ARTIST KEEPS THE MEMORY OF 'The GOAT LADY' ALIVE

Aug 17, 2018   

By Chloe Shelford  

When Jane Bregoli moved to Dartmouth in 1988 to get her master’s degree in painting from the University of Massachusetts Dartmouth, she didn’t know anyone in town. But a house on the corner of Lucy Little Road she passed each morning caught her eyes because it was surrounded by goats.  She was intrigued, and when she had to make ten paintings on a subject, she decided to ask Noelie Houle — known around town as "the goat lady" — if she could paint her. To her delight, she said yes, and they began a deep friendship.  Bregoli’s paintings were well received, and she went on to write and illustrate a book about Noelie. She also taught art in public schools for twenty years, and worked on other projects, including etchings, work in ceramics, and oil and watercolor paintings that tackle social themes.  Since retirement, Bregoli has been able to revisit older works that she did not have time for during her working life, and happened upon a number of unfinished drawings and paintings of Noelie Houle.  “I’m bringing those works into the light, so that other people can experience them,” Bregoli said. “They aren’t just memories anymore.”  The image and story of Noelie Houle’s life has continued to live on through Bregoli’s work, even though Houle passed away in 1993. Bregoli has even been invited to Houle family reunions in Canada, where Houle grew up. Houle, the youngest of ten children, was born in 1899 in French Canada. She moved to Dartmouth, following her sister, and worked at a corset factory. She married a local man and they eventually moved to his family’s farm at the intersection of Chase Road. and Lucy Little Road.  When Houle developed arthritis as an older woman, there was no medication to treat the condition. A doctor recommended that she buy a goat and drink its milk. She told Bregoli that when she first got the goat she was almost bed-bound by her arthritis pain, but within three months of getting the goat, she was able to work again. Grateful, she began raising goats — and at one point owned as many as 90. When she had too many goats, she donated them to Heifer International, an organization that provides poor people with livestock.

From "Little Big Minds"

Sharing Philosophy with Kida

by Marietta McCarty

"Read The Goat Lady by Jane Bregoli.  In 1998 the author and her children met Noelie Houle, a French Canadian woman born in 1899.  Noelie seems odd and mysterious to most of the townspeople in Dartmouth, Massachusetts, because she keeps goats in her yard, dresses funny, and lives in a farmhouse with peeling paint.  The curiosity of Bregoli's children, who move in next door, develops into a loving friendship with this white-haired woman who donates her goat's milk to needy families and some of her herd to the Heifer International Project to provide milk and cheese around the world. Bregoli tells this story from a child's perspective, and it is terrific to read aloud, showing the illustrations to your child philosophers as you go along.  In their philosophy journals, have the kidsexplore the lessons they learn from this true story, the examples of Noelie's compassion and the kindness of the two children and their mother, and how they think the Dalai Lama would respond to Noelie."        page 271