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I. Introduction

1. ln 1914, to commemorate the 50 th Anniversary of his graduation from Middlebury College, Dr. John Abner Mead, former Governor of Vermont, wrote to the President of his alma mater, Middlebury College, offering:

2. Mead then told of his great-great-grandfather, James Mead, Rutland’s first settler, “who brought the first...Holy Bible into this unbroken wilderness,” and of his great-great-grandmother, Mercy Holmes Mead, who gathered the pioneers of the immediate area for the first Christian service in the Otter Creek Valley and shared fellowship with the local Native Americans. Mead’s Letter recounted their lives as embodying the simplicity, strength of character, and religious faith that Mead envisioned the Mead Memorial Chapel would symbolize:

3. The Middlebury College Trustees unreservedly and enthusiastically accepted Dr. Mead’s offer, with the explicit understanding that the Chapel was to be known as the “Mead Memorial Chapel.”

4. Built of finely dressed Vermont marble and placed on the highest point on campus as Dr. Mead directed, the “Mead Memorial Chapel” stands not only as the most dominant building on the campus, but has become an iconic feature of Middlebury's landscape, serving as the flagship for the College’s identity, branding, marketing and merchandizing. Indeed, it is the face of Middlebury College for audiences to whom the College directs its promotional literature and videos:

5. For more than a century, the Mead Memorial Chapel has been home to student performances, guest lectures, religious services, weddings, baptisms, funerals, and annual events like Convocation and Baccalaureate. Over the years, it has welcomed Academy Award winners, Nobel laureates, and pillars of art, business, and science for discussions, readings, and panels.

6. Despite this storied past, in the early morning hours of Monday, Sept. 27, 2021, Middlebury College removed the wooden “Mead Memorial Chapel” sign, which hung unobtrusively in a niche above the entrance of the Chapel, identifying the College’s house of worship and “Meeting House” for community gatherings for the past 105 years.

7. The College issued no warning that the name would be removed, held no public discussion, and offered no hint that such a dramatic change would occur. Instead, the College issued a statement only after the deed was done, announcing that the Mead Memorial Chapel would “no longer bear the name John Mead, Vermont governor from 1910 to 1912 and Middlebury Class of 1864, due to [Governor Mead’s] role in promoting eugenics policies in the state that led to the involuntary sterilization of an estimated 250 people.” This language makes a grossly distorted claim of the type that has become all too common in the current “cancel culture” in which we live. Such a claim is not what one would expect from an internationally renowned liberal arts college.

8. Nor is the erroneous claim that the College was removing “the name John Mead” from the Mead Memorial Chapel. The Chapel was not named for John Mead, nor was it built to honor or memorialize John Mead. Instead, it was erected by John Mead and named the “Mead Memorial Chapel,” in memory of the Mead family ancestors who embodied the values that were symbolized by the Chapel itself. It was with this understanding that the Trustees explicitly accepted a Chapel that would be known as the “Mead Memorial Chapel.”

9. In removing the Mead name from the Chapel, the College has not only breached that agreement and promise, but has obliterated any memory of the selfless acts and the altruistic contributions John Mead made to his nation, state, county, town, church, and to Middlebury College itself. In short, Middlebury College has “canceled” John Abner Mead, forever disparaged and vilified his family name, and replaced his legacy with a narrative that brands Governor Mead a eugenicist and proclaims him responsible for the tragic sterilization of Vermonters and Native peoples.

10. The unwarranted accusation conflates historical events that occurred two decades apart, declaring Mead responsible for legislation enacted 19 years after his Farewell Address and more than a decade after his death. Middlebury College’s stripping of “John Mead’s name” from the Mead Memorial Chapel makes Governor Mead a scapegoat and does a disservice to his memory, the good works he performed throughout his lifetime, and particularly the love and devotion he showed to Middlebury College.

11. The Mead Memorial Chapel was not a memorial to Governor John Abner Mead. Nor was the naming of the Mead Chapel some honor bestowed upon a big-money donor. Instead, Governor Mead built the Mead Memorial Chapel as a place for divine worship and a Meeting House for the Middlebury College Community.

12. He designed it to symbolize the simplicity and character of the people of the Otter Creek Valley and the State of Vermont and named it the “Mead Memorial Chapel” to memorialize the Mead family ancestors, who embodied that strength of character and who brought Christian faith, fellowship, and community to early Vermont.

13. The basis for the furtive removal of Mead’s name was the Governor’s support, in his Farewell Address of 1912, for proposals to restrict the issuance of marriage licenses and to appoint a commission to study the use of a new operation called a vasectomy, which was a safer and more humane process of sterilization. However, the claim that Mead’s 1912 comments caused sterilizations to happen two or three decades later is factually baseless and legally unjust.

14. Middlebury College has proclaimed that Governor Mead was a eugenicist and has implied, without evidence, that racism motivated his proposals. These charges are without merit and they belie everything we know about Mead’s life, the medical, military, and public services he performed, as well as his generous philanthropy to his college, church, and the broader community.

15. This “culture cancellation” and the College’s erasure of Governor Mead’s good deeds and lifelong contributions contradict the very purpose of the College. A higher education institution exists to pursue truth and knowledge, not to erase history.

16. More importantly, Middlebury College has violated the sacred trust that Dr. Mead placed in the Trustees of his beloved alma mater, breaking the promises they made and depriving him and his family of the benefit of his bargain, the quid pro quo, and/or the conditions of his gift: that Mead would erect a chapel to be known forever as the “Mead Memorial Chapel.”

II. Parties and Venue

17. On June 17, 2022, the Vermont Superior Court, Rutland Unit, Probate Division, in the matter of the Estate of John Mead, Case No. 22-PR- 02895, appointed the Honorable James H. Douglas as Special Administrator of the Estate of John Abner Mead, granting him full authority to represent the Estate in this litigation.

18. Plaintiff, the Honorable James H. Douglas, Special Administrator of the Estate of John Abner Mead, is a resident of the Town of Middlebury, County of Addison and State of Vermont.

19. Defendant, The President and Fellows of Middlebury College is a Vermont Non-profit Corporation chartered on November 1, 1800 and doing business as Middlebury College, with its principal place of business in the Town of Middlebury, County of Addison and State of Vermont.

20. The President and Fellows of Middlebury College, more familiarly known as the Board of Trustees, holds ultimate legal and fiduciary responsibility for all assets and operations of Middlebury College.

