PAUL ROGERS

Independent Rep goes from logger to legislator

mr. Lipsky goes
to montpeLier
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 INTO THE WOODS Jed Lipsky in 2009. Lipsky worked as a logger in both Massachusetts and Vermont before moving to Stowe in 1999 where he set up his own

GLENN CALLAHAN
company, Blue Hill Logging, which he now operates with his son, Karl. Inset: Lipsky, front row, right, poses with teammates and opponents for a picture at the 2025
Hyde Cup hockey tournament. Opening spread: Lipsky and his partner, Alice Wilson, campaign for his second term in the Vermont Legislature at the Stowe
Independence Day parade in 2024.

“You could hear a pin drop,” is how Rep. Lisa Hango, R-Berkshire, remembers the
Vermont Legislature’s response to the “devotional” Jed Lipsky delivered at the session’s
opening on Feb. 26. The 150-member House of Representatives starts every session
with a prayer, message, or story, often offered by a local religious person such as a min-
ister, priest, rabbi or, as in Lipsky’s case last February, a House member.

S aid Hango, “It’s not unusual to hear members shuffling their

papers or chatting quietly during these devotionals, but once Jed
started telling his story, the House was quiet. It’s no exaggeration
to say that in less than a minute, he had us spellbound.”
Lipsky, 77, a Stowe-based logger who had just started his sec-
ond two-year term as a Vermont representative in Lamoille County, cast
“I was delirious and dying of dehydration. But Zem returned at least
two times a day to replace those bottles of dextrose. After a week or
more, my fever finally dropped from 107 degrees to 102. I’d lost over 20
percent of my body weight.”
Over the next few weeks, as he gained strength and began to recover,
Lipsky and Zem would talk about their lives. One day, while talking
his spell by telling members how he had nearly lost his life to a bout of about the troubles in the region, Zem blamed it on Jews, telling Lipsky,
cholera in 1973 while crossing the Nubian desert in the eastern Sahara “The Jew is not a human. They are born out of the root of the devil.”
Lipsky, a Jew, was shocked, but said nothing.
That evening a violent sandstorm erupted and
nearly blew down the hut where Lipsky was
recovering. “I covered my face with a wretched
sheet and somehow fell asleep after the glass bot-
tles of dextrose fell off the bed and crashed to the
floor. I awoke hours later to find Zem shoveling
and sweeping the sand off me and replacing the
bottles.”
Lipsky continued: “That was the moment I
decided I needed to tell him I was a Jew. It was a
risk, but if I was going to die, I wanted to die
with honor and speak truth to my guardian.”
At first Zem didn’t believe him. “No! You are
an American,” he insisted.
However, the next day Zem and a handful of
villagers began bringing small gifts to Lipsky’s
bruised and battered hut. “I remember one vil-
lager giving me an old dry orange, the only solid
food I’d had in 10 days,” Lipsky recalled.
“Another brought me an old bottle of Pepsi Cola.
Zem kept helping me to heal. He saved my life.”
Lipsky decided to tell this story to legislators
on his way to climb Mount Kilimanjaro. “My fever spiked, and my body to make a point that is especially relevant in these times of political
was convulsing. I was in the middle of nowhere. No doctors, no hospi- polarization and global discord. As he ended his devotional, he
tals, nothing,” he explained. “I was close to death.” explained: “When someone asks me the question, ‘Can you love your
As members of the House listened, Lipsky paused and added, “Then my enemy?,’ it’s neither academic nor rhetorical. The only reason I am here
guardian angel appeared. He was a Sudanese villager named Zem Ibrahim. today to share this with you is because Zem Ibrahim in 1973 loved his
He spoke some English, and said he believed I was dying and brought me enemy. To this day this lived experience has shown me the absolute
to his village. There, he and some friends dragged me into a tiny adobe hut importance of building genuine relationships and appreciating each per-
with palm fronds for a roof and made dozens of attempts to spike my arm son for who they are.”
with a needle to inject homemade dextrose to keep me alive.”

