Wiscasset's history has survived the ages thanks to the efforts of those who have kept it alive.

The late Jane Standen Tucker was one of those people. 

She was the daughter of Richard and Ruth Tucker, grand-daughter of Richard Tucker Jr., a successful shipping agent who built a hilltop mansion overlooking the Sheepscot River in Wiscasset.

Numerous articles have been written about her fascinating life and the rich history of her family dating back to the early 19th century. She died at St. Andrews Village in Boothbay Harbor December 19, 2012.

Evidence of her decades-long residence and efforts to preserve Wiscasset and Maine history can be found in the Jane S. Tucker genealogical research room on an upper floor of the Wiscasset Public Library. 

A group called Findelarue Enterprises in Boothbay created a documentary titled, “Jane S. Tucker, A Life Lived Close to History.”

But several people who live in Wiscasset today remember her gentle voice and sharp wit. 

“I was impressed with her knowledge of history,” Lincoln County Historical Association President Ed Kavanagh said. 

Kavanagh said he did not know Tucker as well as many other residents in town, but was surprised after meeting her in spring of 2012, when she critiqued the book “Wiscasset in Pownalborough” by Fanny Chase.

Kavanagh said he remains particularly impressed with the Jane Tucker genealogy room. “Her work up there is fascinating,” he said. He remarked on the extensive and organized collection of information available to the public. 

People must get permission to access the room, but once there an individual could spend several hours researching a family name or browsing archived newspapers and other material. “The Jane Tucker room in that library is a treasure trove,” Kavanagh said. 

People can learn about the late historian and benefactor who spent years living frugally so that she could donate her home to an organization that would promise to care for it, and keep it open for all to visit and enjoy.

“She had some really close friends over the years,” said Peggy Konitzky, site manager for Castle Tucker and the Nickells-Sortwell House. Konitzky characterized Tucker as a diplomatic woman who would stand up for her values and avoid unnecessary conflict. One of her closest friends, according to Konitzky, was Marguerite Rafter. 

Susan Blagden, Jane Tucker's close friend for over 40 years, agreed. “She was very funny, intelligent.” Blagden also said Tucker was very pragmatic. 

Following an automobile accident a few years ago, she told Blagden she was no longer going to drive. Within two months of the accident, she moved to St. Andrews Village in Boothbay Harbor. “She was just very realistic,” Blagden said.

Her pragmatism and calm demeanor helped her through some times that might otherwise have been very stressful and life-threatening, Blagdon said. She mentioned a favorite story: Tucker encountering a bear in the darkness of a compound where she worked in the Yukon territory of Canada.

“'Weren't you scared?' I asked her,” Blagden said. Tucker replied, “Oh, no. It was just a very small bear.”

Conversations such as this often came up in the earliest years of their acquaintance, when Blagden and her new friend, Jane Tucker commuted to Maine from their jobs in Boston in the mid-to-late 1950s.

Tucker was born in 1917 in Palo Alto, Calif., and grew up with a love for the stars and sky above with a father who worked as an astronomer at the Lick Observatory, a research facility on the summit of Mt. Hamilton along the Diablo Range east of San Jose. 

By the time she had moved to Boston, to be closer to her aunt Jane Armstrong Tucker who lived in Castle Tucker, young Jane Tucker had traveled the world.

“When I was first getting to know Jane, I was terrified of her,” said Blagden, who worked as a radio announcer in Boston at the time. “She was so intelligent and had been to so many places.” Initial trepidation faded quickly as Blagden asked Tucker about her life on those long car rides, which took place as often as 12 times per month. 

On one of these excursions, the two women talked about camping and experiences with wildlife. Blagden said she remembers Tucker recalling a time in Wyoming when she woke up, staring into the face of a mountain lion, whose whiskers were brushing against her face. 

Realizing the mountain lion was just being curious, Tucker stayed calm and still. Eventually, the mountain lion drifted away.

By the time Tucker moved to Maine full time, she and Blagden were close friends. Tucker's aunt died in 1967, leaving her to care for the family house. For a number of years preceding her death, Tucker had visited and cared for her aunt and had been helping to maintain Castle Tucker.

Blagden said Tucker had hoped the Society for the Preservation of New England Antiquities would take ownership of the house, recognizing its unique aesthetic, architectural appearance and historical value. 

Lacking an endowment to help maintain the property, however, the society would not accept it. Long before she moved full time to Maine, Tucker had been trying to build an endowment to help preserve Castle Tucker. 

Blagden said her friend lived frugally, putting funds away over time toward this endowment and for some 30 years maintained Castle Tucker. When she moved to Castle Tucker to live full time, she continued to work part time in Boston and lived in a back section of the house where she had installed a new stove.

Knowing she was saving for the endowment and working to preserve history at home and in Wiscasset, her friends would treat her to dinner out and invite her to attend local events. It was her character and the way she treated others; however, that garnered her the admiration of so many in Wiscasset. 

“Jane was always a lot of fun,” Blagden said, adding that conversations were always stimulating.

By all accounts, Tucker was an active community member. She attended the St. Philips Episcopal Church and was a member of a long-standing organization that worked quietly to help women in need, called the Wiscasset Female Charitable Society. She was actively involved with the Lincoln County Historical Association, working closely with those who founded it under a different name.

“She really was an amazing woman,” Konitzky said, adding that Tucker sacrificed a lot to keep her family's estate together over the many years. “It's just astonishing.”

In the documentary, Jane Tucker tells much more about her life growing up, visiting Castle Tucker as a child and working abroad. To take the words of Kavanagh, there is a treasure trove of stories out there and Blagden hopes that someday someone will write a book about the late Jane Standen Tucker.

John Maguire can be reached at 207-844-4634 or jmaguire@wiscassetnewspaper.com.