Drusilla Fielding Stemper, of New Harbor, passed on peacefully in her sleep on Jan. 25.
Born May 12, 1912, she was the first baby born in the Lawrence Memorial Hospital in New London, Conn. The daughter of Frederick James Fielding and Elizabeth Martin Fielding, Drusilla graduated from the Williams Memorial Institute (WMI) at age 16 in 1928 and from Connecticut College for Women (now Connecticut College) in New London, Conn. in 1932. In her junior year she was honored as a Winthrop Scholar, a program initiated prior to the college s eligibility to confer the Phi Beta Kappa on students.
Upon graduation, she moved to Hartford, Conn. where she became a secretary at the Traveler s Bank and Trust. In later years, she returned to Connecticut College to be secretary to Presidents Katherine Blunt and Rosemary Parks.
Dru had a distinguished and memorable career as secretary to Presidents Coles and Howell of Bowdoin College, retiring in 1978. In 1978, she was made an honorary member of the class of 1958 at their 20th reunion.
In the fall of 1978, she married Herman Stemper and enjoyed a happy life of travel and a loving relationship until his death in 1992.
Dru was an active member of the United Methodist Church in New London, Conn., Damariscotta and Round Pond. She was always generous in giving to countless charities and causes. She made a gift to the Damariscotta Methodist Church of permanent white siding. At Connecticut College she set up a scholarship fund to go to a New London, Conn. student in memory of Frederick and Elizabeth Fielding, her mother and father, who had been willing to sacrifice that she might go to college. In recent years, her health restricted her activities but she remained a thoughtful and caring individual, always expressing appreciation to those who cared for her.
Mrs. Stemper is survived by sisters, Elizabeth Fielding of Oxon Hill, Md. and Ruth Fielding Henard of Boulder, Col.; brother-in-law, Ralph Henard; nieces, Joy Henard Bettencourt of Norfolk, Mass., Myrna Fielding Edgecomb of Waterford, Conn., and Linda Fielding Parker and husband Bob of Salem, Conn.; and nephews, Bruce and Paul Henard of Boulder, Col., Robert Fielding and wife Nancy of Waterford, Conn., and Tom Fielding and wife Peggy of Sandy Hook, Conn.
A Book of Memories of Dru is going to be compiled and anyone wishing to contribute anecdotes should send them to Ruth Henard, 3110 Endicott Dr., Boulder, CO 80305.
A service to celebrate her life is planned at her home in New Harbor close to May 12, 2008, the date on which she would have been 96 years old.
Arrangements are entrusted to Strong Funeral Home and Cremation Center, 612 Main St., Damariscotta.
