HARMONY – Dora Catherine Stadig, 100, of Harmony died Saturday, Nov. 15, 2003, at Sebasticook Hospital in Pittsfield. She was born Aug. 28, 1903, at Grand River Settlement in St. Leonards, New Brunswick. She was the first of 12 children born to Alfred and Annie (Diamond) Byram. As a teenager Dora went to St. Francis to work for her aunt. In St. Francis she met and on Sept. 8, 1920, married Randolph E. Stadig. They had four sons and a daughter (one son died at age 3). The family lived in St. Francis until 1944 when they moved to Harmony. Dora was a homemaker, taking care of many of the chores and always maintaining a garden each year. She enjoyed knitting and sewing and hand made many beautiful quilts, which were often given as gifts. After losing Randolph to a fire in 1947, Dora worked at Bartlett Yarn Mill in Harmony and later at area shoe shops in Skowhegan and Harmony. Dora was active in the Harmony Rebekah Lodge for many years and the Harmony Grange. She helped the Harmony Free Fair as long as she was able. She attended the Harmony Baptist Church and was one of the founders of the Busy Fingers Club. She flew twice to Alaska to be present when two grandsons were born and she drove to Alaska in 1965 with her son to visit her daughter and family. Dora was presented the Boston Post Gold Cane in 1999 to honor her as Harmony’s oldest citizen. Survivors include a daughter, Althea Hughes and her husband, Kenneth, of Gakona, Alaska; three sons, Norman and his wife, Veneine, of Harmony, Francis and his wife, Mabel, of St. Albans, and Gerald Stadig of Harmony; three sisters, Ellen Magoon and her husband, Alfred, of Harmony, Ruth Watson of Weymouth Mass., and Ethel Taylor of Hartland; a brother, Delbert Byram of Brewer; nine grandchildren; many great- and great-great-grandchildren. She is predeceased by five sisters; two brothers, and a son. Visitation will be 6-8 p.m. Tuesday, Nov. 18, 2003, at Smart and Edwards Funeral Home, 183 Madison Ave., Skowhegan. Funeral services will be 2 p.m. Wednesday, Nov. 19, at the Harmony Baptist Church with the Rev. T. Izon officiating. Donations may be made in her memory to the Harmony Ambulance Service, care of Brian Bagley, Harmony, ME 04942
DORA CATHERINE STADIG