21. Venue is proper pursuant to 12 V.S.A. §402(a).

III. Defendant Middlebury College

22. Middlebury is a liberal arts college of the first rank, an achievement that is the result of a process of growth and change that began in 1800, when a few men of the town of Middlebury took upon themselves the challenge of building a college in a small New England town, on what was then the American frontier.

23. Over the more than two centuries since it was established, Middlebury has developed from “the town’s college” into an institution of international renown with a $1.518 billion endowment as of 2021.

24. Middlebury’s original purpose was to train young men from Vermont and neighboring states for the ministry and other learned professions of the early 19th century. The College began modestly, with seven students enrolling in November 1800. These first students were expected “to read, translate, and parse Tully, Virgil, and the Greek Testament, and to write true Latin in prose, and shall have also learned the rules of Vulgar Arithmetic.” The College’s founding president, Jeremiah Atwater, who had come to Middlebury from Yale, taught the entire course of study.

25. Gamaliel Painter, one of the citizens of Middlebury to whom the College charter had been granted, left most of his estate to the College. Mr. Painter’s gift was an early example of the philanthropic support for Middlebury College that has enabled the institution to prosper. In recognition of his gift, West College, a new building completed a few years prior to Painter’s death in 1819, was renamed Painter Hall. Painter Hall is the oldest college building extant in Vermont.

26. Vermont was one of the first colonies to ban slavery and the first state to abolish slavery in its constitution. In 1823, Alexander Twilight graduated from Middlebury, the first African American citizen to earn a baccalaureate degree at an American college.

27. Middlebury College continued to grow during the 19th century. The growth was sporadic, however, as the College was not immune to the social and political movements that were affecting northern New England generally. Rocked by evangelical upheaval and religious revival in the 1830s and the Civil War in the 1860s, Middlebury managed to keep its doors open during a period when many small colleges in America were forced to close. In large part, the College survived because of the support of its many friends, both in the town of Middlebury and in the surrounding region.

28. In 1883, the Trustees voted to accept women as students in the College, making Middlebury one of the first formerly all-male liberal arts colleges in New England to become coeducational. In the following years, Middlebury College began to change from an institution primarily oriented toward its community and its state to a college with larger regional aspirations. President Ezra Brainerd (who held that office from 1885 to 1908) prepared the College for this transformation, and spectacular change occurred under the administration of President John Thomas (1908 to 1921), who established the Language Schools and the Bread Loaf School of English during his presidency.

29. During the second decade of the 20th century, the College’s enrollment more than doubled, and the number of buildings, the size of the faculty, and the value of the endowment tripled. At the same time, the College adapted its curriculum to the needs of the new century.

30. During the 1930s, 1940s, and 1950s, Middlebury continued its development toward a position of prominence among liberal arts colleges in the United States. Continued growth in the faculty meant the addition of new subjects to the curriculum and an enhanced academic reputation for the College. New residence halls, academic buildings, and library facilities were added to the physical plant. Middlebury’s expansion was coupled with increases in financial resources and the establishment of a tradition of prudent financial administration, including the cultivation of resources for the long term.

IV. Plaintiff’s Decedent John Abner Mead

31. John Abner Mead (April 20, 1841 – January 12, 1920) was a Vermont physician, businessman, politician, and philanthropist who served as Vermont’s 47th Lieutenant Governor from 1908 to 1910, and Vermont’s 53rd Governor from 1910 to 1912.

32. Mead was a graduate of Middlebury College, Class of 1864. In 1914, on the 50 th anniversary of his graduation, he offered to erect the “Mead Memorial Chapel,” an offer the Trustees of the College eagerly and unequivocally accepted.

A. The Mead Family Ancestry

33. John Abner Mead was of English descent, with notable ancestry. Westminster Abbey houses a memorial to one of his ancestors, Richard Mead, M.D. (1673-1754) who was one of the leading physicians of his day, an expert on poisons, scurvy, smallpox and public health. Dr. Richard Mead attended Queen Anne, was physician to King George II, and treated Sir Isaac Newton and the French painter Antoine Watteau as patients. His work, A Short Discourse concerning Pestilential Contagion, and the Method to be used to prevent it (1720), was of historic importance in the understanding of transmissible diseases:

34. Another ancestor, Colonel Richard K. Mead was aide-de-camp to General Washington from 1777 to 1783 and was with the commander-in-chief in all his principal battles. The Right Reverend William Mead, Bishop of Virginia, was of the same family.

35. John Abner Mead’s great-great-grandfather, Colonel James Mead (1730-1804), was a notable pioneer and Rutland’s first settler. He and his wife, Mercy Holmes Mead, were the parents of the first child of European descent born in the Otter Creek Valley. He served as the first Moderator and first Selectman of the Town of Rutland and first Representative from Rutland to the first Vermont Legislature. He was a distinguished patriot of his day, serving as a Colonel of the 3rd Regiment of Vermont Militia during the Revolutionary War.

36. Colonel James Mead’s historic contributions are memorialized by the Vermont Division for Historic Preservation’s Historic Marker at Mead’s Falls and in an 1848 landscape painting of Mead’s Falls by Fredric Edwin Church, which hangs in the White House:

B. John Mead’s Early Life and Education

37. John Abner Mead’s father, Rowley R. Mead (1818–1875), was born in West Rutland. In 1839, at age 21, Rowley Mead moved to Fair Haven and settled on a small farm there, marrying Lydia Ann Gorham (1818-1841).

38. John Abner Mead was born on April 20, 1841. His mother, Lydia Ann Gorham Mead, went into a decline soon after giving birth and died weeks later, on August 11, 1841, aged 23.

39. After Lydia’s death, the infant son was left with a family in Fair Haven to be cared for, remaining with them for several years. Rowley Mead married again and had two other children, but John was virtually given to an aunt, Mrs. Blanchard, who cared for him during childhood. He lived with her much of the time until he was sixteen years old.

40. Young Mead attended the common schools at West Rutland, working odd jobs to earn money for his future education, which his father was too poor to support. In the years of 1857 and 1858, John Mead worked as a teacher at a district school, for which he received $15 per month and “boarded around,” as the custom was. When he received the $45 for the final three months’ service, he had accumulated $425. With this he started in life.

41. In Spring of 1858, at age 17, Mead wrote to his uncle, who lived in Malone, NY and who was the principal of what was then known as Franklin Academy. The uncle allowed John to attend school there and do “chores” about the house for his board and about the schoolhouse for tuition and books.

