NEW GLOUCESTER, Maine (AP) - 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.
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.