Rita White passed away at the age of 94 on Saturday, November 17 in a South Portland nursing home. It's been difficult for me to write about Rita as she was such a part of Monhegan for so many years, I don't know where to begin. My memories of Rita begin when she was already in her fifties. I have no personal knowledge of her before that time. I will do my best to write of her as I knew her although this will be incomplete.

Rita was born and raised on Monhegan. She was a small woman whose craggy face was full of personality. She had a sharp wit and did not hesitate to say what she thought. For me, as well as many summer visitors, Rita was as much a part of the island as the cliffs and trails. Always here, year after year, she lived in a small part of her large house on top of Wharf Hill. She rarely left the island. She knew of everyone's comings and goings.

When I was child coming here for the summer Rita had her summer job at the Island Inn laundry. Every day all day she would hang the sheets out to dry on the clotheslines set up behind the Inn. They were beautiful and many artists painted as well as photographed them. She also at that time worked at the Monhegan Store when it was owned and run by Doug and Harry Odom. She would stand behind the register always knitting when she wasn't working. I remember long white bandages that I was told she sent to lepers in a leper colony. Later she would start on wristers for the lobstermen. All were knit in their buoy colors which she would give out at Christmas along with mittens for the women and presents for the kids.

She would walk down the aisles of the store making a list of what needed to be ordered on torn cigarette cartons in her beautiful flowing handwriting. After the store closed she would go upstairs and make Doug and Harry's beds and settle in for cocktail hour. After my parents bought the store in 1979 Rita stayed on for two years and her knowledge was invaluable. She no longer made beds but the cocktail hour tradition continued. She was, in a way, our national treasure. Full of history, never changing.

One year she went ashore and came back with her signature braids cut into a new hairstyle that shocked us all. Rita was not supposed to change. She was a private person who did not let many people in her house and did not reveal much about her personal life. It's not easy to list all her relatives without doing some digging. I know of her sister Lila Pepper and niece Susan Finkin and her husband Mark and daughter Betthany. I know two of her children, Jimmy and Judy, predeceased her.

In later years the community rallied around her. She was crowned queen in an elaborate celebration at the Island Inn one year. Her birthdays were duly noted with the big ones such as her 90th a community event. Plates of food and eggnog were delivered when she could no longer attend the Christmas party at the school. We always made sure that Reet had a place to go for holiday meals. Although she rarely changed her routine she spent several winters in her later years with her sister in Florida. She delighted in getting some young man to push her in a wheelchair through the airport.

Even off island the Monhegan connection was strong. If you were in Florida a visit was required and people were always available to take her to and from the island. Her last few winters on the island were not easy. Islanders were able to make sure she was warm and fed but eventually could not meet her medical needs.

She moved to the South Portland Nursing Home near her good friend Margie Dunson. Margie was ever present during Rita's last years. She advocated for her financially, helped renovate her house and visited her often at the home. It was Margie who brought her to Monhegan for summer visits and took her out for a drive or lunch. And it was Margie who called me last Saturday to say Rita was gone.

This chapter of Monhegan history has closed. There will most likely be a memorial service in the spring.