42. There Mead prepared himself for Middlebury College. He was accepted and, with his original $425, he was admitted in the fall of 1860.

C. Mead’s Civil War Service

43. Interrupting his studies at Middlebury College to answer President Abraham Lincoln’s call to arms, John Mead enlisted during the American Civil War in Company K, Twelfth Infantry Regiment, Vermont Volunteers, serving from 1862-1863. He participated in several skirmishes and important battles, including the Battle of Gettysburg, the bloodiest battle in American history, with more than 50,000 estimated casualties.

44. John Mead’s Company K rifle has been passed down through the generations of the Mead family, the original full bayonet testifying to the brutal and primitive nature of the conflict:

45. Several other members of the Mead family contributed significantly to the war effort and to post-war Rutland and Vermont. All were descendants of James Mead, the first settler of Rutland. Brothers Charles and Carlos (Eugene) Mead, cousins to John A. Mead, also joined the Union Army, serving in the First U. S. Sharpshooters Regiment. Charles was killed at Petersburg, Virginia; Eugene was wounded twice and imprisoned once. Charles Mead was a prolific writer. His letters and diaries are a major source of information to Rutland Civil War historians.

46. Therefore, when the College Trustees removed the Mead family name from the Mead Memorial Chapel, they demeaned the sacrifices of not one, but three Civil War veterans who fought to free the African American slaves in the South and preserve the Union. One member made the ultimate sacrifice, and another was wounded twice and imprisoned.

D. Mead’s Post-War Education

47. After Gettysburg, Mead returned to Middlebury College to complete his studies so he could graduate with his class in 1864. He studied hard to make up for lost time in school while working at haying in the summer and teaching school in the winter to support himself. Upon graduation he had to sell all his books, so he graduated from Middlebury College solvent but nearly penniless.

48. John Mead was chosen as a speaker for his 1864 Commencement ceremony and delivered a speech entitled “The Moral Effects of the War,” having witnessed the horrors of Gettysburg just one year prior.

49. John Abner Mead’s Middlebury College Class Photo:

50. After graduation from Middlebury, Mead continued to teach high school for a term and then began to study medicine with Professor Joseph Perkins, M.D. of Castleton, paying most of his expenses by caring for the office and assisting the doctor.

51. Mead took a 10-month hiatus from his medical education to toil in the West Rutland quarries, enabling him to save enough money to complete his medical training.

52. Mead then returned to the study of medicine, attending the first course of lectures in the medical department of the University of Vermont, studying under his now Preceptor Joseph Perkins, M.D., Professor of Obstetrics and Diseases of Women and Children. Mead wrote his thesis on “Inversio-Uteri”, a childbirth complication often resulting in death at that time, which perhaps was his own mother’s cause of death shortly after his birth. Upon completing his studies and thesis at UVM, he was awarded a Master’s Degree (A.M.) at Middlebury College in 1867.

53. Mead then went to New York to complete his medical degree at the College of Physicians and Surgeons of New York City, part of Columbia University, graduating with an M.D. degree in 1868.

E. Dr. Mead’s Medical Practice

54. While working towards his medical degree in New York, Mead worked at Kings County Hospital’s Lunatic Asylum in Brooklyn as a Second Assistant Physician. Upon graduation, he was promoted to First Assistant Physician and a year later, he was made the Assistant Physician of the Lunatic Asylum. Notably, the Asylum did not use physical restraints for patients, allowing them instead to freely mingle and take exercise at their leisure.

55. During Dr. Mead’s tenure as resident physician, he demonstrated great compassion for his patients. “He did not treat them as though he thought them insane. He held that it always irritated a man, sane or insane, to be told that he was mentally deranged. He listened patiently to their complaints and even humored their whims. I will not say that he believed in ‘mind cure’, for the phrase has acquired unfortunate associations. But he believed that a wise physician should always have a thought for the mental condition of his patients and in all his later medical practice he was guided by this rule.” Ex. 8-034 to 8- 035.

56. The Mead family still possesses Dr. Mead’s Kings County Hospital Alumni Association medal:

57. In the fall of 1870, Dr. Mead resigned his position in the Kings County Hospital’s Lunatic Asylum and returned to Vermont to practice medicine in Rutland for the next two decades.

58. Dr. Mead began his medical practice in Rutland in a small way with a single room and had only money enough to buy a horse and office furnishings, including a cloth lounge, on which he slept for almost two years.

59. This is a Business Card advertisement that Dr. Mead ran in the January 18, 1871 Rutland Daily Herald:

60. On October 30, 1872, John Mead married Mary M. Sherman. They had one child, Mary Sherman Mead Hinsman.

61. While practicing medicine in Rutland, Dr. Mead also served as the State of Vermont’s Surgeon General under Governor Redfield Proctor from 1878 to 1880 and was a member of the staff of General Alger and General Veazey, commanders of the Grand Army of the Republic, a fraternal organization of veterans who had served in the Union Army during the Civil War.

62. Dr. Mead was also Medical Superintendent of the Vermont House of Correction and served as State Pension Examiner for eight years.

63. In 1888, Dr. Mead was offered a "Chair" in the Medical Department of the University of Vermont but declined it because he wished to retire from medicine and devote his time to his business interests.

64. In 1890, Dr. Mead was appointed Surgeon General of the Vermont State Encampment of the Grand Army of the Republic.

65. This photograph of Company K shows Civil War Veterans gathered at the Bennington Encampment the following year, in 1891, for their 30th reunion at the dedication of the Bennington Battle Monument Memorial which was attended by President Benjamin Harrison and thousands of spectators.

66. The Mead family possesses some of John Abner Mead’s Grand Army of the Republic (“GAR”) memorabilia:

F. Mead the Businessman/Industrialist

67. After retiring from the practice of medicine, Mead became a successful real estate investor, buying the Bates House block in 1880, which was the largest transfer of real estate that had ever taken place in the Town of Rutland up to that time.

68. This is a photo of the Mead Building in Rutland, cir. 1910:

69. From 1882 to 1888, Mead served as an executive or director of several enterprises, including banks, railroads, insurance, and manufacturing companies.

70. In 1888, he became president of and reorganized the Howe Scale Company, a corporation that had gone through bankruptcy three times. Much to Mead’s credit, the company became one of the most important and successful enterprises in New England and manufacturers of a scale recognized as the standard the world over.

