Quaintance, Charlotte Welch 1/12/27 - 9/3/22 Charlotte was born into an "Irish Catholic Ghetto" as she liked to call the New Haven neighborhood where she lived with extended family and attended a much beloved Catholic elementary school before moving to Guilford with her immediate family. These early New Haven years were formative and she told of her father taking her to see FDR in his open car which began her life-long devotion to the Democratic Party. She graduated from Bates College and taught school in Connecticut briefly before sailing to Istanbul in 1950 for a teaching job at Robert College where her travel adventures began. The story was that she went to Rhodes in a row boat and brought back pottery in a string bag. She travelled widely while living in Turkey and met fellow teacher Richard Quaintance. They were married for 32 years before divorcing, living in New Haven where their children were born; Durham, North Carolina; Rochester, Michigan and ultimately Highland Park, New Jersey. She cooked pasta alla Bolognese, Vitello Tonnato, roast pork studded with pistachios, pilaf and homemade vinaigrette in the 60's before most Americans had heard of such things. Once her two children were school-aged, she returned to teaching and subsequently got a Masters in Library Science from Rutgers. The rest of her career was with the North Plainfield schools where she reveled in her job as school librarian and had a cadre of wonderful colleagues. After retirement she continued to travel and attend opera and theater regularly with pals. She was active in New Jersey local politics. She took her grandsons (and family) to the Galapagos, to Greece and to Morocco and played an integral role in their education. In 2016 she left her Highland Park home of 50 years to move to Minneapolis to be closer to her daughter and family and had several happy years at The Kenwood. Her son Ross died at 27 in 1985 right after completing law school. He called her "Scarlet"it was their private joke. She is survived by her daughter, The Hon. Kathryn L Quaintance and grandsons Conor Ross Sullivan and Owen Quaintance Sullivan and his wife Sadie. She was predeceased by her beloved brother Frank "Bud" Welch. She is survived by her sister Maryellen Page of Guilford Ct. and a passel of nieces and nephews and grand-nieces and nephews on whom she doted (she would insist on that grammar!) Charlotte was a rabid Democrat and a devoted fan of McCarthy, Mondale, Humphrey and Klobuchar. She consumed news only from the NYT, The New Republic, CNN and PBS. She wore hats and sometimes gloves. She had afternoon tea daily. She listened to the opera religiously on Saturday afternoons. She had never heard of the Kardashians. She was rarely silent and her vocabulary rivaled the OED. Memorials preferred to Planned Parenthood of the Upper Midwest or donor's choice.

Published on September 11, 2022