BRUNSWICK — Elizabeth Menzies Stenberg, 75, passed away on Sunday, August 19, 2012 at her home in Brunswick, Maine after an 18 month battle with cancer.

Liz was born in Boston, Massachusetts on October 22, 1936 to Mildred and James Menzies and grew up in Cambridge, Massachusetts where her father was a printer at Harvard University Press. She has a brother, Kenneth Menzies, and a sister, Heather Menzies.

Liz attended Tufts University as an occupational therapy student for three years. While there, she met John Stenberg who was studying mechanical engineering – graduating in 1957. They were married on June 16, 1957 and honeymooned at the Tufts Mountain Club lodge near Plymouth, New Hampshire. Their first child, Kristen, was born the following year, and their second, Jeffrey, a year later, while they lived near Groton, Connecticut. They moved to Nashua, New Hampshire in 1960 and had their third child, James, in 1962.

Liz went back to college and earned her degree in Early Childhood Education in 1975 from Fitchburg State College. Then in 1976 she and her husband decided to quit their “real jobs” and buy a small hardware store in Cornish, Maine and moved to what had until then been their summer house in Moultonboro, New Hampshire. At the same time, John became a self-employed engineering consultant and traveled extensively on construction projects. Thus Liz was responsible for keeping the store running efficiently and helping her husband manage his business. At the hardware store, she especially enjoyed the gardening and decorating aspects and helped many customers with their selections. Liz became a licensed Realtor in New Hampshire during this time as well.

After the sale of the hardware store to a local family in 1985, Liz started an antiques business known as Black Cat Antiques and frequently traveled throughout New England to as far away as Kentucky on buying trips. She was well known for her unique offerings of folk-art, textiles and primitives which she sold at booths in numerous group shops and at many weekend shows throughout Maine, New Hampshire and Massachusetts.

In 1994 she and John decided to leave their beloved lake house, and its often unbearable winter solitude, for a more suburban life in Cumberland, Maine. Liz returned to the real estate business full-time with Barbara Horton Real Estate. She also took up the hobby of rubber stamping and soon began working and teaching at a local craft store. In 1999, John and Liz moved down the road a piece to Falmouth Foreside and Liz began volunteering at the Portland branch of the American Red Cross. In 2009 they moved to the Thornton Oaks Retirement Community in Brunswick, Maine.

Liz was passionate about antiques and old houses throughout her life and especially loved to decorate and redecorate her home with her finds. Her family recollects the almost continuous arrangement and re-arrangement of furniture, paintings, rugs, etc. Her other hobbies included many types of handcrafts; sewing her own and the family’s clothes, braiding and hooking rugs, rubber stamping. Assembling jigsaw puzzles became a passion in later years. She was a big fan of QVC, HGTV, and the Food Network. She always had a soft spot for animals, especially her adopted beagle named Lucy and a husky mix named Sweet Girl both of whom gave her and John lots of joy. She loved spending time with her family and friends.

She is survived by her husband (John Stenberg), three children (Kristen Rozenberg of Sutton, Massachusetts, Jeffrey Alan Stenberg of Southwick, Massachusetts, and James Tileston Stenberg of Portland, Maine), her brother (Kenneth Menzies of Framingham, Massachusetts), and her six grandchildren.

A memorial reception was held at Thornton Oaks in Brunswick on Thursday, August 23 from 12 noon until 2 pm. In lieu of flowers, the family asks that donations be made to the Animal Refuge League of Greater Portland or the American Red Cross of Southern Maine. Arrangements are under the direction and care of Brackett Funeral Home, Brunswick.