Karen E. (Varsell) Stager, 63, wife of Jay R. Stager, of Northport, Maine, died on Wednesday, February 20, 2008, at her winter home in Tierra Verde, Florida.

Karen passed while being held, comforted, and sung to by her precious twin daughters, Irina and Marina Stager. Her husband, Jay, was unwavering in his love and devotion for Karen as she faced each difficult day of her 15-month illness with ovarian cancer. Born in New Britain, on April 29, 1944, daughter of the late Clifton and Rowena (Coutant) Varsell, she had lived on the coast of Maine for the last 25 years.

Karen graduated from Manchester High School, Manchester Community College, St. Joseph College, and the University of Connecticut where she received her master's in social work. Karen was a social worker in the Manchester public school system as well as the public school system in Waldo County, Maine. Karen was also a co-director of summer camps in Maine, including Hidden Valley Camp in Freedom, Maine, Samantha Smith Worldpeace Camp in Poland Springs, Maine, Maine Teen Camp in Kezar Falls, Maine, and Med-O-Lark Camp in Washington, Maine.

She was director of the Russian program at MAPS and later served as director of MAPS International in Portland, Maine, when she and her husband adopted a Russian sibling group of three, Marina, Irina, and Vanya, during one of their nearly 50 different orphanage visits. She also continued to support the orphanages in Russia through her generosity and by arranging for hundreds of young American college students to volunteer their time in Russian orphanages during the summers from 1993 to 1996.

In addition to her husband, she leaves her children, Kimberly Pines and her husband, Steven, of South Windsor; Kristin Hanson and her husband, Todd, of Northport, Maine; Kevin Hutt of Farmington; Kelly Hutt-Vater and her husband, Craig, of Shrewsbury, Vt.; Irina, Marina, and Vanya Stager of Northport, Maine; a brother, David Varsell of Ellington; a sister, Laurie Varsell of Norwich; and nine grandchildren, Michael, Seth, Kian, Chase, Chloe, Gabrielle, Cole, Talia, and Samuel; her step-children, Professor Curt Stager of Paul Smiths, N.Y., and Leslie Ann Stager of Palm Springs, Calif.