1 of last remaining Shakers in US dies at 89, leaving just 2
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}FILE - In this Sept. 13, 1995 file photo, Sister Frances Carr, left, and Brother Arnold Hadd of the Shaker Village in Sabbathday Lake, Maine, sing with the Boston Camerata during a rehearsal at the Warwick Hotel in New York. Carr, one of the last remaining Shakers, died Monday, Jan. 2, 2017, after a brief battle with cancer. She was 89. (AP Photo/Adam Nadel, File) (The Associated Press)
A member of a nearly extinct religious society has died, leaving just two Shakers in the nation. Sister Frances Carr was 89.
The Shaker community at Sabbathday Lake, Maine, says Carr died Monday after a brief battle with cancer. The community said, "The end came swiftly and with dignity."
The Shakers are also known as the United Society of Believers in Christ's Second Appearance. They live a communal, agrarian lifestyle that combines worship, hard work and simple living.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}They settled in 1783 at Sabbathday Lake, one of more than a dozen such communities throughout the country at one time or another. It's now the only such active community.
The Shakers' numbers declined because members are celibate and the group stopped taking orphans like Carr, who arrived as a 10-year-old.