Label
Gladys LaFlamme Colburn, c. 1945
Francis Colburn (1909-1984)
Burlington, Vermont
Oil on artboard
Museum Purchase, #2024.24.1
Gladys Marion LaFlamme was born in Bennington, Vermont on February 1, 1910, the daughter of Edward and Annette (Knapp) LaFlamme. In 1928 she graduated from Bennington High School and in 1933 from the University of Vermont with Special Honors in English. She went on to earn her Master of Arts degree from UVM in 1951, and in 1988 she was awarded an Honorary Doctor of Humane Letters from that institution. She received Resident Writing Fellowships from Yaddo Foundation of the Arts in Saratoga Springs, NY, and from the Huntington-Hartford Foundation in California.
She met her husband, Francis Colburn, at UVM and her job at Bennington College brought the young couple to Southern Vermont. An award-winning poet, Gladys published numerous articles, poems, and reviews under her maiden name, LaFlamme. With her dear friend, UVM professor and amateur printer Herbert McArthur, she published three books of poetry: Through Severing Winds in 1955, Poems in 1976, and Within Bounds in 1983.
In 1972 she received the Distinguished Service to the Arts award from Vermont Council on the Arts. She served as teacher of English and Creative Writing at Burlington High School and the University of Vermont, and as Mentor in Creative Writing at Burlington College. For several years she was the editor of Patterns, a national poetry quarterly. At the end of her life, she directed the Lake Poetry Workshop.