One bottle at a time: George Chilafoux, 1933-2020, collected many Waterbury friends
June 27, 2020 | By Lisa ScagliottiJust over a week ago, Waterbury lost a beloved resident. On Friday, June 19, 2020, George Chilafoux passed away at Central Vermont Medical Center. He was 86 years old.
Photo by Gordon Miller.
UPDATE, JULY 22: Friends and family held a memorial for George at Kirby House last week.
Born September 7, 1933 in Irasburg, George was the son of Archie and Mary Chilafoux. His surviving family members reside in his hometown as well as Island Pond, Coventry, Middlebury and Oregon.
George became a member of the Waterbury community as a patient at the Vermont State Hospital in the 1970s and later lived at Cubit Community Care Home before moving to Kirby House in 1999.
As a member of the Waterbury community for many decades, George could be seen daily mowing lawns and shoveling snow in his early years and later pushing his beloved “Old Faithful” bottle cart collecting redeemable cans and bottles until his health declined a few years ago.
George was a member of St. Andrew’s Catholic Church and enjoyed his time with the congregation there immensely.
Kirby House director Kim Russell-Peck said in the past few years, George was happiest sitting outside with a view of Main Street, “watching the ‘peoples goin’ by.’”
News of his death trickled out into the community earlier this week at church and with posts on Front Porch Forum from numerous community members sharing their fond recollections of their friendship with George, many of whom were customers of his various business ventures.
Given the COVID-19 pandemic, his family has not planned any public service; a private memorial is being organized at Kirby House with residents there and Rev. Jerome Mercure from St. Andrew’s.
Father Mercure has known George the entire time he has been pastor in Waterbury. He said he gave him last rites before he died. Mercure said George embodied the old and new in Waterbury, recalling the 80th birthday celebration in 2013 at St. Andrew’s. He called George sweet and amazing and said George’s entrepreneurial spirit provided a public service to the community.
In church, Mercure recalled, George knew all the prayers and songs, often humming and speaking along with the priest. He eulogized George at mass recently and said he is looking forward to the service with the residents at Kirby House.
Everyone who knew George has a story to share.
Chris Palermo of Perkins-Parker Funeral Home says he still remembers the day he first met George in 1979. He was new to the funeral home and furniture store at the time and left briefly to visit the bakery across the street. When he returned, he found George in his office and although the introduction was a bit startling, Palermo said it began a 40-year friendship.
“George was one of the hardest-working people I’ve known,” Palermo said.
In writing a remembrance of friendship her family had with George for many years, village resident Kathryn Grace offered this observation: “Over the years, George became an enduring symbol of what Waterbury once was and what we had become. Our town has a history of embracing all its residents and George was no exception. He found acceptance, comfort and love in our community for at least seven decades.”
A photo from photographer Gordon Miller’s archive recalls how George found acceptance and friendship in one unlikely place along his bottle route.
The photo shows George wearing a t-shirt from Wheels Around Waterbury bike camp. Former Thatcher Brook Primary School staffer Jason Bahner started the summer program for youngsters 17 years ago, running it out of his carriage house garage on Union Street across the street from Miller’s house which was on George’s bottle route.
Bahner said George would come by pushing his cart and his presence offered valuable lessons to his campers, many of whom found George to be a somewhat unusual and misunderstood character.
Bahner recalled that George’s visits with camp groups gave them an opportunity to talk about understanding and empathy and “walking in someone else’s shoes/not judging people for what they’re doing or don’t have.”
Bahner called it a really powerful message for kids and one camper suggested giving George a shirt because his wheeled bottle cart was another example of “Wheels Around Waterbury.”
George quickly became a welcome visitor to bike camp. “George was a really cool guy and would talk and hang out for hours on end with me and the kids,” Bahner said this week. “I wish I could have those conversations every day.”
In loving memory of George Chilafoux, ‘the bottle man’
By Kathryn Grace
Photo by Skip Flanders.
George Chilafoux spent his early years in the Northeast Kingdom on his family's dairy farm before coming to the Vermont State Hospital where he worked on the dairy farm formerly located in Duxbury. My father was the farm foreman at the time so I knew of George from my dad who described him as a very hard worker with a lot to say. In those days, the hospital had many developmentally delayed residents and/or medically challenged individuals who did not receive a formal education before or after they resided full time at the State Hospital.
While at the State Hospital, George developed a special relationship with Father Logue – a former St. Andrews priest and the State Hospital chaplain. He attended mass at both St. Andrews and the State Hospital chapel every Sunday for many years. He also frequented other church services and events throughout the village. He was a man of faith and felt much comfort in a religious setting.Once the State Hospital closed, its residents were soon dispersed among group homes around Vermont. George remained in Waterbury and lived across the street from Robert and me for many years in what was then the Cubit Care Home. He was well loved and well cared for by Rachel and Arthur Cubit and their family. He visited us often with his friend Donald. They both enjoyed sitting on our lawn, watching the kids play in the yard, and staying for cookouts.
