SOUTH PARIS — Roberta Hunt Doughty, 87, of Norway, passed away peacefully on Thursday, April 26, at the Maine Veterans’ Home.

She was born in Norway, 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 Womens’ Movement before it was a cliche 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, Conn., 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 in not to belittle the incredible amount of mission work she did for the United Church of Christ most notably in Biloxi, Miss. If there were an Olympic Gold Medal for volunteerism, she would have won it year after year.

Robbie 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.

Roberta is survived by her daughters, Joanne Hawes and husband, Dave, of Bonita Springs, Fla., Terri Thompson and husband, Roy, of Somers, Conn., and Janet Aiello of Westerly, R.I.; many beloved grandchildren, great-grandchildren, nieces, nephews, great-nieces and nephews; her sister, Ivalea Pulkkinen of South Paris; and brothers, Dale Taker of West Paris and Bruce Taker of Inverness, Fla.

She was 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.

The family would like to thank the staff at the Maine Veterans’ Home for their loving care.

Online condolences may be expressed to the family at www.oxfordhillsfuneralservices.com.

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