Jim Vanier Youth Fund Board

Jim Vanier, touched my life when I married Chuck Currier in August 2015.  Chuck Currier was one of Jim Vanier's life long friends, high School chums, sports teammates, and mutual 1970 graduates of West Lebanon High School.  Chuck and I would stop over and see Jim at the CCB many many times over the last 10 years of their lives.  I got to know Jim and the work that he did through Chuck's eyes, along with the stories of their childhood. 

My involvement with the Jim Vanier Youth fund is to honor the man that he was, what he gave to the community and to honor the meaningful friendship he had with my late husband.  I may not have been an Upper Valley girl, but my heart is here for the families and children of this community that Chuck and Jim loved. 

50 year friend of Jim. Chain gang protégée. Father of 4; grandfather of 10. Lawyer. Former Mayor.

I grew up in Lebanon, a family of 7 kids that my mother raised on her own, due to the early death of my Dad.  I started to go to the CCB when I was 10 years old and never stopped. Jim allowed me to use the CCB, at no cost, for the kids on weekends for clinics and skills for almost 40 years. Currently I still live in Lebanon, as a Controller for Blaktop/Twin State Sand & Gravel. If the CCB was not there for me, not sure how my life would have been.

Thank you Jim and Pat

I was born and raised in Lebanon from a family that is also entirely from Lebanon, His parents Glenn and Janice, as well as his Aunt's and Uncle's all grew up and went to high school with Jim Vanier. I spent a tremendous amount of time as a youth athlete at the CCB with Jim, as my parents knew there was no better place for him to be while they were at work. With Jim as a mentor, I went on to be standout basketball player for Lebanon HS and upon graduation continued my studies and basketball career at Colby-Sawyer College. I captained the college team and helped them win their 1st ever ECAC Men's Basketball Championship in 1998.

I have used many of Jim's morals and values in my professional career as a teacher, coach, basketball camp director, and role model for over 25 years in the Kearsarge Regional School District. When Kearsarge won their 1st ever State Basketball Championship in 2017, Jim was one of the first individuals to call and congratulate me. I still have that voicemail from Jim saved on my phone to this day and am forever grateful for having Jim in my life.

My connection to Jim runs deep and spans much of my life. I had the privilege of growing up with Jim as part of the Lebanon community—a generational kid of Lebanon, and the CCB was a place where so many of us grew up, learned, played, and built lifelong relationships. Jim became a mentor, someone I looked up to and learned from, and someone who had a lasting influence on the person I became. As life went on, our relationship continued to grow, and I was fortunate to know Jim not only personally, but also as a professional colleague. That full-circle connection from growing up alongside him at the CCB, to being mentored by him, to eventually working alongside him is something I will always treasure. 

It is an honor to be involved with the Jim Vanier Youth Fund and to help carry forward the values Jim lived by every day.  For me, this fund is deeply personal. It is a way to honor a mentor, a colleague, a friend, and a man who played such an important role in the story of my life—and of the Lebanon community.