Bernardston, MA – Paulina (Polly) W. Streeter, of Bernardston, MA, then Greenfield, MA in her final years, passed away on Saturday, May 23, 2026. She was 96. Polly was born on September 23 , 1929 to Austin and Alice (Coates) Dobias. She grew up in Leyden, MA on her father’s farm during the Great Depression, where she learned the meaning of hard work and helping others. She graduated from Greenfield High School in 1946 and worked a variety of jobs in her early years, including
a paper dress company and bookkeeping at Streeter’s Store in Bernardston. She married Ernest Streeter in July of 1947. They started a family and built a home on Huckle Hill Road in Bernardston. Not many years later, they bought the long admired “Oakes House” across the street, where they spent most of their years together. Later in life, they moved to the Bernardston Country Estates mobile home park. Polly was a generous person with her time and talents. She has been a long-standing member of
the United Church of Bernardston, serving as a Sunday School teacher, singing in the choir, and volunteering numerous hours at the church. For many years, she helped organize and run the annual Christmas Bazaar, as well as making many different crafts, with Ernie’s help, to donate to the Bazaar and raise money for the church. She was a woman of many talents and tried her hand at various arts and crafts throughout the years including quilting, sewing, doll-making, knitting, painting, and ceramics. You name it,
she probably did it at one point, and was always busy making something. In the early 1980’s, she became a certified ceramics teacher and opened a studio in the basement of her home. She taught many people the joy and satisfaction of this craft for almost two decades. She was a storyteller, a lover of history, and had much to share with family and friends in regard to her full and interesting life. Family was very important to her, and she spent many hours creating
a genealogy (including anecdotes) of both the Dobias and Streeter family lineage. She developed macular degeneration in her later years, and despite gradually losing much of her eyesight, making it difficult to do many of the crafts she loved to do, she took it with stride and found other things to do. No matter what happened throughout her life, she felt blessed. She leaves behind her grandchildren Elizabeth (and Denis) Downing of Glastonbury, CT; Robert (and Jane) Smith, of Enfield, CT; Angela Streeter of Turners
Falls, MA, and Tina (and Mike) Flagg of Turners Falls, MA, as well as great grandchildren Caitlin and Connor Downing and Aaron and Jonathan Smith. She also leaves her daughter-in-law, Diane Streeter of Leyden, MA; former son-in-law, Walt (and Ginny) Smith of Glastonbury, CT and beloved niece and friend, Linda (and Brian) McComb of Bernardston, MA, as well as other extended family that she cared for dearly. She was predeceased by her husband, Ernie, sister Alice Dobias, brothers Arthur Dobias and Austin “Sonny” Dobias, daughter,
Marie Smith, son, Ronald Streeter, grandson Jeremy Streeter and infant granddaughter Smith. The family would like to thank the nurses and staff at the Arbors of Greenfield, Regal Care of Greenfield and New England Hospice for all their help in her final years. A private graveside service will be held at the convenience of the family. In lieu of flowers, donations in Polly’s memory can be made to The United Church of Bernardston, PO Box 503, Bernardston, MA 01337 or New England Hospice, 190 Old
Derby St., # 304, Hingham, MA 02043. Kidder Funeral Home, 1 Parker Ave, Northfield, MA is assisting the family with arrangements. Click here to sign the guest book or honor their memory with flowers, donations, or other heartfelt tributes
Paulina Streeter, Polly Streeter, Bernardston, Greenfield, ceramics teacher, United Church of Bernardston, obituary