By Mark LaFlamme,Staff Writer

LEWISTON – The people who saw her the most knew little about Marie Sturtevant. She lived alone on Simard Avenue and did not come outside very often. Still, her mailman and at least one of her neighbors kept an eye on her.

The 65-year-old retired Army nurse was found dead Tuesday night, when police forced their way into her house to check on her. It was believed she had been dead for six weeks.

“I’ve been noticing that her mail was accumulating,” said mailman Mike Nadeau. “I knew something was wrong.” That wasn’t immediately evident to him, because her house has a mail slot in the door.

The cause of death was not disclosed. Police said Sturtevant had a history of heart problems and that her doctor signed the death certificate.

Around the corner from Sturtevant’s 10 Simard Ave. home, Tom Fredericks said he had not seen his neighbor in recent weeks. It did not seem unusual, because Sturtevant did not venture out much and she did not socialize, he said.

“The last time I saw her was the Thursday after Christmas when she was carrying some trash bags out of her house,” Fredericks said. “We barely saw her.”

Still, in the quiet neighborhood between Lisbon and Pleasant streets, neighbors watch after one another. Fredericks said Sturtevant kept care of the flowers in her yard, but sometimes didn’t have her lawn mowed. One summer, years ago, the grass grew 2 feet tall.

“Nobody showed up to mow it, so I went over and did it myself,” Fredericks said. There was no reaction from Sturtevant.

One day, Fredericks knocked on her door and asked if he should keep mowing it. She agreed and began paying him $20 for the task.

“I mowed her lawn for three years,” Fredericks said. “She’d bring me out a cup of coffee.”

Neighbors said she was reclusive, a woman who kept her doors locked at all times and used deadbolts to secure them.

“I’ve been delivering her mail for more than 20 years,” Nadeau said. “And I talked to her maybe six times.”

Still, details about her life did emerge. Sturtevant served as a nurse in the Army during Vietnam, earning the rank of captain. She, Nadeau and Fredericks’ brother each served in the same area around Cam Rahn Bay, north of Saigon, in the late 1960s.

“It’s pretty amazing,” Nadeau said.

According to her obituary, Sturtevant graduated from St. Dominic’s Regional High School in 1959 and later received a bachelor of science degree from Boston College and a master’s degree in nursing from Catholic University in Washington.

After serving four years in the Army, Sturtevant returned to Maine where she was a nursing instructor for many years at St. Joseph’s College in Standish. According to the obituary, many of Sturtevant’s remaining relatives live out of state, although she has a sister in Lisbon and an uncle in Lewiston.

In the Simard Avenue neighborhood, Fredericks and Nadeau wondered what would happen to Sturtevant’s house.

“Hopefully,” Fredericks said, “there will be someone to help take care of her flowers.”

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