Madeline Wilcox of Mars Hill is no stranger to being part of a large Aroostook County family. After raising seven children, she has seen her family grow to include 24 grandchildren, 46 great-grandchildren, with another on the way and 10 great-great-grandchildren, with an 11th on the way.
“I lost count a long time ago,” Wilcox said, laughing as she recently recalled family memories.
At age 98, Wilcox lived on her own until several months ago, when she fell and broke her arm. She now lives at Northern Light Continuing Care in Mars Hill. But despite the physical challenges that have forced her to use a wheelchair and the memory loss that comes with getting older, she still loves to tell stories from her childhood and the years of raising her family.
Wilcox has always lived in Aroostook County. Her parents, William and Fern Parks, raised four daughters and grew potatoes and grain on farms in Presque Isle and Washburn. She spent her first four years of school in a two-grade schoolhouse in Easton before her family moved to Presque Isle. She graduated from Presque Isle High School in 1939 and married her husband, the late Roy Wilcox, four years later.
Farming was a tradition that the Wilcoxes passed down to their children — Richard, Peter, Joanne, Avis, Juanica, Alan and Dolores — during the children’s younger years. On their farm in Chapman, the family often worked from 5 a.m. until late in the evening, growing potatoes and grain and taking care of their dairy cattle, hundreds of laying hens, horses and pigs.
Even as the Aroostook County autumns began moving towards winter, Wilcox and her family never stopped working. Every year they canned more vegetables from their large garden than they could count.
“Down in the basement we had jars of peas, beans, lots of pickles,” Wilcox said. “There were probably hundreds of cans on those shelves.”
For Wilcox, farming was always worth the long days that the family put into taking care of their crops and animals.
“We all had to do our share. We sure did work hard, but I don’t regret any of it,” Wilcox said. “It’s the way kids should be raised.”
In the late 1960s, Roy Wilcox was diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease and gave up farming due to the severity of his symptoms. By then most of the seven children had grown up and were starting their own families. Wilcox worked at the former Converse shoe factory in Presque Isle, which was located on the Skyway Industrial Park, for nearly a decade before retiring.
One of the most challenging times in Wilcox’s life came in 1988, when her husband passed away.
“It wasn’t easy,” she said. “I had a lot of family and friends who helped me through it.”
Some of Wilcox’s closest friends are folks in Chapman and Mapleton, where she has lived for most of her adult life. At the West Chapman Advent Christian Church, she served as a Sunday school teacher for many years and used to play the organ during services. In the past she has also written and recorded gospel songs of her own.
These days Wilcox enjoys visiting with her children, most of whom still live in Aroostook County, and her numerous relatives, who often share family stories and fondly recall memories from long ago years.
“They tell me that I should write a book. I’ve never tried, but it would’ve been easier years ago,” Wilcox said. “We tell a lot of stories. There’s a lot of memories in them.”
Though she has never written those stories down with pencil and paper, Wilcox is thankful for having lived through these memories and glad she is able to pass them down to younger generations.
“It’s been a good life to live,” she said.
