Rita P. LaMountain

Rita Pauline (Mycko) LaMountain was born in Holden, Mass., 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, Mass., 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.