Sarah Elaine Persons, 75, passed away Wednesday June 1, 2022, in Bonifay Florida. She was born in St Johnsbury, VT on September 13, 1946, to Angelina and Donald Carpenter. She married her high school sweetheart, Delano Persons, June 20, 1964. They had four children, Timothy, Thomas, Rebecca, and Roxanne. Sarah and Del eventually settled in Florida for the winter months and enjoyed time in Vermont during the summer.
Sarah was fearless. Whether it was traveling to third world countries, figuring out how to build a greenhouse herself, using a chainsaw, or making bridesmaid dresses there was nothing she wasn’t willing to do. She was a lifelong learner. She took local classes on anything that caught her interest, preserving food and outdoor cooking were two of her recent favorites. She researched every adventure she undertook. The perfect bee variety to pollinate her flowers, but not sting; what flowers would repel the bugs eating her vegetables; the advantages of different breeds of chickens, the best places to visit in the countries they traveled to.
And she loved to travel. She trained to be a travel agent in the 80’s so that she could visit some of the amazing places in the world. She and her husband, Del, managed to visit at least 28 countries and almost all of our 50 states and US territories during their 57 years together. In recent years road trips with her friends became a highlight of her Vermont visits. Getting lost on back roads was an adventure, not a mistake.
Gardening became her number one passion. She created flower and vegetable gardens that were a work of art. She used her love of research to build her own watering system that outwitted Florida's heat and engineered a gardening structure to support her corn that was gravity defying. She loved her fruit trees and made sure they survived both the Florida heat and frost. She often tried growing trees from the fruit seed. She found as much enjoyment in her failed experiments as she did her successes.
Sarah had a lot of hobbies and was always trying something new, but her family and friends were more important than anything else. She gave her time and her cookies as freely as she gave her love. Coffee clutches, neighborhood potlucks, spontaneous conversations and her genuine interest and love of others turned strangers into friends and many of those friends became family. Her grandchildren were her pride and joy, and she loved every minute she had with them. Her hugs were priceless, and her words of advice were often as funny as they were valued.
She touched the lives of everyone she met. Her kindness and compassion will never be forgotten.
Sarah is survived by her husband, three of her children: Rebecca Kinerson and husband Kevin, Roxanne Roberts and husband Jeremy, Tom Carpenter, and her granddaughters: Abriel Roberts, Madison Roberts, Cassandra Kinerson, Emma Kinerson, Hannah Persons, and Michaela Persons. She is predeceased by her son, Timothy Persons, her brother James Carpenter, and her parents.
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