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Goodbye, Ollie: A Eulogy For Vermont's Favorite Camel

Stacy Keglovitz
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Flickr
Ollie the camel, who delighted passersby on Route 7 for many years, died recently at the age of 17.

A question about a certain camel won in one of Brave Little State's recent public voting rounds. Sadly, our reporting did not go as planned.

Note: Our show is made for the ear! As always, we recommend listening if you're able.

Credit Elodie Reed / Vermont Public Radio
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Vermont Public Radio
Winning question-asker Julie Corwin, visiting VPR.

In January, listener Julie Corwin (no relation) joined the ranks of winning Brave Little State question-askers. Her question was: “What's the story behind the camel on Route 7 in Ferrisburgh?”

Julie said she would drive South on U.S. Route 7 occasionally, and “every time I passed by I just got happy.”

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She wanted to know the camel’s story. If our social media feed is any indication, you were curious about the camel, too. After Julie’s question won, you shared gifs of celebrating babies, Will Farrell doing an inverted fist-pump, and camel emojis. 

We were as excited as you were. But unfortunately, before we could answer Julie’s question, the camel died. His name was Oliver, or “Ollie,” and he died in late February. He was 17, which is a bit young for a two-humped Bactrian camel like him. 

Ollie's owner, Judith Giusto, is a fiber artist. According to a 2010 interview with The Middlebury Campus, she kept Ollie for his fur, alongside her herd of merino sheep, and an alpaca. When Ollie shed his coat, Giusto collected the fur, and sent it off to be made into yarn.

Giusto wasn’t keen to chat with us when we reached out. But we also asked you, our audience, to share your memories of the camel. And boy, did you love Ollie.

“When I was in nursing school, my friend Alice and I used to commute from Burlington all the way to Castleton,” said Emily Barry in a voice message. “On big test days we would always look to see if Ollie was out and if he was, it meant we were going to do well on the test."

“Route 7 just won’t be the same without Ollie,” said Jim Squires. “My wife Debbie and I are snowbirds, and whenever we return to the state we crank our heads to the right to look for Ollie. And we’ll be sad to know Ollie’s no longer there."

“He was really loved by a lot of people,” said Julie, our question-asker. “I think I saw when my question was up for voting, a lot of people really wanted to hear more about him, and people were sort of shouting out their love for him. So I think he will be missed and he was really, sort of, an icon.”

Rest in peace, Ollie. Vermont will miss you.

Brave Little State has support from the VPR Innovation Fund. Sign up for our e-newsletter here.

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Emily Corwin reported investigative stories for VPR until August 2020. In 2019, Emily was part of a two-newsroom team which revealed that patterns of inadequate care at Vermont's eldercare facilities had led to indignities, injuries, and deaths. The consequent series, "Worse for Care," won a national Edward R. Murrow award for investigative reporting, and placed second for a 2019 IRE Award. Her work editing VPR's podcast JOLTED, about an averted school shooting, and reporting NHPR's podcast Supervision, about one man's transition home from prison, made her a finalist for a Livingston Award in 2019 and 2020. Emily was also a regular reporter and producer on Brave Little State, helping the podcast earn a National Edward R. Murrow Award for its work in 2020. When she's not working, she enjoys cross country skiing and biking.
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