Dr. Hilda M. Fife was born in Greenland, N.H., 13 Aug 1903. She received her B.A. degree from Colby College and M.A. and Ph. D. degrees from Cornell University. She also did graduate work at Boston University and the University of Chicago. She became professor of English at the University of Maine and served on the faculty from 1946 until retirement as professor emerita in 1969.

Dr. Fife was the founder of the Maine Old Cemetery Association and had been active in the Kittery Maritime Museum and Rice Public Library in Kittery as well as Maine League of Historical Societies and Museums. She died in 1990.

Our Spring 1991 MOCA Newsletter included this Memoriam to Dr. Fife:

It is with deep regret that we announce the death of Dr. Hilda M. Fife in November, 1990. Hilda was the dedicated founder of MOCA, her background in teaching and her love of history the foundation for action in seeking to protect and preserve the many small cemeteries throughout Maine.

Born in Greenland, New Hampshire, on Aug. 13, 1903, Hilda spent her growing years in Kittery, where she finished high school and started her first teaching in a one-room school. This introduction to education at a different level made her realize she wanted to go to college, so she spent the next four years at Colby College.

She became an Associate Professor at Hampton Institute in Virginia, and later Assistant Professor at Alfred University, then a member of the English staff at the University of Maine, serving on the faculty there from 1946 until her retirement as Professor Emeritus in 1969.

Following her retirement, she devoted much time to the Kittery Historical and Naval Museum, to the Rice Public Library, the Maine League of Historical Societies and Museums, and to the growing MOCA. It was in 1968 that she founded MOCA, along with several other interested friends, at the request of the recently formed Maine League of Historical Societies and Museums and the interest of Dr. Leon Dean. And it was from that modest beginning that MOCA grew, now recognized as a vita1 force in the effort to protect and preserve the story of people from Maine's colorful history.

Hilda was the recipient of a number of awards, including the Harriette Merrifield Forbes Award from the AGS for outstanding contribution to graveyard studies, and a pewter plaque engraved with a special citation from the MLHSM as founder of MOCA. A special resolve dated May 17, 1976, signed by Dan Stevens, President, and six past presidents, provides that the name or Hilda M. Fife shall appear as Founder on all documents and newsletters of the Association.

It was Hilda who began the Newsletter, and wrote and prepared each edition for many years, not satisfied unless each article was absolutely correct in both content and grammar. She enjoyed telling the stories of MOCA activities:, and commending these who worked to rehabilitate the small cemeteries that were in danger of being covered over or vandalized.

Hilda's warm smile, sensitive nature, and dedication to the cause of MOCA will be missed by MOCA members, but not forgotten. A written tribute from Jonathan McKallip in 1985 concluded: "Everyone of us in MOCA salutes you, Hilda M. Fife, for touching our lives in so many ways.

Lewiston Daily Sun, 17 Oct 1981 - Society Hears History of Cemeteries

Nathan Hale was instrumental in creating a surname index of Maine burials transcribed by volunteers of the Maine Old Cemetery Association. His work, now known as the Nathan Hale Collection, is an important source of genealogical information for Maine families.

Obituary

Nathan Hale, 97, retired educator and headmaster, died Friday [8 Nov 1996] at Coves Edge in Damariscotta.

He was born in Schenectady, N.Y., the son of Edward Everett and Rose Perkins Hale Jr., and attended local schools.

During World War I, he served with the Army, and during World War II, served as an air raid warden.

In 1922, he graduated from Union College in Schenectady and attended Harvard University for two years.

On March 22, 1930, he married Lillian Boynton in New York City. He met Boynton, an artist, while studying at the Anson K. Cross Art School in Boothbay Harbor, Maine.

Mr. Hale taught at The Rivers School in Cambridge, Mass., the Riverdale Country Day School in the Bronx, N.Y., and The Buckley School in New York City.

In 1936, Mr. Hale and his family moved to England and then France a year later. While living in France, he wrote and illustrated two children's books, ''The Blue Horse'' and ''The Orange Cow,'' both of which are still in print. In 1939, he returned to the United States, assuming the role of assistant headmaster at Rocky Hill School in East Greenwich, R.I.

In 1940, Mr. Hale and his wife purchased Rocky Hill School and he became the school's headmaster. At the time, there were 35 students enrolled; upon Mr. Hale's retirement in 1962, there were 225. Over the years, his efforts moved the school from private to not-for-profit status and to a new location on Narragansett Bay. In addition, he operated the school's summer camp.

Following his retirement, he moved to his summer home here on the Damariscotta River. For many years he was the volunteer director of the Old Maine Cemetery Association's surname project.

An avid golfer and sailor, Mr. Hale was senior champion at the Wawenoc Country Club in Walpole. He was a charter member of the former Twin Villages Yacht Club here.

Surviving are his wife of Newcastle; two sons, Nathan of New York City and Christopher of Concord, Mass.; and five grandchildren.

