CAMDEN — Sarah Jean Miller passed away at her home in Camden on June 15, 2026 after being ill with cancer for several months. Sarah was born on October 9, 1949 in Marshfield, Missouri and was the second child of Roy C. and Peg McFall Miller. She grew up in Marshfield, graduated from the University of Missouri in 1971 and went on to an almost fifty-year career in journalism, during which she lived in Brussels, Washington, London and New York before finding the place she was meant to be.

She and her husband, David Babski, were beginning their life together in the early 2000s when they discovered Camden. They moved there in 2002 as part-time residents but dropped the “part-time” as soon as they could. Sarah discovered many new interests, including gardening and developing her skill on the piano. Many Camden people who did not know her well will still remember the music they heard walking past her house on Mountain Street. Her greatest talent, though, and the one most important to her, was for friendship and community-building. Her happiest moments were when she could bring as many people as would fit into her house and on to her back deck to enjoy food, drink and good company. She was legendary her whole life for her energy and force of character, and she brought these to local community organizations, taking active roles and leadership positions in Bay Chamber Concerts, Camden Conference, Camden Philosophical Society and Camden Climate Action Now.

In her earlier life as a reporter and editor starting in the 1970s, she covered the petroleum and energy industries, working for publications including Business Week and Petroleum Intelligence Weekly. She was a phenomenally knowledgeable and dedicated journalist and in her retirement put a lifetime’s experience into blog and commentary pieces on the climate crisis and the energy transition. Sarah was previously married to Paul Kemezis and was a devoted mother and lifelong inspiration to their son, Adam. She loved philosophy, literature, music and art, including the many pieces by friends that fill her house.

She is survived by her husband, David; her son, Adam and his partner Liz Czach, of Edmonton, Alberta; by her brother, David and his wife Valerie Kistler Miller of Richmond, Mo., their children Ian and Whitney; and by her sister, Marjorie Miller and her husband Pete Fontaine, also of Camden, and their children Allison and Thomas.

She is deeply missed by an extended family, by all the friends she made in Maine and by the many friends from earlier days with whom she nurtured lifelong connections, and by all the people to whom she was constantly kind and generous. 

A memorial gathering will be announced later.

Memories may be shared here. Arrangements are with the Long Funeral Home & Cremation Service, 9 Mountain Street, Camden.