Vicki Hendrickson
Adult Education’s Force of Nature
By Kathleen Downey
Vicki Hendrickson is a force of nature. The community whirlwind escorts me into her cramped office, with its walls adorned with images of all-things Newburyport, and settles behind her desk. As Director of Newburyport Adult and Community Education, she is excited to show me the newly printed Summer Camp for Grownups brochure with its cover design by local artist Alan Bull. Offering courses that are both fun and educational, Hendrickson hopes that the curriculum will pique and engage the interest of greater Newburyport’s adult citizens.
Though not a true townie, Hendrickson says, “People in the community have made me feel like a townie through the strong support they’ve given me.” Originally from Tennessee, Hendrickson recalls driving up the Eastern seaboard during the early 1980s with her author-husband Dyke Hendrickson; they made what proved to be a fateful stop in the Port. Strolling by Jabberwocky, the couple noticed Dyke’s book, Quiet Presence: Histoires de Franco-Americains en New England, in the bookseller’s window. While the prominence shown his book caught their joint attention, something else caught Vicki Hendrickson’s attention. “A group of older adults was standing in front of Richdale. I suppose you could describe these people as Newburyport ‘old-time characters.’ Some clearly could have used a little bit of help. Yet in the larger sense, they appeared very well cared-for,” she remembers. Rather than be eschewed because of their eccentricities, Hendrickson says that as she observed the interactions between the group and passers-by, a wonderful community spirit seemed to embrace and lift these individuals, eccentricities and all. “The incident spoke to me in a profound way. And I thought to myself, ‘What a special community who truly cares for all of its citizens.’”
Fast-forward to today, Hendrickson says that her years-ago observation of a group of older, eccentric townies, along with her background and experience in public television and a Master’s degree in Adult and Community Education, helped her to spearhead the Newburyport Adult and Community Education program. Courses run the gamut from yoga, dance, foreign language, writing, computers, and art—up to ninety courses during the fall and spring curriculums, says Hendrickson. Hendrickson herself has been both a teacher (she teaches drawing) and a student (belly-dancing is one of the more memorable courses she’s taken).
Passionate about learning, Hendrickson is positively effusive when talking about the Newburyport Lifelong Learning Lyceum, an intellectual offshoot to the Adult and Community Education program “The lyceum provides the forum and the stimulating discourse, led by an experienced educator, to learn about various topics,” Hendrickson explains. An avid lyceum student, Hendrickson just finished reading Samuel Beckett’s Waiting for Godot. “Oh, reading Godot as part of the lyceum experience was so much fun—as rollicking a good time as reading Harry Potter!” she asserts. The lyceum movement itself, says Hendrickson, has a historical footnote in Newburyport’s cultural history. According to an online historical record, the original Newburyport Lyceum was founded in 1829 and included 115 members who paid $2 for a season membership. Lectures were held at the Market House, where the Firehouse Center for the Performing Arts now stands, before the series relocated to the new town hall building in 1850.
Hendrickson’s intellectual curiosity and her love of literature extend to the Newburyport Literary Festival. Not surprisingly, Hendrickson is a founder. “I feel very proud that the city has embraced the festival, and I am thrilled that the festival is attended by so many talented writers who can help people rediscover the joy of reading,” she says.
But the true magic that touches Hendrickson is Newburyport herself. “Newburyport is a magical place,” she tells me. “The city is alive not only with intelligent, highly artistic, and gifted citizens. But we also have a lovely downtown, incredible culture, and such beauty that surrounds us, from Plum Island to Maudsley—and now our magnificent Rail Trail, which dazzles me every time I walk down it.” Hendrickson catches her breath, or perhaps she is just playing all these wonderful images in her mind’s eye. Then she asks, “How could anyone not be happy here?”
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Kathleen Downey is a contributing writer to Newburyport-Today if you are a “Townie” and would like to be interviewed by Kathleen, please let us know!