Before we moved into our new home just down the street, George kept Robert company late into the night while he worked on the necessary renovations. When moving day arrived, we found George’s packed suitcase behind our garage! He didn’t seem to realize we weren’t going that far and he could still visit us whenever he wanted…and that is what he did for many years thereafter. George continued to stop by for a "sodie" and snack, bottles, or just a chat long after he moved to the Kirby House near the Village Market.
Before George was the bottle man, he was the lawn mower guy. He mowed our lawns and several others on South Main Street for many years. He loved lawn mowers and collected quite a stash over the years. Bud Messier of Frank and Bud’s Service Station on South Main Street (now NAPA) would repair them for him free of charge. When they got too worn out, he would purchase a new one at Aubuchon Hardware where the manager, Ruth Peck, would allow him to purchase one on credit. She recently wrote me that he faithfully came to pay his bill every week – never once missing a payment.
At first, George would mow a small strip of grass or an acre lot for just $5 since he didn’t understand money that well except how to work hard to earn it. I taught George how to write his first name so he could sign checks from his customers and I photocopied a $10 bill for him so they knew what he charged and so he could match their payment to the picture.
When George was no longer able to mow, he started his bottle collection business. It was not unusual to see George roll his well-placarded trash containers up and down Main Street several times a day to redeem his bounty. To make them easier to tow, he brought them to Grenier Gas’s shop on Demeritt Place where they were generously retrofitted with new axles and larger wheels. Since George was not afraid of hard work, it wasn’t unusual to see him pulling one container in each hand - especially after Waterbury’s Fourth of July celebration!!
A few years ago, I came home and found George sitting on our living room sofa. He had tears streaming down his face. It was a Thursday night and he had just been to the Farmer’s Market. However, he had turned left instead of right when he left the park and headed down South Main Street. He had remembered our house but was confused about where to go next so he let himself in. I reassured him that he would be fine and then took him to the Kirby House where he was met with a comforting hug. I knew then that George’s health was failing and it wasn’t too long before I saw his friend Carly doing the bottle route with him or alone as we saw less and less of George in the village.Over the years, George became an enduring symbol of what Waterbury once was and what we had become. Our town has a history of embracing all its residents and George was no exception. He found acceptance, comfort and love in our community for at least seven decades. Although he looked forward to visiting his Northeast Kingdom family during haying season, Waterbury had become his home.
We offer a heartfelt thanks to everyone who loved and cared for George along the way. He will be missed.
-Kathryn and Robert Grace and family
Photos by Gordon Miller.
Waterbury loved George and George loved Waterbury
By Diana Whitney
Photo by Diana Whitney.
I first met George on the day that my husband and I moved to Waterbury in November 2002. We rented an apartment on the first floor of what is now the Tiny Acorn, right next door to the Kirby House. It was a snowy day, and as the movers carried furniture and boxes into the apartment, George came by with one of his snowblowers to check out the new neighbors. He was wearing a pair of none-too-clean tan-colored coveralls, and his nose was in need of wiping. At first I was taken aback by the sight, but within minutes it was clear that this man was harmless and that his beautiful smile lit up his whole face.
I have read posts on Front Porch Forum that told about George’s lawn-mowing days. By the time we met him, he had moved into his snow-blowing period. He owned several snowblowers and was very proud of each one.
Before long we were driving him to church and bringing him our empty bottles, which he collected and brought to the redemption center in his wheeled garbage can. He had a bottle-collecting route that he would walk, pushing that garbage can and gathering bottles from all of his “regulars” around town.
We continued driving him to church and bringing him our bottles long after we moved out of the apartment and into our new house. During church services he would repeat after the priest, echoing the words of the prayers a beat or two late. He would often sing the hymns this way too, usually just vocalizing the melody, or as close as he could get to it. In all the years that we brought him to church, no one ever shushed him, or asked us to shush him. I guess we all figured that God was smiling and getting a good Sunday morning chuckle out of George at Mass.
The last year or so, George was wheelchair-bound and catheterized and it became more and more difficult to bring him to church. My husband and I would frequently take two cars, so that he could take George and the wheelchair while I took one or two other Kirby House residents. We parked his wheelchair in the handicap spot inside church, right up front, where he would shake hands with everyone as they passed in front of him on the way to their seats.
As much as Waterbury loved George, I keep thinking about how much he loved Waterbury. He attended all of the concerts in the park and sat right in front of Kirby House, wearing an Uncle Sam outfit every year for our Not Quite Independence Day parade.
May George’s innocent, smiling spirit inspire an innocent smile in all of us. And when we are once again attending concerts and parades, may our thoughts of him bring a smile to our hearts that lights up our whole face.
Sidney Bewlay with the University of Vermont’s Community News Service contributed to this report. Photos by Gordon Miller unless otherwise noted.