71. Dr. Mead exhibited rare executive ability. His watchful care of every detail and his keen judgment of human nature enabled him to select competent assistants in the varied departments. These skills, along with his perseverance, were largely responsible for the remarkable success of this industry, which created prosperity for many Vermont families.

72. In addition to his other business endeavors, Dr. Mead purchased the Hayward farm in West Rutland which he renamed the “Otter Creek Stock Farm,” an estate of about 500 acres supporting 125 head of cattle and producing 300 tons of hay as well as three large silos of ensilage grown on one of the largest fields of ensilage corn in the state, reported to be “50 acres in extent and growing as level and perfect as it is possible to imagine.” Ex. 8-014.

73. Mead’s Otter Creek Stock Farm provided employment opportunities for local farm workers and was a model of its kind, having running water supplied from a spring on the hillside for all purposes, including fire protection.

74. Mead “has always shown a kindly interest in the welfare of his employees and of the workingmen, and has never hesitated to champion their cause whenever their demands were reasonable and in his judgement just, and they in turn evinced their appreciation of his efforts in electing him to the state Senate in 1892 by a large majority, and again in 1893 by making him the first mayor of the city of Rutland by over three-fourths of the total vote cast for the candidates for this office.” Ex. 8-014.

G. Mead’s Government and Public Service

75. In 1892, Mead was elected to the State Senate as the GOP nominee and took an active part in the workings of that body, serving as chairman of several important committees. One of the beneficial results of his term in that capacity was the securing of a city charter for Rutland, and in 1893, Dr. Mead was elected its first mayor, “devoting to municipal interests that same sound judgment and careful attention to matters great or small which he gave to his own business.”

76. A photo of John Abner Mead, Cir. 1890s:

77. John Abner Mead served as Vermont’s Lieutenant Governor from 1908 to 1910. The June 18, 1908 edition of the Rutland Weekly Herald reported:

78. Elected Governor of Vermont in 1910, Mead presided over the state legislature’s reapportionment of state senatorial districts. Legislation was enacted during his administration establishing Vermont Technical College, requiring the registration of nurses, and providing for a direct primary.

79. Mead was viewed as a progressive. He supported women’s suffrage, toughened child labor laws, and strengthened campaign finance statutes. He doubled funding for highways and favored clean energy, urging the substitution of hydroelectric power for coal.

80. Dr. Mead was a Trustee of Middlebury College, UVM, and Norwich University. All three conferred the honorary degree of LL.D. upon him in 1911.

81. Governor Mead gave his Gubernatorial Farewell Address to the Joint General Assembly in October 1912. Ex. 18-017 to 18-031.

82. Mead was also a Vermont delegate to the Republican National Convention in 1912, supporting the incumbent Taft for the nomination:

83. Mead was seriously considered for the vice-presidential nomination on the national ticket in 1912 because of his progressive views. The Mead family inherited the campaign memorabilia from the possible run:

84. After his governorship, Mead resumed his business interests. He was president of Baxter National Bank, Howe Scale Company, and of John A. Mead Manufacturing Company. He was also a director of the Rutland Railroad.

H. Mead’s Philanthropy

85. John Abner Mead made substantial financial donations to Middlebury College during his lifetime, including his conditional gift of the “Mead Memorial Chapel” which he constructed from 1914 to 1916 at a cost of over $75,000.

86. In addition, Dr. Mead made substantial financial donations to other charitable causes during his lifetime, including in 1915, when he donated prime Rutland real estate located at the corner of Center and Court Streets to the Congregational Church of Rutland to be used by the young people of Rutland, of all faiths, as a community center with club rooms, gymnasium, tennis courts, etc. The center became known as “The Community House”:

87. Mead invested some $50,000 (worth $1,469,292.08 in current value) in 1915 to transform the property into an inclusive and welcoming community center for all the youth of Rutland “regardless of creed or church connection to make it of the widest scope.” The real estate and improved buildings were deeded to the Congregational Church of Rutland, with the direct management of a nonsectarian board with liberal powers.

88. Mead’s Last Will and Testament bequeathed an additional $50,000 to provide for the continued maintenance and support of The Community House after his death.

89. Mead’s Last Will and Testament also bequeathed $50,000 to the Congregational Church of Rutland for the maintenance of other Congregational churches in Rutland County.

I. John Abner Mead’s Death

90. Dr. John Abner Mead died of pneumonia at his home in Rutland on January 12, 1920. He was 78 years old. His wife, daughter, grandson, and son- in-law survived him.

91. Middlebury College President Thomas eulogized Governor Mead at his funeral, describing his good friend :

92. John Mead was buried at the Mead Family plot in Evergreen Cemetery in Rutland with his ancestors, including Colonel James Mead and Mercy Holmes Mead, whom John Abner Mead had reinterred there from the West Rutland Cemetery in 1895.

93. John Abner Mead’s headstone records his service in the Union Army, his professional life as “a beloved physician in Rutland for 21 years,” and his many offices held including his Governorship of course. His headstone reflects the essence of who he was and his lifetime of service and devotion to others with the final engraving:

94. Photos of the Mead Family Plot in Evergreen Cemetery in Rutland, Vermont:

MEAD MEMORIAL CHAPEL

A. John Abner Mead’s Offer to Middlebury College

95. On May 11, 1914, John Abner Mead sent a Letter to Rev. Dr. John M. Thomas, President of Middlebury College, offering to erect a chapel to serve as a place of worship for the college, the same to be known as the “Mead Memorial Chapel.” (hereinafter “Offer Letter”). Ex. 1-001 to 1-002.

96. The Offer Letter was also referred to as the “Letter of Gift.” Ex. 1- 001 to 1-002.

97. In the Offer Letter or Letter of Gift, Mead offered “to erect a chapel to serve as a place of worship for the college,” pledging $50,000 - $60,000 and specifying the Terms of the Contract, or, in the alternative, the Conditions of the Gift, which were:

Ex. 1-001 to 1-002.

