Rita Pauline (Mycko) LaMountain was born in Holden, Massachusetts, on July 19, 1931. She was the eighth of nine children born to Ignacy Mycko and Zofia (Cydzik) Mycko, who emigrated to the U.S. from Eastern Europe. Despite losing her mother when she was only seven, Rita was a most amazing mother to four children of her own.

She married Gerald LaMountain in Oxford, Massachusetts, on Groundhog Day 1952 and the couple relocated to Maine in the early ‘60s with three young children. They first settled in Wells, where their fourth child was born. Wells was followed by Portland for a few years and they eventually settled in Denmark in 1970, where they spent the next several years rehabbing the house they bought there. Gardening, preserving, rug braiding, chair caning, upholstering, and weaving were just some of the crafts they mastered. Rita was also active in the Denmark Historical Society and co-authored a book titled Denmark, Maine: Past and Present. Sadly, Gerald passed away in 1983. Rita stayed in the home they worked so long to restore until she made the difficult decision to let go of it in 2005.

During those years on her own, she finished high school, earned an associate degree in early childhood education at University of Maine Farmington and Southern Maine, hiked most of the trails in the White Mountain National Forest and a few in the French Alps, and traveled to Africa and the British Isles. In 2011 she had the great good fortune to accompany the new owners of her home in Denmark on a trip to Poland, where she was finally able to connect with her Eastern European roots.

From 2005 until 2020 she split her time between Florida and Maine. She deeply grieved the loss of her second-born son in 2008. When the pandemic hit, her daughter brought her back to Maine, where she almost made it to her 95th birthday. She passed away on the morning of April 15th, just three days after the anniversary of Gerald’s passing. They were born on the same day of the year and very nearly departed on the same day.

Rita had a smile that could light up a room and a personality to match. She is survived by her daughter and (favorite) son-in-law, two sons and daughters-in-law, seven grandchildren, and three great-grandchildren, all of whom deeply love and miss her. A gathering to celebrate her beautiful life will take place in July.