AUBURN – Sudie Lee Vachon, 93, of 81 Paradise Road, Bethel, died Thursday, Dec. 30, at the Odd Fellows and Rebekahs’ Home in Auburn after a short illness.

She was born in Aiken County, S.C, on Jan. 6, 1911, the daughter of Lafayette and Minnie Lewis Gunter. She was educated in public schools of the county and by tutors on the staff of the cotton plantation owned by her family.

She established an early interest in plant culture, especially flowers, and in the study of birds, subjects which were reinforced in knowledge during her entire lifetime. Interestingly, this unusual choice of interest provided her first opportunity for gainful employment by appointment on the staff of some of the leading resort hotels in Georgia, New York, and the White Mountains of New Hampshire, in charge of flower arrangements. She built a reputation of one who could make anything grow.

As the years went on, she shared her talent freely among the institutions, organizations, churches, societies and schools of the community, especially during the many years she was associated with Gould Academy and assumed responsibility for the flower arrangements for the school’s special events as the headmaster’s wife.

With her love of nature, she also enhanced her knowledge of bird life and derived her greatest pleasures from watching them at her variety of feeders, at the bird bath, in their nesting habits and at play. She could identify each specie by sight or by call. It was not unusual to have her interrupt a conversation in the midst of her garden by a comment such as, “hark, hear that cardinal calling” as the bird paused briefly in a neighboring tree to signal a last stop before arriving at the feeder.

On June 6, 1931, she married Edmond J. Vachon and together they celebrated their 70th wedding anniversary on June 6, 2001. He died in September of 2001.

She was very active in community affairs, a member of the West Parish Congregational Church UCC and its Ladies Circle, an honorary and life member of the Bethel Historical Society with 14 years service as chairwoman of the Garden Committee, and an active contributor to the Oxford County Extension Service.

In September 1988, the Bethel Historical Society presented her with the Marjorie MacArthur Noll Volunteer Service Award for outstanding volunteer service to the society.

She traveled extensively abroad. In 1963, she joined her husband who was already in Europe participating in seminars in Comparative Education sponsored by the U.S. Department of State. Together they retraced the steps of the advancing Allied Forces from England to Germany during World War II.

She is survived by one son, Paul Vachon, and his wife, Arlene, of Turner; two grandsons, Jason Vachon and his wife, Katy, of Albany, N.Y., and Ryan Vachon of Falls Church, Va.; as well as many nieces and nephews.

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