Stephanie P. Publicker
Gorham-Stephanie Ramona Perrine Publicker, 70, died unexpectedly and tragically on Wednesday, April 6, 2022. Stephanie (never Steffi) was born in 1951 to Roy and Ramona Perrine in Syracuse, NY.~ Stephanie had two sisters, Wendy Osborne and Rochelle Perrine, whom she leaves behind.~ They will tell you that Stephanie embodied every stereotype of middle children.
Stephanie is preceded in death by a menagerie of cats, dogs, guinea pigs, and members of the family rodentia, whom she looked after with only a smidgen less attention than she paid to her human children, Daniel Publicker and Suzanna Publicker Mettham. In addition to Daniel and Suzanna, Stephanie leaves behind her greatest joy, four grandchildren who unabashedly proclaimed her their favorite grandparent—Aiden (13), Henry (7), Lorelei (4), and Beatrix (0.5). Most tragically, she leaves behind her husband of 50 years, Mark, with whom she moved to Italy at age 20, not knowing a word of Italian. The couple spent 52 years adventuring and learning together.~ They lived together not only in Bologna, Italy, but also in Long Island and Harlem, NY; Montclair, NJ; Pittsburgh, PA; Fairfax, VA; and, finally, Gorham, Maine.
Stephanie obtained a bachelor's degree and a master’s degree in library science from the University of Pittsburgh, where she graduated Phi Beta Kappa, despite simultaneously working full-time and raising two small, and somewhat feral, kids.~ In 2020, she retired from a lengthy career as a medical research librarian for the National Library of Medicine. But that work was not her life. Her life was caring for others. She quilted diaper bags for mothers struggling with addiction; she knit blankets for children in hospitals; she was a land trust steward; she hand-stitched intricate quilts for those she loved; and she volunteered to clean cages at animal shelters. She never stopped learning, and was committed to being a better, more accepting person every day of her too-short life. In word or deed, Stephanie personified ahimsa—attempting
to never harm another living being.
Truth be told, she was better than all of us, and the world is a little darker without her in it.
Online condolences may be expressed below.
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