98. Mead’s hand-corrected and signed Offer Letter follows:

99. On May 15, 1914, President Thomas sent a copy of John A. Mead’s Offer Letter to the Trustees of Middlebury College announcing:

B. Middlebury College’s Acceptance

100. On May 16, 1914, Trustee Frank C. Partridge wrote to President Thomas agreeing to accept the Offer and appoint of the Mead Memorial Chapel Building Committee as Mead had specified:

101. On May 17, 1914, Trustee John E. Weeks wrote to Mead with:

102. On May 18, 1914, Trustee A. Barton Hepburn wrote to Mead stating:

103. On May 19, 1914, Trustee James L. Barton wrote to Mead stating:

104. On May 22, 1914, Trustee Brainerd Kellogg wrote to President Thomas, stating:

105. On May 23, 1914, John A, Fletcher, Treasurer of Middlebury College, wrote to President Thomas stating:

106. On June 22, 1914, the President and Fellows of Middlebury College (Board of Trustees) met and recorded the following resolution, which Board action formally accepted Dr. Mead’s Offer Letter to erect the “Mead Memorial Chapel” and the terms of the contract or conditions of the gift without reservation:

C. Press Coverage

107. The gift of the Mead Memorial Chapel was widely reported in the Vermont press and Dr. Mead’s Offer Letter was reprinted in several news articles. See Exs. 1-013 to 018.

108. The Free Press had a special report from Middlebury, May 15, 1914:

109. On May 16, 1914, the Rutland Herald reported on the gift:

110. On May 20, 1914, The Middlebury Campus’ news article described the enthusiastic response by the faculty and students to the announcement of Dr. Mead’s gift of the Mead Memorial Chapel. The article also reprinted Dr. Mead’s Offer Letter in full and then reported in part:

12. President Thomas wrote an article that was published in the April 8, 1915 edition of the Boston Evening Transcript, entitled MIDDLEBURY’S 100 YEARS, Old Traditions Preserved in New Chapel” in which he explained:

D. 1914 Groundbreaking & Cornerstone Ceremony

113. On May 28, 1914, John Mead wrote to President Thomas regarding arrangements for the groundbreaking and laying of the cornerstone for the Chapel. Dr. Mead requested a piece of sod to place in the Evergreen Cemetery in his family’s burial lot and indicated, “We will have the little box with the bible which little John is to place in the stone all properly arranged.” Ex. 2-001 to 2- 002.

114. On June 23, 1914, Middlebury College held a ceremony titled “Breaking Ground for the Mead Memorial Chapel and Presentation of the Corner Stone” during its commencement exercises. Ex. 2-003.

115. Ex-Governor John A. Mead, Class of 1864, gave the speech for the “Breaking Ground and Presentation of the Corner Stone,” (See Ex. 2-004 to 2- 026) which he concluded with:

116. The Rev. James L. Barton, D.D., LL.D., Class of 1881 delivered the “Acceptance in Behalf of the Trustees” (Ex. 2-021 to 2-026) in which he stated:

117. Prof. Charles B. Wright gave an “Address in Behalf of the Faculty” (Ex. 2-027 to 2-029) which he ended with the statement:

118. Among the guests of the College at the ceremony were Miss Katherine Lee Bates, Professor of English at Wellesley College. Bates was also a social activist interested in the struggles of women, workers, people of color, tenement residents, immigrants, and poor people. She helped organize the Denison House, a college women's settlement house, with other women friends and colleagues in 1892. She also wrote and spoke extensively about the need for social reform and was an avid advocate for the global peace movement that emerged after World War I.

119. The Cornerstone for the Mead Memorial Chapel was laid at the Groundbreaking Ceremony held on June 23, 1914, where John Abner Mead’s namesake, his 3-year-old grandson John Abner Mead Hinsman (“Little John”), placed his small Bible and family tree back to original settler Colonel James Mead into a box inside the Mead Memorial Chapel Cornerstone. The Ceremony was widely reported on in the press. Exs. 2-032 to 037.

120. Photographs of the Groundbreaking Ceremony still exist

121. The Mead Family Bible, held by President Thomas at the Groundbreaking ceremony photographed above, has been passed down through the generations of the Mead family and resides with Mead family members who live in Vermont:

E. Chapel Construction and Costs: 1914-1916

122. The construction of the Mead Memorial Chapel proceeded over the next two years, during which time Dr. Mead attended meetings of the Mead Memorial Chapel Building Committee in Middlebury, met with architects, approved project designs, controlled the budget, and provided credit and payment for all labor and materials. Ex. 3-001 to 3-053.

123. Besides the costs of the Chapel building itself, Dr. Mead contracted and paid for a $5,000 pipe organ, $1,031 for Pilasters, and $1,559.39 for pews. Ex. 3-005 to 3-006, Ex. 3-021, Ex. 3-040, Ex. 3-048 to 3-050.

124. On June 21, 1915 Dr. Mead sent an additional Offer Letter to President Thomas pledging an additional $7,000 for a Chime of Bells stating: “If acceptable to the members of the Board of Trustees, Mrs. Mead and I would be pleased to add a chime of bells to our gift of the Mead Memorial Chapel.” Ex. 3- 034 to 3-036, Ex. 3-038, Ex. 3-039, Ex. 3-041 to 3-043.

125. Dr. and Mrs. Mead’s addition gift of a Carillon of Bells was installed in the Chapel tower. There were eleven bells, the largest weighing 2500 pounds and the smallest 275 pounds. Each bell bears the inscription:

126. The Mead Chapel was the work of Allen and Collens of Boston. It draws freely upon the vocabularies of the American classical styles of the 18th and 19th centuries in its translation of the traditional New England meeting house into marble. Thus, one finds a Greek Revival temple front, Georgian doors and windows, and a Federal tower. Above the colonnade is inscribed a quotation from Psalm 95:4, “The strength of the hills is His also.” Within the building is a beautiful Georgian-inspired paneled sanctuary:

127. Construction was completed in 1916 and the final cost paid by Dr. Mead to construct the Chapel was $75,373.34, present value of which is $2,237,058.12. Ex. 3-048 to 3-050.

128. However, the current value of the Mead Memorial Chapel, as well as the replacement costs to construct the Chapel, exponentially exceed and eclipse that number.

129. President Thomas would later recount while Eulogizing Governor Mead at his funeral in 1921:

130. As the College grew, changes were inevitable. The balconies were added in 1938, increasing the seating capacity to 715. An altar replaced the original armchairs at the back of the chancel in 1952. The little Sunderland Chapel was created at the right, and is used for small prayer meetings. The original organ was replaced in 1971 by the large Gress-Miles organ. The tower now holds a wonderful 48-bell carillon, cast and tuned in France from the original bells and other sets. It is played regularly in the late afternoon. See Ex. 6-001 to 6-005.

