Gilmanton---Laurose Wilkens MacFadyen died peacefully at home in Gilmanton, NH on March 9, 2007. She was born April 26, 1913 in Brooklyn, NY, the older daughter of Paul and Rose (Schoverling) Sculze-Berge. She grew up in Forest Hills, NY, where she graduated from the Kew Forest School. She earned a Bachelor of Arts degree from Barnard College and a Master’s of Education from the University of New Hampshire.
Laurose, or Laurie as she was known, moved to Gilmanton in 1945. Soon after, she became a reporter for the Suncook Valley Sun, and then was Gilmanton correspondent and a feature writer for the Laconia Evening Citizen, a job she held for over twenty years. Her amusing stories of family life in rural New Hampshire were widely read and enjoyed. She started teaching elementary school in Tilton in 1958, and in 1959 became a teacher at the Laboratory School at Plymouth State College (now University). She spent a sabbatical semester studying French language and culture at the University of Grenoble in 1966. In 1968 she started teaching at Bow Memorial Middle School, where she remained until she retired in 1978.
A writer and teacher by profession, Laurose loved her farm, which she called Shaky Acres. She raised chickens, sheep, and horses and was an accomplished spinner-- shearing, carding, dyeing, and spinning her own wool. She taught spinning and often gave spinning demonstrations at local fairs. She also enjoyed horseback riding and was a certified tree farmer for many years. After retirement, she traveled widely visiting friends and family in the United States and abroad.
She is survived by four children: John Wilkens, Wendy Wilkens, and Phyllis Weston, all of Gilmanton and Joanne Wilkens of Suffield, CT; a foster son, Edward Dupuis of Hillsborough, NH; ten grand-children and seven great-grand-children. She was predeceased by a sister, Elise Schulze-Berge; her first husband, William B. Wilkens; her second husband, Donald MacFadyen; her oldest son, William B. Wilkens, Jr.; her grandson, William B. Wilkens III; and her long-time companion, Paul Shepard.
A memorial service will take place at St. James Episcopal Church, 876 North Main Street, Laconia, NH on April 14 at 1l:00 a.m.
In lieu of flowers, donations can be made to the Laurose MacFadyen Fund, C/O Gilmanton All-Year-Round Library, PO Box 413, Gilmanton, NH 03237.
The Wilkinson-Beane Funeral Home & Cremation Services, 164 Pleasant Street, Laconia, NH is in charge of the arrangements.
