Memories of Kit

I was going through another pile of photographs recently and came upon a photo of Kit Coddington. There probably aren’t any folks left who knew him. He passed in 1978 or 1979. Just another good old car fellow who loved flea markets. I have a photo of him at a Stowe car meet flea market on the fridge. He was originally from NJ and settled in West Dover, I think it was. 

I was going to write a Softer Side article about cobwebs and was reminded of an evening many years ago when Kit and I were sitting on the porch watching a huge spider weaving a web. Why do I remember this is anybody’s guess, but we were. Kit was a smoker, so perhaps that is why we were sitting on the porch. He knew every second-hand and antique store in Vermont. His business took him all over the state. If I mentioned Kit’s name to any of the kids, they would talk about the “Spike Jones” evening at a camp that Kit rented every week after the Stowe Car Meet. It was on Lake Caspian, and it was one of those old two-story camps with lumpy beds, but everyone loved the place. 

Even though Kit usually was off working, the camp was open to everyone to sit, swim or stay. I always took the same week off from work so I could go up there on nice days to swim, although I didn’t spend the night. On the last Saturday of the week, Kit held a Spike Jones festival and had a potluck dinner and a lot of Spike Jones music. If you aren’t familiar with his music, it is weird but wonderful. Listen to his Hawaiian War Chant when you get a minute. Crazy. 

In Kit’s travels, he would pick up the ugliest piece of furniture that would fit in his truck and bring it to camp. One piece he picked up at someone’s yard sale was a small cabinet that someone painted an awful color and glued pieces of pasta of all shapes and sizes all over it, then sprayed the cabinet with glittery paint. Just awful but wonderful at the same time. He would leave these pieces at the camp with the OK from the owner. They would usually be there the next year. 

Once in a while we would walk along the shore to Willey’s Store to check on things there. Kit went to college in Maine but was a big fan of UVM hockey. He always bought 2 season’s tickets and would invite Gael or Joe Kaelin to go with him on Friday nights when they had home games. Gael wasn’t a big fan of ice hockey, but you couldn’t say no to Kit. He would stay at the house that night and bring a big jar of seafood chowder from some restaurant. 

Kit had some odd collections of things, one being vacuum cleaners and another, locks and keys. I do remember a Model T or maybe an A. I just remember it being black and going for rides in it with Pev Peake. Kit died unexpectedly when he was in an antique store somewhere in southern Vermont. A sad day but I have some wonderful memories of Kit. And his photo on the refrigerator.