F. 1916 Dedication Ceremony & Presentation of the Keys

131. The Mead Memorial Chapel Dedication Ceremony was held on June 18, 1916 during which Dr. Mead made a Presentation Speech, recalling his grandson’s role in the Groundbreaking and Setting of the Cornerstone two years earlier, when at 3 years old, “Little John” placed his Bible and family tree in the cornerstone:

132. Mead’s speech was followed by “Little John,” now 5-years, presenting the Keys to the Mead Memorial Chapel to the College Trustees. Ex.4- 011.

133. Dr. Brainerd, Former President of Middlebury College accepted the Keys on behalf of the Trustees and stated the following in his acceptance speech:

134. The 1916 Kaleidoscope, the Middlebury College Annual was dedicated to Governor Mead:

135. On September 19, 1916, President Thomas sent invitation to Dr. Mead and his family to attend the first assembly of students at the Mead Memorial Chapel:

136. President Thomas’ Address to the first assembly of students in the Mead Memorial Chapel on September 19, 1916 began:

137. At Governor Mead’s funeral on January 16, 1920, Middlebury College President John M. Thomas gave the Eulogy which was published in its entirety in the Middlebury Register the next day and stated in part:

G. The Mead Memorial Chapel - Historical Use, Value & Enrichment to the College

138. Middlebury College’s website explains the import and significance of the Mead Memorial Chapel (now referred to as the “Middlebury Chapel”), which symbolizes the aspirations of the College, just as Governor Mead intended:

139. Middlebury College celebrated the Mead Memorial Chapel’s Centennial in 2016 with a video production entitled “Mead Chapel Turns 100,” featuring Middlebury College’s Glenn Andres, Professor Emeritus, History of Art and Architecture, in which he details the history, symbolism and importance of the “Mead Memorial Chapel” to Middlebury College, stating as follows:

140. Middlebury College’s website further confirms the vital role and significance that the Mead Memorial Chapel has played in the college’s history:

141. In addition to the value of the building itself, the Mead Memorial Chapel was critical in establishing financial support from the State Board of Education as referenced by Treasurer John Fletcher’s correspondence concurring with the acceptance of Mead’s offer to build the Mead Memorial Chapel. See Ex. 1-009 (“I trust that the General Education Board will now look with favor upon your application for a grant toward a new fund, on contemplating this new evidence of the substantial and loyal support of our alumni.”)

142. Even the Middlebury Campus newspaper reported on the importance of the gift of the Mead Memorial Chapel, recognizing its significance to the college’s solvency, reputation and its impact in inspiring additional financial support and placing Middlebury College back on the road of progress:

143. Moreover, Governor Mead successfully encouraged others donors to support the College and used the Mead Memorial Chapel to inspire “our friend” to make a significant gift of a Boy’s Dormitory. Ex. 5-001.

144. And apparently, that “friend,” A. Barton Hepburn, Chairman of the Board of The Chase National Bank in New York, Middlebury College Alumnus (1871), Middlebury College Trustee from 1905-1922 and one of the Trustees who accepted the Mead Memorial Chapel offer in 1914 (See Ex. 1-006), personally provided the funds in 1915 to construct Hepburn Hall, the Boy’s Dormitory, which is named for him.

145. After the Mead Memorial Chapel was built in 1916, Dr. Mead provided President Thomas with photos and other materials documenting the construction of the Chapel so President Thomas could create a booklet which, according to Mead, “might stimulate some of our friends to pattern after Mr. Hepburn’s example and give you an elegant dormitory for the girls or possibly something else which you might more desire at this time.” Ex. 5-003 to 5-007.

146. Mead offered to pay the cost of publication of the booklet and wrote to President Thomas, “To be frank with you, I have special hopes that it may be productive of great good to our college, as I do feel that others can be made specially interested in our Alma Mater, and that the full history and description of the Chapel should induce others to lend a helping hand.” Ex. 5-006 to 5-007.

147. The value and importance of the Mead Memorial Chapel to Middlebury College cannot be overstated. Erected as a place of divine worship and a meeting house for the college community, it is a structure of great beauty and stature that served as catalyst to encourage other significant private donations as well as public moneys to flow to the college.

148. But most importantly, the Mead Memorial Chapel became “[t]he monumental centerpiece and aesthetic keystone for the college for 100 years,” (Ex. 6-006 to 6-007) not only standing as the most dominant building on the campus and an iconic feature of Middlebury's landscape, but also serving as the College’s identity and brand, with “its spire symbolizing the aspirations of the College.” Ex. 6-001 to 6-005

149. It is that identity and iconic imagery, first publicized by President Thomas’ 1915 article in the Boston Evening Transcript, that has succeeded as a brand and marketing tool to attract students and increase enrollment for more than a century.

H. Middlebury College’s Removal of The Mead Family Name From The Mead Memorial Chapel

150. Governor Mead constructed and dedicated the Chapel, and the President and Trustees of Middlebury College accepted it to serve as a suitable place for divine worship at the College. An essential term, obligation, promise, and condition of their agreement was that the Chapel would be known as “The Mead Memorial Chapel” in honor of the Mead ancestors. Ex. 1-001.

151. The President and Trustees of Middlebury College honored their commitment to the essential term, obligation, promise and condition that the Chapel be known as the “Mead Memorial Chapel” for over 100 years.

152. Then on or about the summer of 2021, the Prudential Committee of the Board of Trustees of Middlebury College, voted to remove the Mead name from the Mead Memorial Chapel because, they claimed:

153. For reference, Governor Mead, received his medical degree in 1868, more than 153 years ago, which was 3 years after the end of the Civil War and 3 years before Charles Darwin published The Descent of Man in 1871.

154. In reality, Governor Mead’s so-called “urgent call to action” was nothing more than the following:

155. No legislation was signed into law in Vermont as a result of Governor Mead’s Farewell Address.

156. In fact, not until almost two decades (19 years) later, on March 31, 1931, and more than a decade after Governor Mead’s death, did the Vermont Legislature pass "An act for human betterment by voluntary sterilization." The aim of the legislation was to prevent, through sterilization, the procreation of individuals judged to be idiots, imbeciles, feebleminded, or insane.

157. The tragic result of the 1931 legislation was the eventual sterilization of 253 people in Vermont, most of whom were sterilized between 1931 and 1941.

158. Nonetheless, Middlebury College proclaimed Governor Mead a eugenicist, implying without evidence that his motivation was racism.

