Steuben
Heaven and Nature sadly rejoiced on June 19, 2022, when at the age of 88 Doris “Jean” Kucera, née Sterling, peacefully passed away from a final encounter with cancer into the welcoming warmth of the calm, early morning’s light, surrounded by family.
“Something there is that never dies,
Ever born under caring Eyes!” — Jean Sterling
She was born to Paul and Doris Sterling on Oct. 6, 1933, completed her early years of education in Parksley, Va., attending Accomack High School, followed by her degree at the University of Mary Washington and a doctorate at Johns Hopkins University in journalism. Whereafter, Jean followed the path of poet, published author and editor of her Scimitar & Song Anthology, with subsequent years as an educator in various roles both domestic and abroad.
In all the fields that Jean pioneered through the wilds of yesteryears — wife, mother, teacher, editor, writer and health-care worker at the Eastern Agency on Aging — her most cherished have always been as beloved wife and devoted mother. She was also an avid gardener, traveler and person-lover, eager to share a meal and stories of her journeys throughout the United States, Europe, Africa, the Dominican Republic, Haiti and especially her adopted home of Eleuthera, Bahamas.
Jean was widowed by John Peter Kucera and is survived by her self-described “two best poems still being written” — her son John Paul Kucera (husband Michael Bullard), daughter Heather-Maria Cooper (husband Christopher Cooper), née Kucera, and her four Cooper “Earth angel” grandchildren — Ashley Jean, Emily Maria, Mahala Elizabeth and Christopher John. Other immediate surviving family include her sisters Lois Bull and Evelyn Flicop. Also to mention is Patrick, her stalwart canine companion of her later years rescued from Puerto Rico’s Hurricane Maria.
As her late husband once said, “You will always write my love — you will segui here perhaps. Something different but forever yourself, that you cannot escape from no matter what — that terrific impulse you cannot ever deny yourself in spite of everything that happens in your life.”
A private memorial service with immediate family will be scheduled and they ask, in lieu of flowers, please donate in her memorandum to one of the following organizations: Friends in Action, P.O. Box 1446, Ellsworth, ME 04605; The Sister Study, c/o Rick Woychik, Ph.D., Director, NIEHS/National Institutes of Health, P.O. Box 12233, Research Triangle Park, NC 27709.
In closing, Jean’s works of poetry can be found in her published works under Jean Sterling as well as on her memorialized Facebook page (https:///www.facebook.com/jean.s.kucera); however, in parting for now, her family would like to share one of her poems:
“Look For Me”
If I should fly tonight, my love,
On migrant wing of holy dove,
Let not salt tears eclipse sun face
Or sorrow slow your joyful pace
But look for me in crowded wood
And fertile fields of brotherhood,
Come fly with scarlet bird in sky
On winds that soothe despairing sigh
And swim the ocean, lake and sea
To find where I can only be
If I should fly tonight, my love,
On migrant wing of holy dove.
— Jean Sterling