Donna Lea (Stevens) Tarrien

Newport, NH – Donna Lea (Stevens) Tarrien died peacefully in her home after a long battle with cancer on April 15, 2020 in Unity, New Hampshire at the age of 81.

Donna was born on August 19, 1938 in Winchester, Massachusetts to Dorothy and Charles Stevens. She married the love of her life, Carleton (Carl) Tarrien in 1968 and moved to Sunapee, New Hampshire. They built their home in Unity in 1989. During her life, Donna enjoyed several occupations; she was a weaver at Dorr Woolen Mill, a cashier at several retail stores, a cocktail waitress at The Shanty, and a Justice of the Peace for Sullivan County, but her favorite role in life besides being a wife, mother and grandmother, was working at Mount Sunapee during the ski season.

Donna will always be remembered as a person who loved the outdoors, often camping and hiking the trails of local parks and canoeing with her husband and children. She was a person who cared deeply for family and friends and never met a stranger twice, quick to make friends wherever she went. She loved trains and traveled across the country and back by rail and collected and displayed model trains. An avid reader, her hobbies included sewing, quilting, knitting, and cross stitching and her home is full of handcrafted items made with love, which she also shared with family.

Donna is predeceased by her father, Charles C. Stevens, who died in Melrose, Massachusetts in February 1974 and her mother, Dorothy (Turner) Stevens, who passed away in Newport, New Hampshire in October 1986. Surviving family members include her husband, Carleton Henry Tarrien; children Charles “Chuck” Noltie of Somerset, KY, Lisa (Noltie) Roberts of King George, VA, Michelle (Noltie) Wallace of Newport, Christopher “Chris” Noltie of Unity, and Carleton Henry “Terry” Tarrien, Jr. of Unity; nine grandchildren and six great-grandchildren.

A funeral service and celebration of life is planned and will be scheduled at a later date.

In lieu of flowers, please send donations to the American Cancer Society, https://donate3.cancer.org. 

To sign an online guestbook, please visit www.newtonbartlett.com.  Newton-Bartlett Funeral Home is assisting the family with arrangements.

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