Tom (Thomas) and Pickett Vial

For most people, a move to Westminster Canterbury follows a path of selling one’s home, downsizing, packing, and settling into the new space.  Not the case for Pickett and Tom Viall, who describe the last three years as a nomadic existence—winters in Florida, summers in their home in Montpelier, Vermont (until it sold last year) and then nowhere to go for those pleasant New England months.  A chance visit to Lynchburg led to the Vialls selecting WC as their next home.  While waiting for a cottage vacancy, they obtained temporary quarters in the area.  Now in a WC cottage, the nomadic aspect of their lives has returned with a two-fold situation—summer here and winter in Florida, with likely short visits to Vermont to see long-time friends.  

Pickett, more so than Tom, understands the “ins and outs” of moving and resettling.   Her father served in the United States Diplomatic Corps, giving her the opportunity as a child and teenager to live in South Africa, Mozambique, Libya, and Brazil.  She returned to the U. S. to enter Smith College in Northampton, Massachusetts.  Soon after graduating in 1970, Pickett moved to Washington, D. C., and for three years served as press secretary for Congressman Edward Derwinski of Illinois.   

Meanwhile, Tom grew up in East Providence and Bristol, Rhode Island, with his first extended time away being to Amherst, Massachusetts, as a student at Amherst College.  Upon graduating in 1970, he entered George Washington University in Washington, D. C., and received a law degree three years later.  During law school Tom worked on the staff of U. S. Senator Claiborne Pell of Rhode Island and for the U.S. Department of the Interior on its Indian Civil Rights Task Force. 

 Tom and Pickett met as college students at a college mixer and married in 1972.  They relocated to Vermont the following year, where Tom worked for a private law firm while he made his way through Vermont’s bar admission requirements.  During a subsequent career of some 35 years, he held positions with the Vermont Public Utility Commission and the Vermont Attorney General's Office.  When he retired, he was an Assistant Attorney General of Vermont , a position he held for 30+ years, the last 26 of which were with the Vermont Agency of Transportation.

During the early years of the Vialls’ residency in Vermont, Pickett worked as a training assistant for the National Life of Vermont Insurance Company.  Wanting more autonomy than this job offered, she went into business for herself as a stenographic court reporter.  In 1984, Pickett closed her business and went with Tom to London, England, where they lived for one year while Tom earned a Masters Degree in Public Administration and Public Policy from the London School of Economics and Political Science.  Once back in Vermont, Pickett devoted her time to volunteer activities with her strongest interest being with the Montpelier food pantry.

Both Pickett and Tom enjoy live theater and travel and regularly exercise by walking, swimming, and gardening; they look forward to continuing these interests at WC.   On a rainy day they can easily pass the hours reading.  Pickett also lists cooking and bridge as hobbies.  Until he was 67, Tom played ice hockey as a goalie in youth, high school, college, and adult hockey programs, and he ran the Capital Hockey Club in Central Vermont for more than 30 years.  Over the years, the Vialls have spent leisure time providing volunteer services at the Montpelier senior center and food pantry and plan to look for ways to continue those interests in Lynchburg.