LEBANON, NH — Penny J. Fletcher, known affectionately by family and friends as Carmen, died at home on 12/5/2020 due to pancreatic cancer. Carmen was just 4 days shy of 78 years old.
Born in Denver Colorado to a military family Carmen was skilled at making friends and adjusting to new places. She married at 18 yrs to Lincoln Fletcher who came from a close knit family. They had 2 children, Douglas Fletcher and Carie Fletcher who will miss her dearly. In December of 1974 Carmen took her daughter Carie and left the Fletcher family to escape a difficult marriage and to avoid having to move with the family to a rustic ranch in rural California. After a 7 day cross country train trip Carmen and Carie arrived in Vermont and stayed with her only sibling Jane Sherwin in Norwich, Vermont. The environment was dramatically different from temperate California and Carmen and Carie adjusted to wood heat, hippy roommates and the challenges of building a new life on their own.
While in this house Carmen began a relationship with Bill Drake, who would turn out to be her closest friend and adopted family for decades to come. While Carmen worked at Dartmouth as an administrator, Bill convinced her to go into the real estate business. For years she was known to walk around the streets of WRJ in her corduroy overalls collecting rents.
With her daughter off at college Carmen resumed her undergraduate education as an Ada Comstock Scholar at Smith College. Later she moved to New York City and completed a Masters degree in Social work at Fordham University. She had numerous adventures while living in NY and loved her time there.
Food played a large role in Carmens’ life. Boy could she cook! She spent hours reading cook books and planning meals to prepare. She was a voracious reader, enjoyed learning about history, politics, and the arts. She was intellectually curious and was an entertaining conversationalist. Her sense of humor was always spot on and came out at unexpected times often softening a tense situation or mood. She was generous that way.
Moving back to the Upper Valley in the 90’s Carmen began learning to paint. She took classes and made painting a huge focus of her life. This love of art led her to connect with other artists and over the years her network of close connections flourished. She took many trips with this group of friends. The beauty of the locations they visited and the comradery she shared brought Carmen great peace in her final days.
As a lifelong democrat Carmen was relieved to know that Joe Biden won the 2020 election.
In the end Carmen expressed that she’d lived a good life and that she felt loved by and connected to many friends and family. She is survived by her adult children, her grand daughters Cierra and Kaden Fletcher and Sophia Harrell, her grandson Christopher Harrell, her niece Debora Fletcher and her grand nephew Colin Fletcher-Schmidt of CA.
A memorial will be held via Zoom at a future date. In lieu of flowers, donations to Bayada Hospice can be made in her name at PO Box 1590 Norwich, VT, 05055.