Barbee (Hyerstay) Bellefeuille died peacefully with her Ron by her side holding her hand on January 5, 2023.  She was born to parents Paul C Hyerstay and Mable (Stowell) Hyerstay on September 3, 1933 in the mile high city of Denver, Colorado, elevation 5,280 feet.  She was no flatlander.

Barbee married her high school sweetheart, Lloyd Craft, and worked to help put him through night school to get his undergraduate degree and then attend Law School, while also raising their two children.

She worked as an executive secretary for the large corporation Martin Marietta, located west of Denver in the foothills of the Rocky Mountains.  She was slightly ahead of her time early on in her career when one day she decided to wear her slacks to work.  At that time women only wore skirts and dresses in the office. Shortly after arriving at the office that day, a big uproar went through the corporate office - "We have PANTS in the office today."  She was a strong woman, so no, they did not fire her.  However, several years later the company lost a sexual lawsuit filed against them.

After the children were out on their own, she divorced.  Several years later she quit her job, packed a big rental truck with all of her belongings, tied her little blue VW Bug on behind, and with her Siamese cat 'Dobrey' sitting on the front seat beside her, she drove from Evergreen, Colorado to Burlington, Vermont to be closer to her brother Dale, who was then financial aid director at UVM.

After settling in she took a proof-reading job for John Park, who was writing a three-book encyclopedia on the Iroquois Indians.  Eventually they went to Montreal, boarded a Polish ship and sailed out the Saint Lawrence and across the sea to England, where they continued their work on the manuscript.

After returning to Burlington, she took a job as assistance to the general manager of Sperry Vickers UMAC in Burlington, Vt.  Interestingly, she noticed a small 1966 MGB Roadster with Hawaiian license plates sitting in the parking lot and asked, "Whom does that car belong to?"  It wasn't long before she met Ron, the owner of the MG.  On February 23, 1974 they had their first date, a Saturday ski day at Bolton Valley Ski Resort - she brought sliced apple and cheese for them to snack on in the warming hut in between downhill ski runs.  Three months later on May 25, 1974, a justice-of-the-peace married them at City Hall in Burlington, Vt.

Several years later they moved to the Northeast Kingdom and bought an old farm house with acreage at the end of a town dirt road.

It was there that Barbee took up a very long and intensive study of the eleven different categories of the Early American Decorative Arts, and was a member of the guild "The Historical Society of Early American Decorative Arts."

She sold her creative art near and far, and conscientiously decorated her lovely home of 45 years.  She had the artist eyes and light, and could see beauty where ever she was.  One day while sitting on a blanket having a picnic lunch with her Ron, she started looking intensely, and marveling at the grace and grandeur of a daddy-long-legs walking harmlessly across their picnic blanket.

She was so special - 'One day I loved you tenderly, I love you now.'

She was predeceased by Karen Craft, one of her twin daughters (who died shortly after birth), son Mark Craft, and sister Deni Herckt.

She is survived by her daughter Sharon (Craft) Hider (the other twin), two grandchildren, Justine Taylor and Cassandra Johnson, six great grandchildren, Jalen Taylor, Justice Taylor, Jade Valenzuela, Colby Craft, Rhiann Johnson, Zoe Johnson, five great-great grandchildren, Josiah Jackson, Nalani Jackson, Drew Taylor, Sophià Craft and Lonzo Craft, her brother Dale Hyerstay,  foster daughter Dee Dee Bourtelle, adopted son Christopher Bellefeuille, and last but not least, her precious darling, Ronald Bellefeuille, the total and complete love of her life, as she was for him.

There will be a graveside service in the Spring.  Donations may be made in her memory to the Arts, the Irasburg United Church, or the charity of your choice. On-line condolences may be made at curtis-britch.com. Arrangements are entrusted to the care of Curtis-Britch & Bouffard Funeral Home & Cremations Service, locally family owned and operated.