Karen Louise Starr, “Starr,” passed away peacefully in her sleep on Jan. 8, 2021. She had been at Cove’s Edge in Damariscotta for a short time due to her declining health.
Starr was born in Baltimore, Md. on Sept. 29, 1946. Her family moved to Florida when she was 9. When she was 20, she moved to New Mexico, where she lived for most of the next 50 years. Her health eventually required her to move to a lower altitude, and while she enjoyed spending the last few years with her daughter, son-in-law, and granddaughter in Maine, her heart was always in northern New Mexico.
Starr held a wide variety of titles and jobs over the years, from kindergarten teacher to Teacher Corps administrator, organic gardener and goat herder to interior design professional. When she was 7, a book about making dolls and doll clothes set her on a lifelong journey of sewing in many forms and the craft and creation of amazing works of fabric art.
She was predeceased by her parents, Katherine and Buddy Starr.
She is survived by her daughter, Dancer Jensen-Starr, son-in-law, Ben Frey, and granddaughter Eleanor Frey of Newcastle; sister, Donna Oakes of Arizona; brother, Albert Starr and Peg MacNicol and nephew Charles Starr of Oregon; sister, Mary Starr Smith of Nebraska; nephew, David Oakes and Amy Stoklas-Oakes and grand-nephews, Cam, Tevel, and Keefe Oakes; and by her many dear friends from New Mexico.
No services will be held, per her request, but those who knew her, please have a cup or three of black coffee and a story, or better yet a long, wide-ranging conversation, in her memory.
In the spring, her ashes will be placed under a tree in the New Mexico mountains.
Memories and condolences may be shared with the family at directcremationofmaine.com.