STORY : robert kiener | PHOTOGRAPHS : gordon miller

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 ©STOWE MAGAZINE, SUMMER / FALL 2025

INDEPENDENT STREAK From left: Jed Lipsky and Gov. Phil Scott, both standing, visit the von Trapp brewery in Stowe as part of the governor’s Capital for a Day
tour around the state. Lipsky, an Independent, stands in the House chamber with his son, Thomas, after being sworn in for his first term as a legislator in January
2023. Next page: Lipsky at the Vermont Statehouse in April.

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“ ed’s timing was perfect,” Hango said. “His story spoke to pre- Legislature. When I think about a definition of what a Great American
sent-day troubled international situations, as well as to what we is, I think of Jed Lipsky.”
need to do in this building to help political parties work together. “Jed tells it like it is,” added Stowe’s longtime car-repair maestro, fre-
You know, after Jed’s devotional, I heard more than one legislator quent local board member, and official “character,” Willie Noyes. “How
say we could learn something from his story about working many ‘blankety-blank’—pardon my cussin’—politicians can you say that
together. He’s making a difference here.” about,” said Noyes as he powered up a noisy air-driven drill to change a
While Lipsky’s dramatic tale of survival, love, and acceptance appar- set of snow tires at his busy shop on Weeks Hill Road.
ently resonated throughout the Legislature, it also offered a keen insight Noyes should know. It was Noyes, and a group of other Rimrock
into his background, character, and more. Much more. As longtime legis- Mountain Tavern regulars, who convinced Lipsky to run for the
lator Laura Sibilia explained, “Who knew? Who knew that Jed Lipsky Legislature in 2022. Said Lipsky, as I join him for coffee after he spent a
had such an amazing background? I know him fairly well. Like me, he is day of logging with his son, Karl, “A bunch of us was having drinks and
an Independent, and I have come to admire him during his brief time in dinner that summer and none of us was exactly thrilled with the
the House. But I had no idea he’d nearly lost his life on the way to climb Democrat who had announced he was running to fill Rep. Heidi
Mount Kilimanjaro. But there are so many amazing stories that just pour Scheuermann’s seat in the Legislature. He was a newcomer to town, and
out of him, and he is so unassuming.” many didn’t feel he’d been here long enough—or done enough—to rep-
Sibilia paused and let out a shy laugh, adding, “He’s a working logger resent Stowe in the Legislature.”
and I’ve seen him come to the House wearing his working boots with As the group sat at its regular corner window table in the crowded
sawdust on his pants. He’s the real deal, a salt of the earth working man tavern, someone asked Lipsky, “Well, Jed, why don’t you run against
and a fast-learning legislator who cares about his community and his him?”

constituents. We need more legislators like Jed.” “Me?” he asked as he put down his pint of hard cider. “I’m nearly 75
“Unassuming,” like “authentic,” is a word one hears time and time years old. I’m way too …” But before he could finish his sentence, Tom
again while digging into Lipsky’s career and character. Biddle Duke, the Ashworth piped up, “Well, Jed, I know when you’re on the ice, playing
former owner and publisher of the Stowe Reporter and much-traveled hockey, plenty of people say you’re as tough as nails. No way you are
journalist, remembered the first time he met Lipsky: “He is as real as too old.”
you can get; you don’t get a hint of B.S. from Jed. He is one of the best- It took him a few days, a slew of phone calls, and chats with his part-
read people I’ve ever met. You can talk to Jed about anything, from poli- ner, Alice Wilson, to convince Lipsky that he should run for the office.
tics to sports to world history to skiing to the best way to get your chain- He decided to register as an Independent because, as he said, “I thought
saw fixed or your truck up and running.” it would be liberating because I didn’t want to be beholden to party
Duke added: “Jed has worked hard his whole life and makes the bosses that could scold me or force me to vote with them. I knew that if
places he’s lived and the lives of the people he’s lived with better. He’s I won, I would place my constituents first and always vote my con-
led a life of service from working on school boards to planning boards to science. I suppose that independent streak has always been part of my
the Stowe Land Trust to coaching to much more, and now the Vermont DNA.”

