Edna Louise Kemmerer 1915-2012 BENNINGTON, VT Edna Louise (Phillips) Kemmerer, age 96, a longtime resident of Bennington, died at the Vermont Veterans Home on Saturday, January 14, following a brief illness. Mrs. Kemmerer was born January 27, 1915 to the late George S. V. and Olive E. (Smith) Phillips in New York City, N.Y. She was married to Lorenzo (Larry) B. Kemmerer on July 27, 1938 in Jamaica, N.Y. the Kemmerers moved to Bennington in 1950. Edna graduated from Richmond Hills High School and Flatbush Teacher Training School. She taught kindergarten at Adelphi Academy (Long Island) and Mondorf School (Staten Island), and taught summer school in New York City. She was also an administrative assistant at the New York Stock Exchange. After moving to Bennington, she was employed at the A & P Supermarket and H. Greenberg and Son. Health care was an abiding passion for Edna. Her service with the American Red Cross started at age 14 in NYC and continued in Bennington. She had been a member for over 80 years. In Bennington she was a Red Cross Volunteer (Gray Lady) at Southwestern Vermont Medical Center and was chairman for many years. Edna was also very active in the local chapter and was chairman from 1982- 1984. She was a lifetime board member of the local Red Cross Chapter. Her service was recognized by numerous awards including the prestigious Clara Barton Award, bestowed by its then President Elizabeth Dole, in ceremonies at the national convention in San Antonio, Texas in 1984. Recognition ceremonies in Vermont were held in Montpelier, Vt., by then Governor Howard Dean. Edna coordinated the volunteers for bloodmobiles and was awarded the Edward R. Stearn Award by NH VT Region and the American Red Cross Blood Services, for her many hours of service. She continued her volunteer work as a Girl Scout leader for many years. She enjoyed working with the Civil Board of Authority at election time working at the polls and delivering absentee ballots. Mrs. Kemmerer was a member of St. Peter's Episcopal Church in Bennington and Mt. Anthony Chapter #1 and later Red Mountain Chapter #41 Order of the Eastern Star. Though her family and home were principal interests, she found time to pursue her hobbies of reading, sewing and embroidery. Edna is survived by a son and daughter-in-law The Rev. Stanley C. and Nancy (Harwood) Kemmerer of Burlington, Conn.; a daughter and son-in-law, Virginia M. and Edward W. Frechette of Goffstown, N.H.; and two grandchildren, Robert E. Frechette and his wife Kate of Strafford, N.H., and Martha C. Frechette and Ron Piecuch of Manchester, N.H. She was predeceased by her husband of thirty seven years in 1975 and her sister Kathleen I. Phillips on Bennington in 2000. FUNERAL NOTICE: A Requiem Eucharist will be celebrated at St. Peter's Episcopal Church in Bennington on Saturday, February 11, at 11 a.m. Interment will take place privately in the spring in Park Lawn Cemetery. Friends may call at the E. P. Mahar and Son Funeral Home, 628 Main St. Bennington on Friday evening, February 10 from 4: p.m. until 8. Memorials may be made to St. Peter's Episcopal Church, the Green Mountain Chapter of the American Red Cross, The St. Joseph Indian School, the Vermont Veterans Home or to ones favorite charity, though the Mahar and Son Funeral Home, 628 Main St. Bennington, Vermont 05201. Members of Red Mountain Chapter #41, Order of the Eastern Star are asked to meet at the funeral home at 6 p.m. to conduct services.


Published in Bennington Banner on February 8, 2012