Charlotte Eunice Miner Stevens

Charlotte Eunice Miner Stevens, 85 of Sutton, Vermont passed away peacefully in her home, surrounded by family on December 6, 2023. Charlotte was born August 13, 1938 to Donald Hayze and Della Mae Kenfield Miner of Morristown, Vermont and later grew up in Sebago Lake Village, Maine. The eighth child of sixteen, Charlotte learned to grow and preserve vegetables and manage a large household from her mother, who was lauded by her friends and neighbors as worthy of “Maine’s Mother of the Year,” in a 1949 article. 

Charlotte attended Standish High School, graduating in 1956, and studied at Nasson Teachers College for two years. After a year in Hartford, Connecticut, she finished her bachelor’s degree at Farmington State Teachers College, in 1961. There she met her lifelong friends, Patricia and Dean Stearns, who were maid of honor and best man at her wedding in August of 1961. 

In the 60s and 70s, she was a dedicated kindergarten and elementary school teacher in Maine and Alaska. Over the years, she taught many children to both read and love learning–whether in the classroom or her Sebago home preschool, “Charlotte's Web.” Her talents were many–cultivating and sharing her vegetable gardening skills with her three girls, designing custom draperies, sewing her daughters’ clothing (often making matching outfits for their friends), and creating a magical Christmas every year, filling hand-knit, gigantic stockings to overflowing! In her retirement years, she cared for and doted on her grandchildren, lovingly tended her beautiful and extensive perennial gardens in Newark, Newport, and Lyndonville, Vermont, and dabbled in photography. 

Charlotte’s last year of life was spent living with her daughter, Gwen and her family including Mookie, the dog whom she adored. It was here where she awoke to a view of Burke Mountain framed in brilliant sunrises and dusted with blankets of snow. She basked in the sun, watched for rainbows from her deck, enjoyed the flowers, hummingbirds, and butterflies that touched her life, crafted with Amanda (AJ), and never missed the chance to tour the countryside, leaf peeping with Gwen and Heidi. She passed on her grit and humor and love of family to us all. 

Charlotte is predeceased by her parents; her former husband, James Elwood Stevens; and her siblings Glenna Boothby, Newbern (Bud) Miner, William (Bill) Miner, Donald Miner, Sandra Foster, and Margaret (Peggy) Miner.

Charlotte’s surviving family members include her three daughters and four grandchildren: Amanda Jane Stevens Milligan, her husband Dwight of Mims, Florida; Gwen Stevens Van Dine, her husband Justin, and son Cody of Sutton,Vermont and son Forest of Bozeman, Montana; and Heidi Mari Freeman, her husband Justin, and their two daughters Iris and Sage of Hanover, New Hampshire. Charlotte is also survived by nine siblings: Shirley Miner Erickson, Beverly Miner Bustin Hatheway, Ruth Miner Cox, Malcolm Miner, Gene Miner, Ronald Miner, Marilyn Miner Wood, Frederick Miner, Joanne Miner, and their many children and grandchildren.

A celebration of life is planned for the Summer of 2024.

Memories and condolences may be shared with family at saylesfh.com.