159. Middlebury College’s removal of the Mead family name from the Mead Memorial Chapel and the denigration of Governor Mead sullies the reputation of a decent man, as well as a generous benefactor of the College. The College’s September 27, 2021 Statement portrays Governor Mead as essentially a precursor of Hitler, rather than presenting him in the context of his time.

160. Support for eugenics was mainstream in the early 20th century, embraced by leaders in society, education and government, including Presidents, prime ministers, judges, and scientists and authors.

161. Helen Keller and the founder of Planned Parenthood supported the movement as did George Bernard Shaw, H. G. Wells, Henrik Ibsen, T. S. Eliot, Virginia Woolf, and John Maynard Keynes.

162. Moreover, the bulk of eugenics activity in Vermont occurred from 1931 to 1941, decades after the Governor’s address and more than a decade after his death.

163. Therefore, the College vastly overstates Governor Mead’s role in this matter, as if he were the mastermind of a movement instead of an outgoing Governor merely expressing his mainstream progressive views in his retiring message of 1912.

164. Vermont’s native son, Calvin Coolidge, observed: “Education is to teach men not what to think but how to think.” That requires hearing different ideas and acknowledging them in context. It means learning from history, not erasing it.

165. Purging the legacy of someone who revered Middlebury College and gave generously to support it, due to a single remark that we a century later deem unacceptable, hardly conforms to the purpose of the College. It certainly is no basis for breaching the essential term, obligation, promise and condition that the Chapel would be known as the “Mead Memorial Chapel” to memorialize the Mead family name and honor the Mead family ancestors who embodied the simplicity and strength of the Vermont character that the Mead Memorial Chapel was designed to symbolize.

I. “Cancel Culture” and the Erasure of History

166. Yale Professor Anthony Kronman, in his book “The Assault on American Excellence,” urges against erasure of history. Rather, he writes, we should “contextualize” it.¹

167. Historical context refers to the social, religious, economic, and political conditions that existed during a certain time and place; those details enable us to interpret and analyze events of the past, rather than to merely judge them by contemporary standards. In analyzing historical events, context can help us understand what motivates people to behave as they did. Without historical context, we are only seeing a piece of the

1 The Assault on American Excellence (New York: The Free Press, 2019) from https://www.thefreelibrary.com/ARISTOCRATIC+EXCELLENCE%2c+SECULAR+ECUMENISM%2c+AN D+THE+LIFE+OF+THE...-a0661250331 scene and not fully understanding the influence of the time and place in which a situation occurred.²

168. However, instead of analyzing the remarks of Governor Mead from 1912, in the context of the social, religious, economic, and political conditions that existed in Vermont more than a century ago, Middlebury College has purged the good family name of a beloved and generous alumnus whose 100-year legacy it has erased, or, in contemporary parlance, “canceled.”

169. Vermont legal scholar Paul Gillies, Esq. examined this current phenomenon, explaining in his 2020 Vermont Bar Journal article, “Limitations of Law and History,” that:

2 Fleming, Grace. "The Importance of Historic Context in Analysis and Interpretation." ThoughtCo. https://www.thoughtco.com/what-is-historical-context-1857069

170. John Abner Mead was a man of his time who did great good in the world. A mainstream progressive known to be a keen and shrewd observer, he was a man who preserved at all times independent and original judgment. That curiosity and analytical approach was reflected in Governor Mead’s Farewell Address in which he proposed studying and gathering more information regarding a more humane procedure called the vasectomy. Had Mead lived twenty more years, who is to say that he would not have come to a different opinion and persuaded the legislature to repeal the sterilization law?

171. But that is not the time period in which John Abner Mead lived. The problem with imposing our 21 st century world view on actors who lived over a century ago lies in judging and ostracizing them for mainstream views prevalent in the society of the time.

172. The removal of the Mead family name from Mead Memorial Chapel was unnecessary to right past wrongs. Instead of making amends for the racist remarks of its own President Paul Dwight Moody, who was at the helm of the College for over two decades from 1921-1942, directing its curriculum and its admissions for decades, Middlebury made a scapegoat of Governor Mead by disparaging his amazing legacy without any justification.

173. As a result, John Abner Mead’s lifetime of accomplishments and devotion to the betterment of others has been erased: His risking of his life to fight in the Civil War, his two decades of service as a beloved physician to his community, his economic development of the region and state and the employment opportunities and prosperity he provided for Vermonters, his financial support of the goal of making Middlebury College a world-class institution, his sharing of his wealth with the Rutland churches, and his gift of “The Community Center” which he insisted serve and welcome people of all faiths, evidencing his commitment to diversity a century before it came into vogue.

174. Moreover, the Mead family name has been unfairly erased - canceled by Middlebury College for sins that John Abner Mead never committed. However, unlike the Dorothy Canfield Fisher Award or the naming of the Bailey Library at UVM, which were honors bestowed voluntarily and which freely can be revoked, the name “Mead Memorial Chapel” was accepted by Middlebury College as being the forever name of the Chapel, in memory of the Mead family pioneers who embodied the simplicity and strength of the Vermont character that the Chapel was designed to symbolize, and who shared fellowship and community with the Native Americans, all of which was reflected in the central purpose of this Chapel and community meeting house.

175. The name “Mead Memorial Chapel” was the essence of the deal, and it was the entire deal – forever. That was the intent of the parties when the Mead Memorial Chapel was offered by John Abner Mead and accepted by the Middlebury College Board of Trustees as evidenced by:

176. Middlebury College’s removal of the name “Mead Memorial Chapel” was a breach of that agreement, a violation of that condition, the breaking of a promise.

177. Therefore, if Middlebury College is permitted to strip the Mead family name from the Chapel, it will have been unjustly enriched, having accepted Mead’s offer to erect the “Mead Memorial Chapel” which added immense value to the real property of the College, and which established the college as an institution worthy of public financial support and private charitable giving.

178. The Mead Memorial Chapel provided Middlebury College with its iconic Flagship building and marketing identity, which set the College firmly on the path to future success and recognition as an internationally renowned institution of higher learning.

CAUSES OF ACTION

COUNT I

Breach of Contract - Specific Performance

179. Plaintiff hereby repeats and realleges paragraphs 1 through 178 as if fully set forth herein.

180. John Abner Mead made an offer to the President and Trustees of Middlebury College, to “erect a chapel to serve as a place of worship for the college, the same to be known as the ‘Mead Memorial Chapel,’” to memorialize the Mead Family ancestors.

