Marguerite A. Quinn, 73, of Middlebury, Vermont and The Villages, FL, went to meet the Lord on Friday, March 20, 2015 at her winter home in The Villages, Florida. She was with her beloved husband John and her daughter Audrey, when she passed very peacefully as she slept. “Maggie”, as she was fondly known by friends, was the daughter of the late Beatrice and Albert Abair, of Waltham. She graduated from Vergennes High School in 1959 and later from Castleton College with a Bachelor of Science Degree. She was 6 credits from attaining her Master’s Degree in Court Administration, when Trinity College closed in Burlington. She married the late Robert Stebbins in 1959 and together they raised two sons and a daughter. They divorced after 12 years of marriage. Maggie had a very successful career as a Court Reporter for the State of Vermont. She later retired as the Managing Court Reporter for the State. One of the last remaining court reporters who still took Gregg shorthand in lieu of a stenotype machine, she was admired for her speed and uncanny accuracy with the written word. Maggie handled several high profile criminal and civil trials, taking shorthand notes during the day and often staying up nearly all night typing the daily transcripts. She was highly regarded by Judges and attorneys alike, for her advice about cases and court room procedures. Maggie accomplished more in her 73 years on this Earth than some groups of people accomplish in their combined lifetimes. In addition to the challenges of raising three children as a single Mom, she managed to juggle a very successful career and belong to civic, political and professional organizations, as well as doing a myriad of community service activities. She also taught Court Reporting classes at Champlain College each semester when they had the program. In 1978, she met the love of her life, John Quinn. In 1991, John asked her to marry him on her 50th birthday. Over the years, along with her cousin Mary Jane Lowman, she helped to found Indokids, Inc., and assisted Mary Jane and Charlie Lowman with bringing over 100 Indonesian children to the United States, to complete High School and college. This program was one of her proudest accomplishments and her Indonesian “kids” considered her to be like a second mother to them, well into their own adult lives. Michael Arlantis arrived at Maggie and John’s home in Weybridge as their first “Indo-Kid” and he became a part of the family. Michael successfully completed High School and graduated after a full scholarship from Middlebury, College. He now lives in Indonesia with his own wife and children, as a successful engineer.
The family has many wonderful stories of the melding of the cultures that came from having Michael, Glenn Simanjuntak and many other Indonesian boys and girls, share meals and the family home. Maggie never shirked a task. Maggie and John opened their home to anyone who was in need and hundreds of wonderful meals were shared around the kitchen, dining room, living room and wherever people could find a place to sit. If you left hungry or tired from the Maggie and John Quinn home, “it was your own fault”. Maggie retired in 1998 after working 37 years for the State of Vermont. She found a new second career, as the Development Coordinator for Elderly Services in Middlebury, helping to raise money for their new building. People had a difficult time saying “No” to Maggie Quinn. She was able to find a million-dollar donor. Maggie’s team raised over $5,000,000 for the new Elderly Services building. Today, this building provides a variety of services to people in Addison County and beyond. Maggie and John spent thousands of hours with this project and it was not uncommon, for her own children, to learn that she was busy, on any given day, doing something for “Elderly Services”. Maggie was very proud of her favorite daughter, Audrey. She never concealed that pride. When her grandsons Taylor and Tanner arrived, the grandchildren became a very special source of love and pride as well. Any conversation included her wonderful grandsons. Her two sons, Robert and Thomas, served in the U.S. Marines and although Maggie always worried about them, she was very proud of their service. She wrote to them weekly and saved every single piece of mail they ever sent back, from their various posts around the world. Maggie’s friends knew that she was a prolific letter writer and unless she was on one of her many trips around the world, she rarely missed a birthday, anniversary; illness or sympathy card for anyone she knew. People would hear from her in good times and bad. Many cards contained very generous checks. If Maggie thought you needed a little extra boost, you got a check. She never asked; she just did it. She visited countries and places far too numerous to mention all of them, but they included Paris, where she visited the home of Monet; Saudi Arabia; Thailand; Indonesia; Costa Rica; Ireland; China and Mexico. She cruised through Alaska’s Inland Passage and the Panama Canal. For a modest farm girl from Waltham, Vermont, she touched thousands of lives and was truly an inspiration. Maggie was a “get it done NOW” kind of a woman and when she set her mind to something, she either wanted it done now, or she did it.
We often shared many laughs with her, about that personality trait. If you procrastinated, you incurred the wrath and you quickly learned from her, not to do that. She was a past State President of the Vermont Business and Professional Women’s Foundation. She also served as a Grand Regent of the Catholic Daughters; Secretary-Treasurer of the National Court Reporters Association; 25 years with the Middlebury Rotary Club, serving as its President and Exchange Student Program Assistant Governor. She was a member of the League of Women Voters and very active in politics, for most of her adult life. She was a member of the American Legion Auxiliary, Post 14 in Vergennes, VT. In 2001, she was presented with a Bicentennial Citizens’ Medal, by Middlebury College, of which she was very proud. Ever the organizer, Maggie provided an outline for what she would like us to publish in this Obituary. But, there truly is not enough column space, to write down all of the wonderful things that Maggie did for people. She was a loving and caring wife; mother; sister; grandmother and friend. To say that she will be “sorely missed” by those who knew her, is truly an understatement. The world was a better place, because of Maggie Quinn and there will never be another woman like her. Maggie is survived by her husband, John Thomas Quinn. She is also survived by her sister Beverly (Abair) Norton and her husband Roger, of Vergennes; her three children and their spouses, Robert and Angela Stebbins of Georgia; Thomas and Susan Stebbins of Westford and Audrey and Chris Carter and their two sons, Taylor and Tanner Carter, of Penacook, NH. In addition, she is survived by her very special Indonesian sons, Michael of Jakarta, Indonesia and Glenn of Arizona. She is also survived by many cousins; nieces and nephews and thousands of friends from around the world. A Mass of Christian Burial will be celebrated in Vergennes, Vermont, in the late spring and a second announcement will appear at that time. There will be no calling hours. In lieu of flowers, donations may be made in her name, to Elderly Services, P.O. Box 585, Middlebury, VT 05753, or to Addison County Home Health and Hospice, 254 Ethan Allen Hwy, Middlebury, VT 05753. Arrangements in Florida, are entrusted to the care of Hiers-Baxley Funeral Services, where on-line messages may be left. Arrangements in Vermont will be entrusted to Stephen C. Gregory and Son Cremation Services.
