Kittery Point, Maine — Hazel "Billie" Starrett Cutts, age 91, died Thursday, Nov. 3.

Billie was born in Friendship, Maine, lost her mother at age 4, and was cared for by her dear Grammie (Lillian) and Grampie (Al) Pottle and also her great aunt and uncle, Josephine and Ivan Morse. With inspiration and help from Byron and Wilma Burns, she earned college money hauling traps in Friendship Harbor from a row dory. She relished the story of repeatedly catching one extra-large and ornery lobster out by the spindle, too big to keep, with an annoying and expensive appetite for bait.

At UMaine Orono, just after World War II, she met her future husband, Richard Cutts of Kittery Point. After Richard earned his Ph.D., they moved from Dubois, Pa., to Northfield, Vt., where they lived for about 30 years. Richard, who died in 1998, was a Norwich University English professor. Billie was the longtime Northfield High librarian. They raised four children, Judy, Rich, Sally, and Joe. They retired to Kittery Point, where they built a home ("The Bickerage") on Spruce Creek. They were also blessed to inherit Ivan and Josie's home on Friendship Long Island, and spent many happy summers there.

Billie was a capable gardener and, despite a weak short game, an avid golfer. She always walked, never rode, the course at Sunnyvale Country Club . She could dig and shuck a hod of clams as fast as any pro, though she never cared for them herself. She valued education, had a mischievous wit, and was a natural storyteller.

She'll be dearly missed by her children and eight wonderful grandchildren, as well as by friends and family in Maine, Vermont, and Florida.