sarahLois Penny Liggett, at the age of 84, died on July 20, 2025, surrounded by family. A memorial service will be held at 1 p.m. on Aug. 15 at Trinity United Methodist Church in Montpelier, Vermont.
Lois, the eldest daughter of Morgan and Emma Penny, was born on May 15, 1941. She graduated from Hampton Bay High School and went on to earn her bachelor’s in physical therapy from Russell Sage College (N.Y.), class of 1962, and a master’s in gerontology from Hood College (Maryland). She worked as a physical therapist at hospitals and nursing homes, in Zimbabwe, and at a senior center in Japan, making a career out of her fascination with energy and holistic healing.
Outside of work, Lois filled her time gardening, taking great pride in her blueberry garden, her squashes, and her sugar snap peas. She loved to travel and tell stories, collecting instruments and totems from around the world, in addition to knowledge. Her world-widened consciousness was eventually bound into her two publications: “Bone (& Body) Lessons: Culture, Measurement, and Language” and “Decoding Norse Myths with Pet Ravens,” where she showcased her passions for linguistics and Norse mythology.
Lois was always an active member of the communities she found in her hometowns of Tiverton, Rhode Island, Port Washington, New York, Chattanooga, Tennessee, Gaithersburg, Maryland, and finally Montpelier, Vermont, where she laid her roots of retirement with Walter for the last decade of her life. She had a strong generational affiliation with the Methodist church. She cared deeply for others and would open her arms and home to strangers — those she instead perceived as fellow storytellers and prophets of their own passions. She is remembered as a resilient woman of undefeatable spirit and vastness, of goose feathers and didgeridoos, of apple pies and improvised piano chords.
She is survived by her husband of 63 years, Walter Stewart Liggett Jr., daughters Diane (Brendan) Fahy, Beverly (Walid) Qoronfleh, Sarah (John) Spellman, her 11 grandchildren, Julia (Joseph) O’Connor, Elizabeth Fahy, Mary Kate (Adam) Long, John (Ellen) Fahy, Matthew (Kelsey) Fahy, Carly Spellman, Connor Spellman, Hana Qoronfleh, Seema (Nabhan) Uddin, Walid Qoronfleh, Zakirya Qoronfleh, and her nine great-grandchildren, James, Cecilia, Michael, Nicholas, and Emma O’Connor, and Noah, Tayley, Sam, and William Fahy.
The family has requested that in lieu of flowers, donations be made to Trinity United Methodist Church, 15 Main Street, Montpelier, Vermont, 05602.