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 CONSTITUENT SERVICES From left: Jed Lipsky chats up his seatmates at Stowe Town Meeting in March 2024. At the annual free Veterans Day breakfast put on
by students at Stowe High School to honor local U.S. Armed Services members. Lawmakers clap during a House session in April.

After a lively campaign, which included a “colorful” debate between know him well that you begin to realize: Here’s a logger who is as com-
Lipsky and his Democratic rival, Scott Weathers, the veteran logger won fortable quoting Sophocles or the latest New York Times nonfiction best-
the race to represent Stowe in the Vermont House by a vote of 1,386 to seller as he is talking about politics and chainsaws.”
881. (In 2024, he ran unopposed for his second term.) After a lifetime of logging, it makes sense that Lipsky would know
everything there is to know about chainsaws. But how does he explain

T
oday, as he remembered his first race, he admitted he was both the frequent praise from friends who extol how well read he is.
“terrified and humbled. Putting yourself out there, letting people “Books on tape and audiobooks,” Lipsky answered with a broad
say whatever they want about you, is a very scary experience,” smile. “They both changed my life. And now, podcasts. Thank God!”
he said. “I’d served on a lot of boards and commissions during

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the last half century but running for statewide office was a whole fter logging and living in both Massachusetts and Vermont,
new ballgame. After all, I was the least educated candidate in the race—I Lipsky moved to Stowe in 1999 where he built a home and
never finished college—and, well, let’s just say, I’m not that impressed established his own logging company, Blue Hill Logging,
with myself.” which he now operates with his son, Karl. (Another son,
After taking another sip of strong Green Mountain coffee, Lipsky put Lincoln, is an NCO with the U.S. Army’s Special Forces,
down his cup and made a confession. “There’s another thing. I have a abroad and his third son, Thomas, is a chef.)
reading disability. Always have. When I was a child in school in the As we talk, Lipsky pointed to his rugged Hoffman steel-toed logging
Berkshires my teachers called me “lazy.” But I wasn’t. I loved school boots and the layers of well-worn Johnson Woolen Mills shirts and vests
and wanted to excel. It turns out I had dyslexia. They just didn’t have a he is wearing. “Obviously, I’ve been logging this morning, and it’s
word, or a treatment, for it back then.” something I have always loved doing. I’m honored to have been able to

J Lipsky claims that working as both a legislator and a full-time logger whom have limited knowledge of the issues our forests are facing, can-
“keeps me young.” However, he admitted, while he is honored to be not see the forest for the trees. Some, for example, want to ban or
serving his constituents, the long hours—the House is in session from severely limit logging. Jed is well-placed to offer them an experienced,
January to late May/early June—mean he no longer has time for a cou- objective look at the importance of responsible forestry management and
ple of his favorite pastimes. “I used to ski bum race every Tuesday on stewardship. He’s the right person in the right place at the right time.”
Mt. Mansfield and play hockey with the senior league in Stowe. Had to Rep. Sibilia agreed. “Jed is adding the valuable, experienced voice of
drop that.” And Lipsky, like all House members, is not in the job for the loggers to legislative debates,” she explained. “It’s easy, in this building,
money—around $15,000 for the year. “I figure that comes to about $4 an to lose connections with the outside world and Jed helps us keep a foot
hour,” he joked. in reality. I have watched him speak truth to power as he stands up for
Throw in helping residents with problems that may arise, a catchall the logging and forestry industries as well as other topics. He always
responsibility called constituent services, and Lipsky has hardly any free puts his constituents first.”
“Looking back, I suppose my reading issues made me work harder make a living all these years from this ancient profession. I’ve often said time. He remembers the day, not long ago, when he had to rush from a When I recounted Sibilia’s comment, Lipsky seemed taken aback.
and become a stronger person. I remember watching my older brother it is the best job in the world, and I mean it. Every day in the woods you session in the Legislature to a woodlot staging area on Randolph Road After reflecting for a moment, he said, “Truth to power. That’s humbling.
Seth (now a well-known editor and author) excel at school and sail confront a challenge that needs solving. And, if you make a mistake, it where he had to “buck” timber he’d harvested into 8-foot log lengths for I can’t ask for much more than that, can I?”
through Harvard when I bumped along, graduating near the bottom of can cost you money—or even your life. It keeps you vital.” sale to a customer. “After we finished, I unzipped my logging jacket and

