TROY, Vt. (WCAX) – Roger Kennison and his son Bill have a sweet spot for their land, and for a certain structure the family owns in Westfield.
It’s a weather-beaten relic from the past. “Years ago, the sugarhouses weren’t all by the road,” Kennison said.
On a bumpy logging road surrounded by sugar maples sits the family’s old sugarhouse. Keniison figures it’s been here for at least 200 years. “It’s been here many, many, many years,” he said.
Reporter Joe Carroll: So, the horses would come up here?
Roger Kennison: Oh yeah… The old times, the old times, boiling the sap.
At least a century making maple syrup with the Kennison clan, with memories flowing like sap on a warm spring day. “We always burned firewood at the sugarhouse, that’s how we boiled the sap,” Bill said.
“My mother, all the donuts and all the food you can imagine,” said Judy Jenne, Kennison’s daughter, who at 12 even made a sign, “Wood is good.” “What you do for fun? We’re going to cut some wood and make some syrup.”
The sugarhouse has been long abandoned. A modern replacement is down the hill next to the road, but Kennison says it’s just not the same. However, his days of working with trees are far from over.
Judy Jenne: He’s 88 and a half years old.
Reporter Joe Carroll: And-a-half — you got to add that, yeah?
Judy Jenne: Yeah, oh yeah, the half counts.
Kennison’s job is keeping people warm, splitting cords of wood to feed their stoves this winter. Word of mouth and his word stacks up to many loyal customers.
Kennison used to split all of his wood at the sugar operation, but a while back, he moved it to his home for a very good reason. “He moved it to the house so he could be close to my mom so that she could see him,” Jenne said.
Roger Kennison: Dementia.
Reporter Joe Carroll: Kind of cruel.
Roger Kennison: Sure is.
Kennsion and Jeanine met when they were just kids. “Eventually, you see her lose her memory, and a little thing, and then it’s another little thing,” Kennison said. Their love, though, was crystal clear. “What you call way back then was love at first sight.” The couple were married for 65 years. Jeanine died two years ago surrounded by family.
Starting up the wood splitter, it’s time to get back to work. A lifetime of working with wood, and the 88-and-a-half-year-old has no intention of shutting down the splitter. “It keeps me going at my age. I feel good,” Kennison said. And that motto, “wood is good,” still holds true. “I had a good life.”