Calls late volunteer 'a woman ahead of her time'

To the Editor:

The New Milford Visiting Nurse Association wishes to remember, thank and express our admiration for Elizabeth "Libby" Porter, who died Jan. 9 at the age of 93, and who was a member of our board of directors for 57 years.

Libby was definitely a woman ahead of her time.

Born in 1918, coincidentally the same year the New Milford VNA was founded, she was one of few local women to have the opportunity to attend college.

She was a loyal alumna of Russell Sage College and kept up her affiliation with her alma mater as a member of their board of trustees and a volunteer for her entire life.

She was also decades ahead of her time in combining marriage, motherhood and a professional career in the insurance industry.

An active member of the First Congregational Church for more than 60 years, she was also a contributing member of many town and state organizations, including the Connecticut State Insurance Women's Association.

As a board member of New Milford VNA she served on many committees and as president from 1963 to 1968.

Reading through her annual "President's Reports," it was striking to see just how "Libby-like" they were. Three pages of thanking other people, by name, for their individual contributions to the agency, never tooting her own horn.

In her last address as president, she not only thanked the people in the agency itself (board, staff and volunteers) but also the Board of Selectmen, Board of Finance, school board, doctors, dentists, New Milford Hospital, numerous service organizations in town (by name), local churches and even the Garden Club.

Libby had intuitive knowledge of the big picture of what makes a community work well and was gracious and wise in her acknowledgments.

During her tenure on the board, so much was changing in the world of health care.

She was instrumental in gaining Medicare certification for New Milford VNA. This required learning the minutia of the accreditation process, understanding the regulations, meeting with state and federal officials and helping to educate our own board and staff regarding Medicare's importance to the growing population of senior citizens.

Under Medicare, we were able to begin to provide a much wider spectrum of covered services than had been previously possible.

She was also very supportive of the agency's branching out into Hospice services in 1983, a program that has served well more than 2,000 terminally ill patients in our seven-town service area.

One event, however, that filled Libby with the most pride was the receipt of a large bequest from the estate of Frank Harden, owner of Harrybrooke Park.

Expressing his gratitude for the services New Milford VNA had provided his late wife, Mr. Harden donated enough money for us to begin thinking about building a permanent home.

Wise investments on the part of the board came to fruition in 1974 when, after 56 years of renting, we opened our own headquarters on Route 202.

Libby was so pleased, the building was named the Harden Memorial after its main benefactor.

Though humble and always one to underplay her own contributions, she was fond of telling how she was "recruited" to join the NMVNA in 1945.

According to Libby, one of the ladies on the Board of Directors accosted her on Main Street, saying "Libby Knowles Porter, you will join the board of the Visiting Nurse Association."

Libby said, "And so, I did just that, and I was thrilled to be asked to serve."

When I myself was invited to join the New Milford VNA family more than 20 years ago, I didn't really understand exactly what the agency did or the scope of its services. Libby kindly took me under her wing, taught me so much, and always treated me as an equal, which I certainly never was.

She approached everyone with kindness and dignity and they tried to live up to her example.

Libby, thank you for your inestimable contributions to our agency. We miss you.

Mary Peitler

Coordinator

Community Education

Visiting Nurse

Association

New Milford