• Courtesy Photo

Louisa Noble Drury died unexpectedly on May 12, 2021. Everyone called her Lou — friends, children and grandchildren alike. She was passionate about language, teaching and writing poetry. Lou grew up in Groton, Mass., graduated from Barnard College in 1951 with a double major in English and French, and then moved “temporarily” to Paris, France, in 1951, where she remained for over 16 years.

Lou helped launch the Paris Review and worked at the bookstore Shakespeare & Company on the left bank, where she met the New Zealand artist Harold Drury, who would become her husband. She worked for the Paris edition of the New York Herald Tribune, then at Time-Life International. She did translation, was a part-time secretary to Alice B. Toklas, and landed at the American School of Paris as an elementary school teacher. During all that, she also became a mother to three children: Carole, who currently resides in Greensboro, Vt.; John, who lives in Tavares, Fla.; and Kathryn, who lives in Plainfield, Vt.

The family moved to Stowe, Vt., in 1968, and Lou taught French, then English, in the Stowe public school system. After her retirement, she taught French at the Waldorf School, at the Mount Mansfield Winter Academy and to homeschoolers. She honed her method, “French Through Puppetry,” in afterschool enrichment programs and taught French to the elderly residents of Wake Robin retirement home.

Along with her three children, Lou leaves behind three siblings: Lawrence Noble Jr. of Connecticut, Alexandra Heller of Morrisville, Vt., and David Noble of New Mexico. She also leaves nine beloved grandchildren: Michael Drury, Jessica Drury, Elizabeth Drury, Kyle Leamur, Olivia Lombard, Amelia Drury, Meg John, Henry John and Bruno John. Her 10th grandchild is due on June 5, which would have been her 92nd birthday.