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my high school class and never finishing college,” he said. After surviving nearly being done in by a massive tree limb from an my buddy turned to me and said, “Good God, Jed! Look at you, you’re fter we finished another cup of coffee, I asked Lipsky a question
He blinks back a tear as he remembered. “It was tough. I wanted to American elm he’d sawed off as a 14-year-old, Lipsky has been extra still wearing your coat and tie from Montpelier.” that’s been on my mind for a while. “You almost died on your
make my parents proud of me. Those were tough times.” careful in the woods. Twelve years ago, while transporting a load of logs As the only working logger in the Legislature, Lipsky is thrilled that way to climb Mount Kilimanjaro. Did you ever make it to the
That drive, what he described as his “inner will” to excel, helped he’d cut on the late Alan Thorndike’s property in Stowe, Lipsky ran into he has been able to become a voice for one of Vermont’s increasingly famous mountain?”
Lipsky succeed at almost everything he tried. He learned to ski when his trouble when one of the logs on his skidder became wedged against a endangered industries. He was appointed to the House Committee on Lipsky smiled as he stood and adjusted his woolen ski cap,
father took him and his brother to Stowe throughout the 1950s and 1960s standing tree. Forestry, Food Resiliency, and Agriculture, where he often speaks up for “After nearly dying in Sudan, it took me more than two months to recov-
and he eventually became a nationally ranked Class A ski racer. He went “I jumped out of the cab, saw the tree tangled in the wheels and decided loggers and their role in preserving the state’s forests. er in a run-down hostel in Nairobi. But I eventually made my way to
to Ithaca College where he was the school’s star gymnast. He raced to do a relief cut. Big mistake. I made the cut, the log popped, snapped and “When I started logging, there were more than 535 sawmills in Tanzania. I was still a wreck. I finally made the 36-mile ascent of
motorcycles. He learned to play polo and got so good he was eventually shattered, then pinned me to the ground after breaking both my ankles. As Vermont,” he said. “Now we have less than 20. We can’t afford to let Kilimanjaro. It took me more than six days of exhausting hiking to reach
invited to prestige matches throughout the U.S., and he even played in I always do, I had my cellphone in my vest pocket. I called Thomas and this industry disappear. There are a myriad of environmental, climate the summit. Once there, at 19,000 feet, I could hardly breathe. But I
the all-Ireland polo championships in Dublin. He learned to ice skate at couldn’t reach him but left the message, “I’ve had an accident. I need your issues, and more that we have to deal with. Loggers, like foresters, have made it.”
41 and has played hockey ever since. Not bad for someone who still help. I’m going into shock and if I am unconscious when you get here, be had to become stewards of the forest to help preserve our vital resources “I should have died.” He paused for a beat. “But I made it.” n
describes himself as “insecure” and “a peasant.” sure to cut the log from underneath or it could kill me,” Lipsky recounted. and this industry. We must tell our story about our important role in
“Jed is far from being a peasant,” longtime friend and former college A short time later his son arrived, sawed him out of the death grip and doing just that.”
president Jack Kytle said. “He’s one of the hardest working people I’ve rushed Lipsky to the hospital. Seven months and 20 fractures later, he “Jed is a great advocate for Vermont’s forests,” Mike Snyder, former
ever met and is as smart as a whip. But he is clever enough, and humble was back at work. “Still,” said Lipsky with a sly grin, “I’d rather be in commissioner of Vermont’s Department of Forests, Parks, and
enough, not to lord that intellect over anyone. It’s not until you get to the woods logging than doing anything else.” Recreation, said. “He’s an educator. Sometimes, legislators, many of

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