181. The President and Trustees of Middlebury College readily and enthusiastically accepted the offer of the Chapel with the agreement, understanding and intention that it would be forever known as the “Mead Memorial Chapel” in honor of the Mead Family ancestors.

182. The acceptance of the Mead Memorial Chapel name was provided by the Trustees at a time when they had full knowledge of the content of Governor Mead’s Farewell Address in 1912, just two years earlier.

183. There was sufficient consideration exchanged to support the contract, the quid pro quo, to wit: the erection of the Chapel in exchange for the building being named the “Mead Memorial Chapel,” and John Mead’s control of the location, design and construction of the Chapel building so that his vision was realized.

184. The Chapel has been known as the Mead Memorial Chapel for over a century since it was completed and dedicated in 1916.

185. Middlebury College’s removal of the name “Mead” from the Chapel is a breach of the Defendant’s obligations under the Contract that the Chapel would be known as “Mead Memorial Chapel,” which was an essential term and the central purpose of the contract.

186. As a direct and proximate consequence of Defendant’s breach of contract, Plaintiff has suffered irreparable harm, for which money damages cannot fully compensate Plaintiff due to the unique nature of the intention and purpose for which the “Mead Memorial Chapel” was erected and named.

WHEREFORE, Plaintiff prays that the Court order Specific Performance to require and enjoin Defendant to restore the name “Mead Memorial Chapel” to the Chapel to effectuate the fundamental intention, purpose and essential terms of the Contract, which was to honor the Mead family ancestors, who were the living embodiment of the simplicity and character of the Vermont spirit that Mead designed the Chapel to express.

COUNT II

Breach of Contract – Damages

187. Plaintiff repeats and realleges paragraphs 1 through 186 as if fully set forth herein.

188. As a direct and proximate consequence of Defendant’s breach of contract, Plaintiff has suffered monetary damages in an amount to be determined at trial.

WHEREFORE, Plaintiff prays that the Court order compensatory damages in an amount to be determined at trial, plus pre and post judgment interest at the statutory rate of 12% per annum.

COUNT III

Breach of Contract – Restitution

189. Plaintiff repeats and realleges paragraphs 1 through 188 as if fully set forth herein.

190. As a direct and proximate consequence of Defendant’s breach of contract, Plaintiff has failed to obtain the benefit of the contractual bargain and is entitled to restitution of the consideration paid.

WHEREFORE, Plaintiff prays that the Court order Restitution of all sums paid to erect the “Mead Memorial Chapel” and the value Mead’s services in managing and supervising the design and construction of the Chapel, plus pre and post judgment interest at the statutory rate of 12% per annum.

COUNT IV

Breach of the Implied Covenant of Good Faith and Fair Dealing

191. Plaintiff repeats and realleges paragraphs 1 through 190 as if fully set forth herein.

192. Implied in every contract is a covenant of good faith and fair dealing, which requires the parties to act honestly and reasonably with one another in the faithful pursuit of their common purpose.

193. Defendant has breached the covenant of good faith and fair dealing by removing the name “Mead” from the Chapel in direct defiance of its covenant and the expectation that the College will act honestly and reasonably in the faithful pursuit of the agreed common purpose of the contract.

194. Defendant has acted in bad faith with improper motive and with wanton disregard for the rights of the Plaintiff, scapegoating a man for the college’s public relations purposes and destroying the Mead family name while erasing John Mead’s lifetime of accomplishments and philanthropy that benefitted the State of Vermont and its people as well as generations of Middlebury College students.

195. Defendant’s breach of the covenant of good faith and fair dealing is the direct and proximate cause of monetary damages to the Plaintiff.

WHEREFORE, Plaintiff prays that the Court award compensatory and punitive damages for Defendant’s Breach of the Implied Covenant of Good Faith and Fair Dealing, plus pre and post judgment interest at the statutory rate of 12% per annum.

COUNT V

Breach of Conditional Gift

196. Plaintiff repeats and realleges paragraphs 1 through 195 as if fully set forth herein.

197. The Letter of Gift specified that the Mead Memorial Chapel was a conditional gift limited to a particular purpose and upon an expected set of facts: that it would bear the name “Mead Memorial Chapel” and rendered it so conditioned for all time.

198. The Defendant’s removal of the Mead name from the “Mead Memorial Chapel” is a breach and failure of the condition upon which the gift was given; therefore, the gift will fail.

199. The Plaintiff hereby revokes the failed gift of the “Mead Memorial Chapel,” which was made subject to a condition that it bear the name “Mead Memorial Chapel,” because Defendant has violated and refuses to perform such condition.

COUNT VI

Unjust Enrichment

200. Plaintiff repeats and realleges paragraphs 1 through 199 as if fully set forth herein.

201. The Defendant received significant benefits from accepting the Mead Memorial Chapel from John Mead, not just the value of the labor and materials and Mead’s supervision of the design and construction, but also the epic beauty, stature, and symbolism of the Chapel structure. The Chapel provided not just a place for divine worship, but also meeting place to unite the entire community, greatly enhancing the reputation and stature of the school and encouraging private donations and public funding.

202. Most valuable of all, the Mead Memorial Chapel became Middlebury College’s “monumental centerpiece and aesthetic keystone for the college” (Ex. 6-006 to 6-007) creating the College’s identity and brand, with “its spire symbolizing the aspirations of the College.” Ex. 6-001 to 6-005.

203. Such an iconic identity and branding established Middlebury College as an institution of significance and paved the way for the college to attain the level of success that it enjoys today, amassing a $1.518 billion endowment by 2021 all of which would not have been possible but for the construction of the Mead Memorial Chapel.

204. Under these facts and circumstances, it is unjust for the Defendant to strip the Mead Memorial Chapel of the Mead Family name, canceling the incredible accomplishments and altruism of a true philanthrope and important figure in Vermont history, all while retaining the many benefits that the Mead Memorial Chapel has provided to every student who has attended Middlebury College for the last century and will to the next, without commensurate compensation.

WHEREFORE, Plaintiff prays that the Court exercise its equitable jurisdiction and award Plaintiff restitution and/or damages in an amount equal to the value of the Mead Memorial Chapel and all of the benefits that the Chapel has bestowed upon the Defendant Middlebury College for over a century and will continue to provide to future generations of Middlebury College students.

PRAYER FOR RELIEF

Plaintiff respectfully requests that this Honorable Court issue judgment in its favor and award the following relief:

DATED at Town of Randolph, County of Orange, and State of Vermont this 24th day of March 2023.