This profile of Lila Wilde Berle captures the personality of a woman, who, as a Vanderbilt, was born into a life of wealth and privilege, but who was determined to forge her own path. Rejecting the strictures of high society, Berle became a staunch defender of the environment and a determined supporter of cultural institutions in her native Berkshire Hills of Massachusetts.
From the Judges' Report
This is a wonderfully written piece about how one alumnus slowly traded her cosmopolitan New York City life/upbringing for the pleasures of the country, becoming a farmer and important preservationist in the Berkshires. Through the lens of the subject, the story itself become a kind of quiet, thoughtful meditation on the search for (and discovery of) meaning.