A celebration of Mr. Hale's life will be held at 11 a.m. Tuesday at Strong Funeral Home, Business Route 1, Damariscotta. The Rev. Donald Harrington will officiate. Burial will follow in Glidden Cemetery, River Road.

Published by the Portland Press Herald; 11 November 1996

Excerpted from an article by Tom O'Connor published 23 May 1985 in the Lincoln County News

Area men research veterans' graves

Ed Crocker of Damariscotta and Nathan Hale of Newcastle are two men with a mission of overwhelming proportion. The two are in volved, in conjunction with state and private groups, in locating forgotten cemeteries and identifying the graves of veterans in Lincoln County

Crocker's interest in forgotten war veterans' grave sites was piqued when he discovered that the resting place of his uncle, a World War I veteran buried in the Robbinson-Glidden cemetery in Damariscotta, was not honored with a flag on Memorial Day.

Hale got involved in the project after taking up research of his wife's family's, the Boyntons, genealogy. His interest led him to become the coordinator for the Maine Surname Index Project.

These two gentlemen, though for differing reasons, found themselves working together after a mutual friend, George Dow of Nobleboro, (who himself was extensively involved in Nobleboro's identification of town cemeteries), introduced them.

Before going into the details of their work there are two groups which need to identified. First, The Maine State Library's Surname Index Project which has as its primary goal the creation of an index of persons who lived in Maine up to 1900. The index is being developed through the voluntary efforts of people like Hale and Crocker

The second group, the Maine Old Cemetery Association, was founded in 1969 to discover, restore and maintain old cemeteries and their records and any historical information relating to them. Hale identified the increased interest in family genealogies as the motivator for these two projects.

For these two groups to work successfully they have depended on the assistance of the Maine Historical Society Library, the Daughters of the American Revolution, libraries of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and several posts of the Veterans of Foreign Wars and the American Legion, Hale added.

Crocker's role in the team's work has been as "leg man," locating abandoned cemeteries and gathering family information from existing headstones. He also identifies and records the locations of veterans' gravesites. "The best place to look for abandoned cemeteries) is in the corners of old stone fences or near old apple orchards," Crocker said.

The information he gathers is funneled through Hale, who transfers the genealogy data onto a Surname Index Project document which is sent to the state Library. The cemetery's location is indicated on a Department of Transportation map which is then included in the county record of cemeteries.

Hale, as part of his duties as coordinator of the Surname Project, sends a Department of Transportation map to every town clerk in the state with instructions on how to gather information. It is then up to the town and its citizens to provide the labor needed to accumulate the data.

The two men have helped in the creation of a resource with the potential of serving future generations. The plan to publish a book this fall with the names of all Lincoln County's veterans is not the end of the project.

"This is a project that will never really end," Crocker said, "every time I turn around someone is coming up to me and telling of another cemetery they have found or heard of somewhere off in the woods."

Some of the complicating aspects of gathering genealogical information such as, "people who had no property had no head marker, there were more lenient burial laws, many people went west, this area's involvement with the maritime industry meant a number of people perished at sea and the special problem of contagious disease requiring quick burial," were described by Hale.

Another possible point of confusion is the past practice of, "boys hired to mow the cemetery moving smaller markers and then replacing them haphazardly," Hale added.

Crocker recounted the experience of the Moravian cemetery in Waldoboro where "Six or seven years ago a farmer removed all the markers and plowed up the cemetery to plant his crop.'

Hale came to Newcastle after retiring as headmaster of a private school in Rhode Island Crocker was born in Damariscotta and after serving in WWII “from D-day +1 to VE day he left the area, due to the limited prospects of the local economy, to work for the post office for twenty years in Connecticut and Massachusetts

Their volunteer work is coordinated through the Retired Seniors Volunteer Program in Lincoln County.

Obituary for Edward A. Crocker

Edward A. Crocker, 64, Damariscotta, died June 15 in a Portland hospital. He was born in Damariscotta, the son of John H. and Marguerite Lessner Crocker. He served in the U.S. Army during World War II, from June 6, 1944, to May 8, 1945.

He later worked for the U.S. Postal Service for more than 20 years in Connecticut and Massachusetts. He was a member of the American Legion of Damariscotta and a life member of the VFW in Waldoboro.

Mr. Crocker was also a member of the Central Senior Citizens Association in Damariscotta and was involved in locating forgotten cemeteries and identifying the graves of veterans in Lincoln County.

He was one of the coordinators of the Maine Surname Index Project and was an avid gardener.

He is survived by two sisters, Mrs. Edna Weaver of Damariscotta and Mrs. Florence Cossette of Wiscasset; and two brothers, Chester Crocker of Wiscasset and Charles Crocker of Lewiston.

Funeral services were held at 1 p.m. Tuesday at the Strong Funeral Home. Interment in the Calais Memorial Cemetery, Calais.

