AUGUSTA – Katherine, known as Kay, passed gently, July 16, 2022, in her sleep at home after a brief period of declining health. For the past ten years she was cared for by her daughters, living to the age of 105 with grace and quiet fortitude. She recently told family that she had lived a good life.

Kay was born on April 10, 1917, at home on the family farm in Merrill, Maine to parents Jasper and Myrtle Stevens. She was the only daughter and enjoyed being adored by her parents and grandparents alike. She and her brothers, John and Laurel, were raised in a family of faith, love, resiliency and hard work.

Kay graduated from Merrill High School at 16. Following graduation, she attended Normal School, earning a teaching certificate. She continued her education at Aroostook State Teacher’s College (now UMPI) in Presque Isle. Upon graduation, she taught in one room schoolhouses near the family farm and then on Bolton Hill Road in Augusta. While teaching at the Bolton Hill School, she boarded at Mountain View Farm with the Degon family where she met her future husband, Elmer.

Kay and Elmer married in 1942 and enjoyed 68 years of marriage prior to his passing in 2011. They lived for a while in California during WWII but returned to Maine where they raised their family of five children. As a family they enjoyed camping trips and travel. They traveled extensively in the United States and Canada and made two trips to Europe.

Kay enjoyed a 25 year career with the State of Maine Department of Health and Welfare (now DHHS).

Kay was an avid reader, accomplished seamstress, phenomenal cook and gardener, and enjoyed needlework. Late in her life she took watercolor painting classes.

Kay was a woman of faith and was a stalwart member of Penney Memorial United Baptist Church from the 1940’s, where she served on the Board of Deacons, taught Sunday School and served on several other committees. She was active in the Grace Guild and Mother’s Club.

Kay was predeceased by her husband Elmer; her parents infant brother Donald, brothers John and Laurel, and their spouses, Anne and Phyllis.

She is survived by her five children: son Robert (Carol), daughters Mardi Ridlon, Jane Martin (Denny), Margaret Degon Carr, and son Steven (Helen); nine grandchildren; 13 great-grandchildren; as well as several nieces, nephews and cousins.

The family would like to thank MaineGeneral Hospice and Maine Dartmouth Geriatric Medicine for their care and support these past few months. You helped provide Mom with a peaceful passing and enabled her family to keep her at home. For this we will always be grateful.

Katherine’s visitation will be at the Knowlton and Hewins Funeral Home, 1 Church St. Augusta on Wednesday, July 20, 2022, from 1 to 2 p.m. Her funeral service will follow visitation at 2 p.m. Relatives and friends are respectfully invited. A private family burial will take place at Maine Veteran’s Cemetery Mount Vernon Road, Augusta, where Kay will be laid to rest next to her husband.

Arrangements are in the care of the Knowlton and Hewins Funeral Home, 1 Church St. Augusta, where condolences, memories, and photos may be shared with the family on the obituary page of the website at http://www.khrfuneralhomes.com

Mom asked that the following line of scripture be included at the end of her obituary. Psalm 34: verse 8 “Taste and see that the Lord is good; blessed is the man who takes refuge in him.”

In lieu of flowers,

please consider making a contribution in Kay’s memory to something you hold dear



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