Roberta Hunt Doughty

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Roberta Hunt Doughty

NORWAY — Roberta Hunt Doughty, 87, of Norway, passed away peacefully on Thursday, April 26, 2012 at the Maine Veterans Home in South Paris. She was born in Norway on April 9, 1925 to Lila Bryant Taker and Robert Clarence Hunt. She graduated from Norway High School and was the widow of Thaxter Edwin Doughty.

A role model for the Women's Movement before it was a cliché to be so, and inspired by Amelia Earhart, "Robbie" joined the ranks of the first women to take pilot flying lessons, during the 1940s. Following World War II she raised her family in Manchester, CT, while working at Pratt and Whitney during the escalation of the Cold World Era. During this time she was a Girl Scout Leader, taking her girls hiking in Vermont and making pudding in the icy stream. In the early 1960s, as an entrepreneur, she and devoted husband Ed returned to Maine and established Wilderness Campground, one of the finest family camping areas in the country. The local Girl Scouts were able to enjoy summer camp there too.

Not one to be a waster of idle time, she volunteered 25 years of her life along with Ed to doing Mission work in Honduras. Her single-handed devotion to duty directly resulted in the establishment of numerous schools, churches and medical facilities in that impoverished Central American nation. This is not to belittle the incredible amount of mission work she did for the United Church of Christ, most notably in Biloxi, MS. If there were an Olympic Gold Medal for volunteerism, she would have won it year after year.

She was an active member of the Second Congregational Church of Norway for nearly half a century. She served the community in numerous capacities, not the least of which was being president of the Maine State Women’s Fellowship, and on the Board of Maine Campground Owners Association and a member of the Daughters of the American Revolution.

Mrs. Doughty is survived by her daughters, Joanne Hawes and husband, Dave of Bonita Springs, FL, Terri Thompson and husband Roy of Somers, CT and Janet Aiello of Westerly, RI and many beloved grandchildren, great-grandchildren, nieces, nephews and great nieces and nephews. She also leaves her sister, Ivalea Pulkkinen of South Paris and brothers, Dale Taker of West Paris and Bruce Taker of Inverness, FL. She is predeceased by her husband; brothers, Dwain Taker and Peter Parsons and daughter, Donna Rich Foster.

From such humble beginnings it is truly amazing to conceive the number of lives she touched in her travels and work around the globe; she will be missed.

A Memorial service will be held at a later date, time and date to be announced later. Arrangements under the care of Oxford Hills and Weston Funeral Services, 1037 Main St., Oxford. On-line condolences may be expressed to the family at www.oxfordhillsfuneralservices.com.