Rosie Wilt made her journey to Paradise, early on the morning of Friday, May 25. She was at Cove’s Edge where she was lovingly cared for by her family and the Cove’s Edge staff.

Rosie Wilt lived her life with a love of adventure. Born on February 11, 1922, in Flushing, NY, she was the daughter of Harry Bolig and Elise McLean Bolig, and was christened Vera Rosamond, and forever called Rosie. Her mother died when she was 10, and together with her three older sisters, she went to live in Selinsgrove, PA, with her four maiden aunts on a farm that had been in the family for over 100 years.

Rosie never complained about life on the farm with its kerosene lamps, water pump in the kitchen next to the wood stove, and privy out back. She mowed the hill in back of the house with a push mower, learned to swim in the local river, and walked the two miles to school and back, all of which built up the strength that helped her set a women’s high jump record in high school that was unmatched for decades.

Rosie and Mark Wilt were high school sweethearts, and graduating during WWII, she followed him to Glendale, CA, where they were married in 1942. Mark joined the Army Air Corps, and the travel adventures began. Over Mark’s thirty year Air Force career, Rosie cheerfully packed up the house and went on to Mark’s next station, looking forward to discovering what each place had to offer.

Susan arrived in 1945, and Elizabeth in 1947. As a family they went fishing, camping, and sightseeing from one end of the country to the other. Rosie loved gardening, and always left the home they lived in more beautiful than they found it. At times she wrote gardening columns for the local newspapers. As the girls entered high school, Rosie discovered skiing, a passion she developed in New York, and continued in Colorado. When Mark retired from the Air Force they built a house in Vail, Colorado, and Rosie really came into her own. She had a love of art, and started an Art Appreciation in the School program in Vail. Active on the Vail Arts Council, she gathered drawings from school students which told the history of the Vail valley, and had them made into tiles that now decorate the intra Vail bus station. Rosie initiated, and annually organized, a juried fine arts festival in Vail, which occupied much of her time while they lived there.

In 1985, the Wilts moved to Newcastle, ME, to be near their grandchildren as they grew up, and Elizabeth joined the family there in 2007. Again, Rosie took great pleasure in gardening, and as part of the Damariscotta Watershed Association wrote a column for the Lincoln County News, keeping everyone up on the antics of two nearby eagles, Betsy and Sam. There was still time for traveling world-wide, fishing locally and in Canada, golfing and playing bridge with friends. She was a fabulous cook and an accomplished artist in her own right.

In 2010, Mark and Rosie moved to Schooner Cove, and continued to be active with their family and friends.

Rosie was predeceased by Mark Wilt, her husband of 74 years. She will be greatly missed by daughters, Elizabeth Wilt of Damariscotta and Colorado, and Susan Glueck and husband Peter of Newcastle; as well as grandchildren, Peter W. Glueck of Brunswick, Sarah Carlisle with husband Ben, and their daughter Claire of Bangor, also Charles Glueck and Karen Raccuia of Massachusetts.

A memorial service will be held at the Second Congregational Church in Newcastle on Saturday, June 16th at 11 am. In lieu of flowers, donations to the Heifer Project , which Rosie loved to support herself, would be appreciated.

Arrangements are under the direction and care of the Strong-Hancock Funeral Home, 612 Main Street, Damariscotta, ME 04543. Condolences, and messages for the family, may be expressed by visiting: www.StrongHancock.com.

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