Sister June Carpenter, one of the last members of the only remaining community of the Shaker religious movement, died Tuesday.
Carpenter had been struggling with health problems and limited mobility, according to an announcement from the Sabbathday Lake Shaker Village in Maine. She was 88.
Carpenter was one of two longtime members of the Sabbathday Lake community of Shakers in New Gloucester, Maine, along with Brother Arnold Hadd. A third member joined the community last year, Sister April Baxter. A novice, Mac Imes, joined earlier this year, according to Sabbathday Lake.
Sabbathday Lake is the last active community in what was once a constellation of Shaker sites founded by the celibate religious movement in the 18th and 19th centuries.
A trained librarian, Carpenter was credited with organizing and cataloging the village’s extensive collections of history, writings and other records, making them more accessible to researchers. This ensured “that the Shakers’ remarkable legacy could be studied and understood for generations to come,” the announcement said.
Born in Boston, Carpenter received a master’s in library sciences from Simmons College and worked as a librarian. She visited Sabbathday Lake in 1988 for the dedication of its library and volunteered to help organize its catalog.
She immediately made an impression. Sabbathday Lake’s announcement quoted its curator, David Richards, as saying: “If the meek are to inherit the earth then she will get the whole thing.”
She joined Sabbathday Lake as a member in 1989.
The Shakers are a celibate Christian movement and an offshoot of the Quakers. Officially the United Society of Believers in Christ’s Second Appearing, they were founded in the late 1700s by Mother Ann Lee, a visionary immigrant from England.
By the early 1800s, thousands of adherents lived in Shaker communities across multiple states. As with many early American utopian communities, their ranks diminished after the Civil War, but a small band of Shakers has persisted at Sabbathday to this day.
The Shakers’ influence in the wider culture persists in the legacy of their artfully simple furniture and architecture and in their music, especially the popular melody “Simple Gifts.”
Over the years, Carpenter also enjoyed working in the village’s gardens, visiting fellow Shakers in nursing homes and taking care of birds and cats in the village.
“Sister June will be remembered for her steadfast faith, her kindness toward all living things, and her dedication to the Shaker way of life,” the announcement said.
Smith writes for the Associated Press.
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