The Woolwich Select Board dedicated its 262nd town report to Sylvia Carlton and Rob Buck, longtime residents remembered and respected for their many years of service to the community. Both recently died. Together, Carlton and Buck served over 20 years on the board, in addition to giving countless hours of volunteer service to their town.

“They were very dedicated, cared deeply about the town and served quite effectively,” commented David King Sr.,Woolwich’s select board chairman. “It was actually Sylvia Carlton who got me interested in getting involved in town government. She asked me to become a member of the planning board, I accepted and served 10 years before becoming a selectman.” Carlton’s tenure on the select board was from 1974 to 1988.

Buck served several years with Carlton. His first term on the select board began in 1983 and he continued serving on the board, a number of years as chairman, until 1994.

Selectman Dale Chadbourne said he had many fond memories of both Carlton and Buck. When they served on the board in the 1980s and 90s, Woolwich was a much different community, he said. “For one, back then this was a much smaller town population wise. Woolwich really didn’t start growing until after they built the new Sagadahoc Bridge in 2000. And, it’s been growing ever since,” he said.

During Carlton and Buck’s select board tenure, Woolwich underwent one of its first town-wide property revaluations. Voters also increased the number of select board members from three to five in an effort to give the community better representation. Their biggest accomplishment, however, was presiding over the construction of the new municipal building which today houses the town office, fire department and 24/7 ambulance service. Brian Carlton, Woolwich’s EMS director and ambulance director, is a grandson of Sylvia Carlton.

In the town report dedication, Selectman Allison Hepler noted Carlton attended grade school in Woolwich, later graduating from Morse High School in 1959. During her career, she served as a rural route postal carrier for the city of Bath for 15 years. “She spent much of her ‘free’  time hunting, fishing, and tending to her garden. Friends and family remember that ‘she was the quiet one, but wouldn’t hesitate to give her opinion,’” Hepler wrote.

Carlton was born in Dresden Sept. 26, 1940, the daughter of Carroll T. and Susie E. Perkins.

Rob Buck graduated from Morse High in 1964 and served in the U.S. Navy during the Vietnam War aboard the USS WASP (CVS-18). During his military service, he was awarded the American Spirit Honor Medal. Later, Buck graduated with a bachelor of arts in biology from University of Southern Maine and was employed in the pharmaceutical industry in Massachusetts. Along with serving on the select board, Buck coached youth basketball, baseball and taught golf to people of all ages.

“Rob was instrumental in obtaining funds from the state to build the gymnasium and cafeteria at Woolwich Central School and then coached the Woolwich girls’ basketball team for several years,” Hepler wrote in the town report dedication.

Buck was born in Bath on Feb. 26, 1946, the second son of Dr. Leonardo Edgar and Letitia E. (Lee) Buck. 

“The townspeople of Woolwich benefited greatly from (Carlton and Buck’s) service and involvement in our community and they are missed. Their model of public service is a great example to all of us…,” concluded Helper in her dedication.

In an email to the Wiscasset Newspaper, Hepler wrote, “We were sad to learn of the death of two great Woolwich public servants in such a short period of time. They both shepherded the town through some major changes and I know that I look up to the example of both of them. We will miss them.”