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Known as champion of Lebanon history, Barbara Sewell dies at 87

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Parade grand marshal Barbara Sewell shares a laugh with family as she rides in Lebanon's 250th birthday parade in July..(Rochester Voice file photo)

LEBANON - Barbara Sewell, who dedicated much of her life to preserving the early history of the town she loved, has died at the age of 87.

Sewell, whose health had taken a turn for the worse, was hospitalized recently but returned to her home on Ladyslipper Lane for her final days. She died on Thursday.

Lebanon Selectmen Chair Chip Harlow on Thursday night led the board in a moment of silence in tribute and respect to Sewell, who has long been recognized as a indispensable pillar of knowledge at the Lebanon Historical Society.

Historical Society President Nancy Wyman said on Friday that Sewell has dedicated herself for many years to the preservation and compilation of several chapters of the society's writing on the lore of Lebanon.

Marilyn Ricker Bolduc, a longtime member of the society, grew up living next to Sewell on Center Road.

"My mom and Barbara were good friends," Bolduc said on Saturday. "She always treated us good."

Bolduc fondly recalled a game Sewell would play with her and the other children, writing messages on paper and leaving them around the yard, each one directing them to go to another location to get another cryptic message.

"At the end we'd come to the prize, a tootsie pop," Bolduc said.

When Bolduc joined the Historical Society in the 1990s, they rekindled their friendship, often going to church together at the First Parish Congregational Church, then going out to breakfast at the restaurant in front of her house she formerly ran for many years, now known as the Hen House Café.

Bolduc, who herself is a noted historian of the area and formerly wrote a history column for the then Lebanon Voice, said she and Sewell partnered around the year 2000 on producing a booklet detailing all the historical one-room schoolhouses scattered throughout Lebanon.

"We found there had been 20 one-room schoolhouses and Barbara was able to find pictures of them," Bolduc said. "She wrote all the captions for the pictures, too."

Bolduc said nobody knew more about Lebanon than Barbara Sewell.

"Whenever I had a question, she always had the answer," she said.

Arrangements for Ms. Sewell have not been announced, but it's expected some will occur at the First Parish Congregational Church.

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