She felt this group was building not just a community center but a whole community. Here was another attractive opportunity that just appeared. They brainstormed ideas for raising money in a corner at the party. Cara had an idea: Octoberfest. And then her husband Felix, Del Martin and others in the fire company got on board to grill the bratwurst, and bring their long tables and chairs. The whole event was pulled together in less than 6 weeks. It raised some money and a lot of friends, so in retrospect was known as a “fun” raiser.

Still many people in Monterey knew nothing about the plans for the Wilson house. Joe Baker, like the captain of a ship calmly keeping it steadily on course, pulled together a group including Laurie Shaw, Evelyn Vallianos, and Shirley Olds. Slowly more community support gathered for the center. As the project moved forward Michael Banner and Stephen Moore volunteered to help with the renovation. Octoberfest was held four times giving people a chance to see the property, see the house, see the architectural renderings and most of all witness the progress.

It was exciting to see the house coming to be a place where people could participate in programs not easily held at other places in town.  The official opening was in April 2017. People started showing up with ideas and with follow-through. “Let’s play ping pong,” said someone. Hy and Myrna Rosen donated a folding ping pong table, and Dennis and Elaine Lynch began hosting the games. Barbara Dahlman and Roz Halberstadter said, “We want to play cards there.” Mary Makuc, Wendy and others organized lectures and talks, and Wendy videotaped some of them. Her experience at the local access TV station provided training in videography and editing. Connie Wilson taught yoga. JoAnn Bell came to do yoga, got drawn in, and is now on the program committee.

“It has been so wonderful to see how it’s grown into something that people can’t imagine being without,” says Wendy. This year, as soon as weather permits, the MCC will have outdoor activities and the big tent will be back, providing some long-awaited opportunities for us to come out and join again in community!

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Wendy also sits on the Monterey Cultural Council. And, along with Mark Makuc and Joe Makuc she is interviewing, recording and transcribing stories of Montereyans for the Monterey Oral History project. Following the precedent set by NPR’s StoryCorps, there are now 28 recorded interviews, with four transcribed and available at https://credo.library.umass.edu.

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And a fun fact about Wendy: She is a pilot! Primary training was completed at the Great Barrington airport many years ago, in 1991, at a time when her partner was in the Ukraine doing a documentary. Wendy’s dad used to take her to watch the planes coming in over the corn fields. It was like a 1940s movie! Now she was able to spend weekends flying.

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The MCC is grateful for Wendy’s caring and perseverance in many areas. She has given countless hours of help with fundraising, videography, advocacy and planning since reconstruction of the house was in its earliest stages, and recently assisted in Covid safety applications. Wendy, you may be behind the scenes or behind the lens, but you have also been an outstanding hands-on key player. We are looking forward to having you back at Lake Garfield and under the tent at the MCC in June.