Wednesday, September 14, 2022
I met Sandy B in February 2011 at the Vermont Dept of Financial Regulation. I was the insurance deputy before I was commissioner and was told that Sandy B was a tough cookie—especially when it came to the budget. In fact, her nickname was Dr. No. Now, we had a fridge in the kitchen that was an old wreck. Barely kept food cool and the freezer was busted. I asked why haven’t we either gotten the old thing fixed or bought a new one. The answer, I was told, was that Sandy B said “no” — it was too expensive to fix and too expensive to have it removed and too expensive to buy a new one. But, we were encouraging our employees to bring in their lunch and eat more healthily. A working fridge was a good idea. So, what to do? Well, I knew Sandy was going on a 2 week vacation soon, so I waited til she was gone, had someone go over to the local appliance store and have a very basic discounted floor model fridge delivered immediately and take the old one away. Of course, she would find out when she saw the invoice but the dirty deed was done. She returned from vacation, no one said a peep about the fridge, but she made her rounds and saw the new unit. When I got to the office that morning she “greeted” me and I said “so you know, huh?” She nodded and I said “I figured, better to beg for forgiveness than ask for permission. And we got a discount!” She burst out laughing. We had a lot of other laughs. She was a character.
Godspeed, Sandy B.
Susan Donegan
Montpelier, Vermont
