Peck Estate Trustees

Peck Estate Background Information

Cicero G. Peck’s adopted daughter, Lucy P. (Coleman) France, died February 16, 1934. Her will contained a provision similar to that of her adopted father’s failed will. The provision is as follows:

”... 6., B. I give, devise, and bequeath the remaining four-fifths of my said father’s estate to the Town of Hinesburg, in trust, and I direct that the income only be used for and toward the support of a high school in said Hinesburg, in which the pupils shall receive higher and more advanced instructions than is furnished in the primary schools of the town, and shall be free to all pupils of the town of such grade or grades as shall be fixed by the school board, and to which pupils from other towns may be admitted by paying such tuition as shall be fixed by the school board, but such tuition shall be used for the support of the school.”

The first mention of the Peck Estate was in the 1938 town report. It listed the trust as containing $13,673.06 as well as 29 shares of Howard Bank stock and 12 shares of Merchants Bank stock.

Under Vermont law, property held in trust by a town for a particular purpose is administered by three Trustees elected by the town.

Peck Estate funds were used on August 8, 1944 to purchase Leon E. and Maud T. Miner’s house. It was also known as the Andrew’s house. It is the house next to the Good Times Cafe in the center of Hinesburg village. The Trustees used the house as rental property, basically for Hinesburg teachers to rent. On June 1, 1979, the trustees sold the house. The Trustees held the mortgage on the property until it was paid off.

With the Andrew's house mortgage paid off and with the growth of the trust assets, the Trustees decided that professional management of the trust would be appropriate. In 2003, after two years of evaluation, the Trustees selected Hanson Investment Management (now Hanson & Doremus Investment Management) of Burlington to manage the assets of the trust. The current assets consist of cash in a money market fund, stocks, and bonds. The portfolio is held in a Charles Schwab account managed by Hanson & Doremus Investment Management.

Gill Coates, Clerk
Peck Estate Trustees
6 January 2015
 

NameTitleTerm Expires

Trustee

2024

Jennifer Wilkinson

Trustee

2026

Trustee

2025