Obituary of Charlotte Sarjeant

Charlotte L. (Benjamin) Sarjeant, a woman devoted to family, community, and faith passed away at the Wingate at Reading on Wednesday evening, July 30, 2008. The wife of the late Thomas L. Sarjeant, she was 84 years old. Charlotte was born in Framingham. She was the daughter of the late Earl and Marion Benjamin. She was raised and educated in Everett. Charlotte was a woman of deep faith and family commitment. She was a longtime member of the United Church of Christ Congregational in Burlington. Charlotte was a member of the Ladies Benevolent Society at the UCC Church, which is the oldest organization in Burlington. Charlotte was an active member of the Burlington Council on Aging. She was an exercise instructor, help found the Share Program, and acted as the Sunshine Lady. She enjoyed taking painting lessons and eagerly participated in many of the COA’s trips, events, and socials. She was a person of action. She enjoyed working in and around her home. She even erected a stonewall at her home, which still stands today. She was not afraid of hard work. Charlotte greatest legacy will be that of her family. She was blessed to have seen 5 generations of descendants. She was always happiest when family surrounded her. Charlotte was the wife of the late Thomas L. Sarjeant. She was the loving mother of Thomas L. Sarjeant, Jr. & his companion Kathy Rivers of Burlington, John Sarjeant & his wife Bettye of Sarasota, FL, Kathleen Knowles & her husband Richard of Reading, and the late Beverly Costa & her late husband Joseph Costa. She was the sister of the late Earl Benjamin, Ruth Brodo, and Howard Benjamin. She was also survived by 12 grandchildren, 12 great grandchildren & 2 great great grandchildren. Funeral from the Edward V. Sullivan Funeral Home, 43 Winn St., Burlington on Monday, August 4 at 11 a.m. Followed by Funeral Services at the United Church of Christ Congregational, 6 Lexington St., Burlington at Noon. Visiting hours Sunday 3-7 p.m. She will be interred with her husband at Chestnut Hill Cemetery, Burlington. Memorials in Charlotte’s name may be made to the Parkinson’s Disease Foundation, 1359 Broadway, Suite 1509, NY, NY or www.pdf.org. Charlotte Sarjeant November 29, 1923 – July 30, 2008 On behalf of our family I want to thank you all for being here. My Mother would have been thrilled to see all the people who streamed in and out of the funeral parlor yesterday and all of you here today. Some people hang onto life with a very firm grasp. Others let it go far too easily. Our Mom was determined to hang on very tight and squeeze out every breath she could. Our Dad would have said that was because she was so darn stubborn- but I believe it was her intense love of life and fun and people. She didn’t want to miss a thing. Charlotte really loved a party. She would want us to celebrate her, not mourn her. So let’s remember her life, and laugh a little. When Tom brought Kathy over to our house for the first time, she pointed to my Mom and asked my brother-in-law “Who is that woman?” This threw Joe into a quandary because he couldn’t figure out how to describe her in a simple sentence. So he blurted out “Charlotte is Charlotte!” We still laugh about that. It was like just her name was enough to describe a whole person. But no one can be described that easily and certainly my Mother can’t. So let’s stroll down memory lane for awhile and talk about the person who was Charlotte- our Mom, our Nana, our Great Grammy, our in-law, and our friend. She was born in Framingham in 1923, right smack in the middle of Thanksgiving dinner. She was born at home as most people were then and always found it amusing she caused her Mom to miss dinner. Right from the start she liked being center of attention and that never changed. What a wonderful way to go through life when you really think about it. So many of us miss out a lot because we are hesitant to step forward and be heard. We are hesitant to really live life. Her Father was a trolley conductor for years then ran the IGA store in Everett. At that point they lived in the back of the store. She pal-ed around with her best friend, my Aunt Rita, and for those of you who remember my Aunt Rita you can only imagine the trouble those two got into. They entered talent contests to win money. My Mom singing – my Aunt dancing and they would come home with first place. She had a beautiful singing voice – a talent she did not pass on to me. She would sing whenever she could and tried to right up to near the end. Over the past seven years that she lived with us on Saturdays and Sundays we always knew when she was up because she would play her many CD,s and sing along as best she could. She was a painter – as many of you saw from the slide show and also her paintings around the room at the wake. Some of you may have taken lessons with her or at least she shared with you she finally was following threw on a lifelong dream to see if she had the talent her Mother possessed. It was sad to see her give away her paints and brushes but her tremors from Parkinson