BRANDON, Vt. — Maxine Dresser Thurston, 81, died Thursday, June 13, from injuries sustained in an automobile accident.
She was born in Andover, Dec, 9, 1931. She had a very big and caring heart for everyone and lived life to the fullest every day. She will be remembered for her kindness, generosity, understanding and wonderful, infectious laugh.
She was the daughter of Everett and Elsie (Sedgeley) Dresser. She grew up in Andover where she received her early education and graduated from Andover High School in 1949. Afterward, she attended the University of Maine in Orono, working her way through college as a waitress. She graduated as one of the first women to earn a degree in business administration, from the U. Maine, Class of 1953.
She married Harmon Franklin Thurston on June 12, 1954 in Andover. They lived in Medford, Ore., for a year, before returning back East to Massachusetts. In 1958, Harmon and Maxine moved to Brandon, Vt. She and her husband have owned and operated New England Woodcraft for 50 years in Brandon. Maxine had also been a substitute teacher at Otter Valley Union High School for several years in the 1960s and in the early 1970s, she ran a day care center in Brandon.
She was actively involved in many volunteer organizations over the years including the League of Women Voters, Hospice and the Brandon Food Shelf. She was member of the Brandon United Methodist Church.
Surviving is her husband, Harmon Thurston of Brandon; son, Lee and his wife, Susan, of Grass Valley, Calif.; daughter, Lynn Thurston and her partner, Janice Morong, of Phillips; son, Charles Thurston and his wife, Martha, of Brandon; son, Jeff Thurston and his wife, Michele, of Whiting; seven grandchildren, Everett, Pierce, Mackenzie and Emmett Thurston and Avery, Payton and Grant Thurston; her sisters, Joyce Birch of Glen Allen, Va., and Frances Kerchner of Wellesley, Mass.; and several nieces, nephews and cousins who also survive her.
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