On January 30, 1907, Mari Tomasi was born in Montpelier. Her parents settled there after moving from Northern Italy.

Tomasi wanted to study medicine, but upon the untimely death of her father, she became a teacher instead. That led her to publishing novels, editing the Montpelier Evening Argus and working on the Vermont Writer’s Project with Roaldus Richmond.

As part of that project, they conducted numerous interviews with granite workers and their family members in the quarry town of Barre. In 2004, a compilation of this work was finally published as the book, “Men Against Granite.”

Image courtesy the Vermont Historical Society.