Meredith (Merrie) Carver Johnston died on Feb. 20, 2023, surrounded by family after a brief and courageous battle with pancreatic cancer, a terrible disease that she faced with bravery, strength, grace and beauty, and with the care of family members and High Peaks Hospice. She is survived by her loving husband William B. Johnston; her son Nicholas Carver Johnston, his wife Mary and their children Sara, Lucy, Casey, Benjamin and Luke; her daughter Katharine Anne Johnston; and her siblings William A. Emslie, Margaret W. Emslie, and Robert S. Emslie. Friends from all sides of her life gave support to Meredith and her caregivers through bedside visits, consoling words and messages, gifts of food and flowers, and countless acts of kindness.

Meredith Jane Carver was born to Elinor Whitney Kingsbury and 1st Lieutenant Samuel Meredith Carver Jr. on Dec. 26, 1944, in Clovis, N.M., where her father was training to fly B-29 aircraft. Lt. Carver was killed in action on April 7, 1945. In 1948, Meredith's mother married Lloyd John Emslie who adopted Meredith, her name changing to Meredith Carver Emslie. Meredith was a 1962 graduate of Garden City High School on Long Island, N.Y., where she met her future husband, William.

Meredith received a BA degree from Wilson College, Chambersburg, Pa., in 1966 and a Masters of Arts in Teaching (MAT) degree from Wesleyan University, Middletown, Conn., in 1968. While a student at Wesleyan, Meredith studied pottery with Mary K. Risley, a founder of the Wesleyan Potters Guild and nationally known ceramist. This began for Meredith a life-long hobby, which became a business when she retired from her career as an art teacher and established Aerobie Fields Pottery. Many former art students and fellow artists have used the same word in describing her - "encouragement." Meredith always strongly encouraged students and fellow artists in their work.

Meredith and William were married in 1968 and moved to Westport, N.Y., in 1974, where they raised their children, Nicholas and Katharine. Meredith was a devoted and caring wife and mother who supported her children beyond measure. She chaperoned ski trips, coached tennis and attended every soccer game, basketball game, school play and concert. She was a positive and happy person who threw herself whole-heartedly into whatever she tackled in life - raising her children; adoring her five grandchildren; teaching art to children and mentoring young adults; gardening; playing paddle tennis; hiking with the Wednesday Women's Hiking Cooperative; devoting herself to Westport's visitor center, Heritage House; working with fellow artists and craftspeople to found and carry on the annual Spirit of Place Art Show at Heritage House and studio tours.

Meredith loved sports and the outdoors. She was strong, physically fit and competitive, whether it was an enthusiastic game of paddle tennis or seeing who could complete the daily crossword puzzle first. Meredith enjoyed every summer of her life on Cape Cod, where her grandfather, Francis Kingsbury, lived part of the year. She loved the natural beauty, historic sites, culture and art of the Cape. She bicycled, walked the beaches, rode the waves and relished fresh seafood. Meredith also spent summers visiting her grandparents, Sam and Amalie Carver, in Ticonderoga, where she learned to swim in Lake George and first discovered clay.

It is Meredith's request that her family have a party in celebration of her life at her studio, Aerobie Fields Pottery, in the late spring or early summer at a date to be determined. She has requested that the party be replete with a tent, food, music and dancing.

If you would like to honor Meredith's memory, please consider making a donation in her name to her beloved alma mater, Wilson College, Chambersburg, Pa. www.wilson.edu/makeagift