Verna Stephenson King

Verna Marie Murphy Stephenson King, Santa Barbara, CA, died July 19, 2018, of a brain lymphoma at Serenity House in Santa Barbara. She was born in Toronto, Ontario, May 4, 1933, the daughter of Edward J. and Cecelia (Byrne) Murphy. She was educated in Toronto, graduating from St. Michael’s Hospital School of Nursing in 1956.

Mrs. King had lived in California, Maine and Read, Ontario. She had been employed in nursing in Toronto and Pasadena, CA. Later she worked in property assessment for the Town of Poland and the City of Auburn, ME. She was the first woman elected to the Board of Assessors in Poland and the Board’s first assessor to become a Certified Maine Assessor (CMA). She was a charter member and former officer of Pine Tree Quilters Guild of Maine. She also helped publish the St. Charles Borromeo (Read) Family History Book in 2004.

Mrs. King was married to Joseph E. Stephenson on Feb. 2, 1963, in Pasadena. Joseph Stephenson died on Jan. 14, 1996. She married Paul D. King on Dec. 28, 2008, in Londonderry, NH, and returned to California to live. Paul King died on Feb. 6, 2016.

Survivors include two daughters, Ann Marie (Laurence Ewing) of Mount Prospect, IL, and Kathleen M. (Scott Barnes) of Hooksett, NH; one son, Joseph E. Stephenson Jr. (Pamela Burnell) of Saco, ME; four granddaughters, Meaghan and Bridget Stephenson of Saco, and Erin and Gwen Barnes of Hooksett; one brother, James Murphy of Hamilton, Ontario; and two sisters, Doreen Pagel of Laguna Nigel, CA, and Geraldine Pennie of Toronto.

At the request of the family there will be no public visiting hours. Friends are invited to attend a Mass of Christian Burial at 11 a.m., Aug. 14, at St. Charles Borromeo Catholic Church, Read. Burial in St. Charles Borromeo Cemetery.

In lieu of flowers, donations may be made to Sisters of the Community of the Resurrection, PO Box 284, Casco, ME, 04015-0284, or to St. Charles Cemetery Fund, 7288 Old Highway 2, RR #1, Marysville, Ontario, Canada, K0K 2N0.