WHITEFIELD – It is with great sadness the family of Mildred Sabatine announces her passing at the age of 83 on Nov. 7, 2019, after a courageous battle with cancer. Mildred was born in Hatboro, Pa. to Lydia and Fritz Schuh. She attended Kutztown University where she graduated with a degree in elementary education. While at Kutztown she met Onofrio “Nerf” Sabatine, the love with her life. They married on August 24, 1957.
Millie and Nerf built their first home on Old Sleepy Hollow Road in Pocantico Hill, N.Y. where they raised their three children Lisa, Paul, and Nicholas. While in New York their organic farm included produce, livestock, and Millie’s first attempts at cheese making. Their success as farmers awarded them billing on the cover page of the fall 1970 issue of Organic Gardening Magazine.
In 1976 Millie and her family relocated to their 90 acre farm in Whitefield, Maine. There she perfected the craft of mozzarella, provolone, and parmesan cheese making from milk produced on the farm. Over the next 15 years Millie’s cheese was marketed at the Damariscotta Farmer’s Market, Yellow Front Grocery Store, and Rising Tide Whole Foods, in addition to drop in customers at the farm. During her cheese making career Millie was interviewed and highlighted in the local press, and was once the subject of Cliff Reynolds’s People Places and Things. Millie and Nerf were pioneers in the “farm to table” life style.
Throughout her life Millie was known for her love of swimming, her competitive spirit, her flower gardens, love of show tunes, Monday trips to Renys and the Gardiner Library, and her love of family gatherings.
Millie is survived by her husband of 62 years; her children, Lisa and Nicholas Sabatine, daughter-in-law. Donna Sabatine; five grandchildren, Kelsea, Kate, and Kaleb Bridgham, and Sam and Henry Sabatine.
She is predeceased by her son, Paul on Dec. 1, 2016.
There will be a celebration of Millie’s life on Nov. 24, 2019 from 2 to 4 p.m. at the Sheepscot General Store and Farm at 98 Town House Road in Whitefield.
Memories and condolences may be shared @ www.directcremationofmaine.com.
In lieu of flowers the family requests donations be made to the
Gardiner Public Library
151 Water Street
Gardiner, ME 04345
or the
Sussman Hospice House
40 Anchor Drive
Rockport, ME 04856
(Please write “specific request for Sussman House” on the memo line)
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