UNION, Maine — Family, friends and strangers came together Thursday evening to paddle out on Crawford Pond to remember Sunshine “Sunny” Stewart on what should have been her 49th birthday.
Many of the participants left from the boat launch at Mic Mac Cove Family Campground, which helped organize the Paddle for Sunny. Many others joined from private docks around the pond.
A plaque was placed on 100 Acre Island where her life ended on July 2.
The Office of the Chief Medical Examiner in Augusta confirmed her cause of death as strangulation and blunt force trauma. Deven Young, 17, of Frankfort was arrested on July 17 and charged with the murder of Stewart. He is being held without bail and a status conference for his case is scheduled for Aug. 22.
But on Stewart’s birthday, the attention was on her life. People wore yellow clothing, brought yellow flowers, wore yellow wristbands and carried yellow balloons to honor her.
Stewart’s mother and sister participated in the event.
Kathleen Gilbert said she met Sunny for the first time nine years ago. Gilbert said Sunny taught her daughter everything about the hospitality industry. Then four years later, Sunny misdialed and got her phone looking for someone with the same name as her daughter.
That mistaken phone call led to Sunny being a mentor to Gilbert’s daughter.
“She taught her the trades. She taught her how to be an independent businesswoman, an entrepreneur, a tradesperson. They became very close friends,” Gilbert said.
Also at the celebration of life was Noknee Rich, who camps at Mic Mac. Rich did not know Sunny but wanted to help and so she made 50 yellow bracelets, which she handed out to people who arrived to join the kayak procession.
After the paddle, the people planned to meet at her camp site, near the boat launching at the campground, to share stories of Sunny.
A maritime celebration of Sunny’s life in Tenants Harbor at 10:30 a.m. on Aug. 10; a potluck reception will follow at Great Eastern Mussel Farm at 2:30 p.m. Another service is planned in St. John, Virgin Islands, where Stewart had worked for several years.
This story appears through a media partnership with Midcoast Villager.