WEST PARIS – Stella P. Lovejoy of Bethel passed away quietly with her loving husband of 61 years by her side on March 13.

She was born on Sept. 13, 1915, in the Junction area of northwest Detroit, Mich., the daughter of Lucas and Stella Yaszek. She attended schools in the Detroit area and later in Dearborn after the family moved to their new home on Mead Avenue. She graduated from the Divine Child High School in Dearborn.

One of Stella’s first jobs was baby-sitting for Dearborn Mayor Hubbard’s children, who lived close by. Later, she worked for a number of years as an inspector at the Industrial Wire Plant in Wayne, Mich., where their activities included many critical parts for the planes, tanks and trucks that were needed for World War II.

On April 27, 1946, she married Alfred Lovejoy of Bethel, and they bought a home in the Cherry Hill, Dearborn area. She and Al both enjoyed fishing and camping, and after Ford Motor offered Al early retirement in 1974, they bought a travel trailer and headed for Traverse City to build their retirement home on Old Mission Peninsula. Many trips and thousands of miles later they parked the trailer in a trailer park in Matlacha Village on Pine Island, Fla., and spent their winters there and summers in Michigan.

She loved her sewing and made many beautiful quilts and spreads during her retirement. She raised many beautiful flowers at her home on the peninsula and her time was always actively spent to beautify and improve her surroundings.

She is survived by her husband, Alfred; her brother-in-law, Cleveland Lovejoy and his wife, Cathryn; her nieces, Dorothy West and her husband, Ray, Ellen Whitney and her husband, Rick, Sandra Cairo and her husband, Jerry, and Donna Reuschell and her husband, Phillip; nephews, Alanson Lovejoy and his wife, Tyrene, William Bowman and his wife, Michelle, John Clarke and his wife, Linda, and George Clarke and his wife, Cathy; as well as many grand and great-grandnieces and nephews.

She was predeceased by their infant daughter, Patricia; parents, Lucas and Stella Yaszek; her sisters, Laura Clarke Helen Bowman and Jessie Betham; and her brothers, Joseph and Frank Yaszek.