prevented a steady hand needed to continue. She was a perfectionist – from her choice of jobs building model trains, making jewelry, to building circuit boards, to her choice of friends. If she called you her friend please believe me you are a very special person indeed. Just like she demanded perfectionism from herself she demanded it from all around her and she would let you know if you let her down. Because of this trait she was often considered a difficult person to please. Today I can look back and thank her for that because it made me strive to always do my best and when she gave you her approval you knew it was genuine. She loved the outdoors. Her idea of a good day was being outside burning leaves, raking, building stone walls, anything but ironing, dishes or cooking. I outgrew clothes before they made it back into my closet. So as I grew up chores became easy to divide. She went outside and I ironed and learned to cook. To this day I still prefer inside jobs. So when she moved to our house we gave her the room with two big picture windows looking out into the backyard so she could see the garden. Growing up in hard times in the back of a store she learned to waste nothing. Food didn’t come as easy as today. She was taught to eat everything on her plate – don’t waste. She married Dad who also lived through the same hard times but was taught a different lesson – always leave a small amount on your plate. It shows your host they served you an ample amount and you couldn’t possibly eat another bite even if you were still hungry. Well, as you can imagine this drove Charlotte crazy but he never changed and neither did she. Anyone who really knew her knew how slow an eater she was. As her Parkinson’s and Emphysema were getting worse she was eating even slower and having more trouble swallowing. We would be long done with dinner and she was still sitting there trying hard to finish everything. It wouldn’t matter how much we served her she would say “Oh, you gave me too much.” She would have a third of a potato, a bite of meat and one green bean left on her plate and insist we wrap it up, “she would eat it tomorrow”. In fact when I clean out my refrigerator I bet there is a plate of something in there she planned to eat tomorrow. So when recycling made it big she was in her glory. Everything had to be recycled, reused or given to someone. “Don’t throw that away someone could use that” still echoes in my head. And so her love for yard soling and flea markets was born. She hated to miss a Church fair- not only this church, but any church. Actually, she hated to miss anything- Wouldn’t it be great to have that kind of zest for life and fun. She loved this church. When she was feeling up to it we would bring her to Sunday Service and she would especially rally for Easter and Christmas Eve. Seeing her friends here and listening to Rev. Peggy’s sermons went a lot further at keeping her going than any medicine we gave her. There was a side to her that was Obsessive-Compulsive especially when it came to cleaning and personal cleanliness. This was very hard on her in her declining years. She would wear herself out and refuse help. The nurses at Wingate were wonderful and picked up right away on this.. They did their best to follow through with her order of how she wanted things done. And then along with this went the detail oriented part of her. She would read every word of every piece of mail she received- right down to Publishers Clearing House. I confess- some of the mail made it to the recycle bin before it got to her room, just so she wouldn’t stay up late and wear herself out even more. Sorry, Mom!!! And then of course she must have thought she was rich because she would write checks to every possible charity- legitimate or otherwise. She kept my poor husband busy looking up organizations on the Internet to prove to her she shouldn’t send them money, and then the next month it would start all over again. I think she is personally responsible for defoliating a whole forest. But she had a big heart and when she cared about you she couldn’t do enough. When she was young and well she had a very high energy level- she could run circles around me. It was only over the past years of her declining health that I could keep up with her. So we gave her the nickname of “The Energizer Bunny”. Well, it was just a few days ago when I was speaking to the nurse practitioner that she said “It looks like the Energizer Bunny’s batteries are running out, and we can’t replace them this time”. It is amazing to think you have a person in your life all those years and yet when you know the end is near there is still so much you want to say. We were all fortunate to have that time. At the end of our visits I would kiss her good-bye and tell her I loved her. We would kid back and forth- “I love you more”, “No, I love you more”- and she would always end with “I love you more than the moon, the stars, and the sky”. Not a night will go by when I look up into the sky that I won’t hear her say she loves me, and I’ll answer “I love you more!”