WELLINGTON, Fla. – “For everything there is a season…” On Dec. 5, 2020 Bonita Grant Staples, daughter of deceased Oliver Cole and Etta Rand Grant, while living in Wellington, Fla. moved on to her next season.

She was born in Augusta, Maine April 3, 1926 and grew up on her parents’ potato farm on Golden Ridge in Sherman. Graduating from Ricker Institute, Houlton, she attended the Eastman School of Music at the University of Rochester, N.Y. majoring in voice and graduating in 1947.

In 1948 she married Robert Staples in New York City, N.Y. where she had been studying voice and modeling for the Barbizon School. The couple returned to Maine, living in Patten for a few years.

The next years were spent in Florida where Bonita had as many as 60 piano students and sang in church choirs and at the Bach Festival in Orlando, Fla. Summers were spent on Penobscot Bay in Northport and she sang with her husband at the Camden Summer Theater one year performing Gilbert and Sullivan.

In 1961, the couple moved to Falmouth Foreside and Bonita continued teaching piano to the area and was choir director at the Foreside Community Church. Upon retiring, they became snowbirds wintering in Jupiter, Fla. and summering at Bayside. In 1989, she returned to her “roots” in Sherman where she always participated in town, church and Eastern Star activities and was the pianist for the Washburn Memorial Church. In 2015, she left her home to be near her daughter in Wellington, Fla.

Bonita was easily contented and sociable. She was happiest outdoors gathering nature’s provisions, especially berries and crab fishing and participating in community and the Rand family activities.

Her Christmas card list was very long, as she kept in touch with friends, new and old.

Surviving are her daughter Carmen Marquis, Wellington, Fla., her son Clifton Staples (Joyce) of Somesville; her grandson Kevin Staples (Jocelyn) of Bath and their son Errol; her granddaughter, Felicia Staples of Bass Harbor and her daughter Sophie; her former husband, Robert Staples of Royal Palm Beach, Fla.; and a special nephew, John Staples of Arlington, Va.

Bonita was fond of all her extended family and enjoyed keeping track of them.

Special thanks go to Dotty Rand and her family, The Washburn Memorial Church and her Sherman family, and the Muriel Hughes family for your caring ways; to Maria Martin and Sandra Gould who helped her stay in her home as long as possible; and A Compassionate Care ALF in Wellington for helping make her last years the best possible.

A memorial will take place in Sherman next summer.

Bonita’s wishes were that anyone wishing to make a donation do so in her name to:

Washburn Memorial Church Memorial Fund

P.O. Box 101

Sherman, ME 04776

for a special need pertaining to the music group and/or fellowship activities; or

Molunkus Valley #95

Order of the Eastern Star

P.O. Box 15

Sherman, ME 04776