Florence Dean Ricker, Mark Ricker, Virginia Ricker, Charlotte Ricker

Charlotte Ricker of Haverhill, MA become a lifetime MOCA member in 1980. She left a lasting legacy to MOCA in the form of a generous bequest to our growing organization upon her passing. In response to President Siebert's request for information about Miss Ricker, Life Member Margery Brown of Cherryfield wrote:

"She was the daughter of Delmont Ricker [sic; i.e. Delmont's brother Mark], who was born in Cherryfield. The Rickers had been in Cherryfield from early on in the settling of the town.

Charlotte and her sister, Virginia, were never married. They used to attend MOCA meetings held in the southern areas of Maine, anything within driving distance of Haverhill. Occasionally they would attend other meetings, coming to Cherryfield for a visit, although all that remained were distant cousins. She spent some of her summers here when a child. She was a Life Member of MOCA (1980). I first met the two of them at MOCA meetings.

Her sister died first, and several years later when Charlotte found that she also had cancer, she wanted our society to have the furniture and other items she had purchased from the Ricker houses in Cherryfield. She marked each item with the history of who had owned it, and we picked up two loads. She also left the society with a generous cash bequest.

She and her sister were both active in the historical society in Haverhill. They were both lovely ladies and it was my pleasure to have known them. It was sad that they both suffered such painful deaths. They had no close relatives left, only distant cousins on both sides of the family."

MOCA Newsletter, 1991 Spring, Volume XXIII No 1

HAVERHILL--Charlotte E. Ricker, 73, of 34 Talmuth Ave., Haverhill, died Sunday night at the Lahey Clinic in Burlington.

She was born in Haverhill, April 6, 1916, the daughter of Mark B. and Florence (Dean) Ricker, and was a graduate of Haverhill High School.

Ms. Ricker had been employed for 38 years at AT&T Bell Laboratories.

She was a ember of the Universalist Unitarian Church, where she belonged to the church choir as well as the church's Ladies Circle.

Ms. Ricker was a life member of the Merrimack Valley Chapter American Guild of Organists, the Organ Historical Society, the Boston Organ Club, the Winnekenni Foundation, the Haverhill Historical Society and the Essex Society of Genealogists.

She was active in the Sons and Daughter sof the First Settlers of Newbury, the Maine Genealogical Society, the Maine Cemetery Association, the Society for Preservation of New England Antiquities, the United Society of Shakers, and the Telephone Pioneers of America. She was also a trustee of the Methuen Memorial Music Hall.

Ms. Ricker leaves many cousins and close friends including Marie Aumais, Lawrence; and Donna B. Gropp, Bradford. She was the sister of the late Virginia D. Ricker, who died Nov. 23, 1986.

Copy of obituary clipping sent to MOCA by the Haverhill Public Library, September 26, 1990

About the Photo

Compliments of the Haverhill Public Library, Special Collections Department

The Ricker family: Florence Dean Ricker, Mark [B.] Ricker, Virginia Ricker and Charlotte Ricker. They are at an unidentified beach. They are wearing light clothing, except Mark, who is wearing a dark suit, shirt, tie and flat cap. Florence and Mark are seated on the sand, the girls seated in front of them. Florence is wearing a light dress with a polka dot pattern and a hat, and is holding a parasol. The girls both have light hair, the girl on the left is a toddler, wearing a sailor suit romper; the girl on the right looks elementary school age and is wearing a darker sleeveless dress. Other people are visible in the background. Inscription on verso: "Ricker Family / Florence Dean Ricker / Mark Ricker, Haverhill Police officer / Virginia / Charlotte." Snapshot photograph, probably 1920s.

Did YOU know Margaret? We'd love to see a full bio and perhaps a photo if you'd be so inclined as to contribute to this page.

Find a Grave bio info says:

Daughter of Edward [Jenkins] and Christina (Ashworth) Robbins. Wife of _____ Mills. They wed in Winchester, MA, in 1933. Maine, US Death Index 1960-1997

Mass. Birth Records

Name Margaret Elizabeth Robbins
Gender Female
Birth Date 29 Dec 1905
Birth Place Chelmsford, Massachusetts, USA
Father Eduard J Robbins
Mother Christina Ashworth

Married Enslie Newcomb Mills, 1851, Chelmsford MA marriage index; Vol 37 Pg 316

SSA&CI

Name Margaret Elizabeth Mills
[Margaret E Mills]
[Margaret Elizabeth Robbins]
Gender Female
Race White
Birth Date 29 Dec 1905
Birth Place Chelmsford M, Massachusetts
[Chelmsford M|]
Death Date 18 Jul 1993
Claim Date 12 Jun 1974
Father: Edward J Robbins

Mother: Christina Ashworth
SSN 012504685

Notes 17 Aug 1972: Name listed as MARGARET ELIZABETH MILLS; 24 Jul 1993: Name listed as MARGARET E MILLS