Obituary: Linda Henzel, 1950-2021 

• Courtesy Photo
• Linda Henzel

Born on September 23, 1950, in Ridley Park, Pa., to John and Leah Henzel of Philadelphia, Linda graduated from Lower Merion High School, then earned a BA from the University of Pennsylvania and an MS in natural resources planning from the University of Vermont. She moved to Stowe in 1981 to work in the family business at Miguel’s Stowe Away. She had career interests in dance performance and teaching, wildlife and watersheds preservation, and emergency planning and training.

Her performing career included opera ballet with the Philadelphia Grand Opera Company as member of the American Guild of Musical Artists. She performed with other dance and theater groups in Philadelphia and Vermont. She taught ballet and jazz in Stowe and the Vermont Conservatory of the Arts in Montpelier. She choreographed for Lamoille County Players in Hyde Park and Lyric Theatre in Burlington, for shows such as West Side Story, and was the fiddler in Lyric’s production of Fiddler on the Roof. Linda enjoyed singing in her dad’s church choirs.

She worked with the State of Vermont at the Department of Fish & Wildlife promoting the Nongame Wildlife Fund on Vermont tax returns and Conservation license plates. Later, working with foresters and biologists in the Agency of Natural Resources, she advanced public outreach and planning efforts for State Forests, Parks and Wildlife Management.

As coordinator with Lewis Creek Association for 10 years, she worked with Addison and Chittenden county teachers, students and volunteers in assessing water quality. She helped establish the Addison County River Watch Collaborative. She enjoyed training students in the Governor’s Institute for Science and Technology and the Huntington Conservation Commission in water-quality monitoring.

As a contractor, she assessed the Winooski River basin’s agricultural resources and assisted the Montpelier Conservation Commission with municipal forest resources plans. She served as adviser, board member and volunteer with organizations in the Capital City, her home for 20-plus years, including Friends of the Winooski River, Lost Nation Theater, North Branch Nature Center and Central Vermont Medical Reserve Corps.

She is survived by brothers Thomas R. Henzel of Philadelphia, Pa., and John Michael Henzel of Shelburne, Vt.; stepdaughter and husband Emma and Micah Tompkins of Kettering, Ohio; an aunt; an uncle; and many cousins, nieces and nephews. Her mother, Leah, predeceased her in 2016, as did her father, John, in 2020.

Funeral arrangements are by McCausland-Garrity-Marchesani Funeral Home & Crematory in Glenolden, Pa. Her remains will be interred in the family garden at Glenwood in Broomall, Pa. Please consider a donation in her memory to her favorite Montpelier organizations: North Branch Nature Center, Lost Nation Theater or Friends of the Winooski River; to Vermont’s Nongame Wildlife Fund; or to the Crohn’s and Colitis Foundation. A remembrance event will be planned for Montpelier in the spring of 2022.