Verna L. Dunn, age 101 and proud holder of the Boston Post Cane in the town of Enfield, New Hampshire, gently passed from this earth on May 18, 2021 at the Jack Byrne Center for Palliative and Hospice Care in Lebanon.  Born to Franklin Leach and Stella (Bouck) Leach on December 23, 1919, at Sunset View Farm on Choate Road in Enfield, she was the youngest of four sisters.

Up until a fall on April 30, following which her health deteriorated, Verna lived independently in a second floor apartment at Prospect Pines.  She felt that walking up and down the stairs several times a day was good medicine for her.  Until the week before she was injured, she volunteered every Saturday as the cashier at the Enfield Methodist Church Thrift Shop.

Verna never drove, but she had a knack for getting wherever she wished to go!  At her family’s insistence, she finally installed an answering machine, as it was difficult to ever find her at home.   She was always busy, whether it was playing the piano, making quilts, her delectable filled cookies or apple pies, gardening, reading books about the Amish, or doing crossword puzzles.  

At one point, she wrote regularly in her lovely penmanship to over 100 pen pals in many countries throughout the world.  She maintained her love of correspondence until her illness, much to the delight of her family and friends.

Throughout her many years, Verna found time to serve as a 4-H leader of the Lilac Lassies in sewing, be a member of the Enfield United Methodist Church and the associated Hannah Circle, and to attain the sixth degree in the Grange organization.  She was an active volunteer at the Mascoma Area Senior Center, earning the Joseph Vaughn Award for volunteerism in Grafton County in 1990.   

She was the oldest member of the Lebanon American Legion Auxiliary, Unit 22.  Through this organization, she helped to prepare cards and care packages for deployed troops.   Verna worked at Webster’s Store in West Canaan for 15 years and served as the Coordinator of the Opportunity Center in Canaan.

She attended the Jones Hill and East Hill one-room schoolhouses in Enfield through eighth grade, sometimes being transported by sleigh or cross-country skis.  She did not attend high school, as her doctor advised that she was “too frail” to do so.  In December 2015, Verna was awarded an honorary diploma by the Mascoma Valley Regional High School for her life-long learning.

Verna was predeceased by her parents and by her sisters: Frieda Clifford, Alice Neily, and Doris Buzzell; her daughter-in-law, Nancy (Manville) Dunn; a nephew, James Clifford; two nieces: Gail Lemere and Jeanne Fifield; and a grandnephew, Mark Clifford.  

She is lovingly remembered by her children, Judith (Ronald) Evans of Andover and Gerald Dunn of Lebanon, as well as her grandchildren Ronda (Richard) Young of Moultonborough, Karen (Thomas) Schwendler of Wilmot, Everett (Jennifer) Evans of Exeter, Christine Gaynor of Lebanon, and Douglas (Jonathan) Dunn of Nashville, Tennessee. She  also leaves behind seven great-grandchildren, 10 nieces and nephews, grandnieces and grandnephews, and great-grandnieces and great-grandnephews, as well as a multitude of dear friends. 

A graveside service was held on May 25 at the Wells Cemetery in Canaan. Calling hours and a memorial service will be held at a later date.

Memorial contributions may be made to the Hannah Circle of the Enfield United Methodist Church or the Mascoma Area Senior Center.

An online guestbook is available to leave a message of condolence for Verna’s family by visiting RickerFuneralHome.com.