Alta M. Faulkingham, 87, of Newcastle, passed away at the Cove’s Edge Nursing Home in Damariscotta on the morning of March 18. Born on Aug. 13, 1923 in Barre, Vt., she was the daughter of John and Katherine Bailey.
Alta grew up in Vermont before moving to Bristol in her teens. She attended, and graduated from, Bristol High School before going to work at Bath Iron Works during WWII. She worked as a welder at the iron works and while there she met a fellow welder, Forrest Faulkingham, whom she married a month later.
The couple started what is now Larson’s Lunchbox in Damariscotta before they moved to Florida where she worked at a daycare and a school. After eight years in Florida, they returned to Maine and in 1964 they purchased the Bristol Diner. For the next seven and a half years, Alta would get up early every morning to make donuts for the diner. Her worked continued all day, every day until the couple sold the business. After the couple sold the diner, her work continued at other local staples of the community.
She was a loving wife and mother who loved learning new things. She enjoyed calligraphy, taught herself to play the organ and enjoyed fly tying, a hobby her son got her into. She was also an active, and faithful, member of the Seventh-Day Adventist Church.
Besides her parents, she was predeceased by four siblings.
She is survived by her husband, Forrest Faulkingham Sr. of Newcastle; children, Forrest Faulkingham Jr. and wife Sydney of Alna and Janet Long of Newcastle; siblings, John Bailey, Lynn Bailey and Russell Bailey; grandchildren, Mike Faulkingham, Amy Faulkingham, Aaron Curtin and Kate Gustafson; four great-grandchildren; as well as many nieces and nephews.
Time of visitation 10-11 a.m., Wed., March 23 at the Strong-Hancock Funeral Home, 612 Main St., Damariscotta. Memorial service will follow at 11 a.m., also at the funeral home. She will be laid to rest in the Pine Knoll Cemetery in the spring.
In lieu of flowers, donations in her memory may be made to the Lincoln County Animal Shelter, 27 Atlantic Highway, P.O. Box 7, Edgecomb, ME 04556.
Condolences, and messages for the family, may be expressed by visiting www.StrongHancock.com.
Arrangements are under the direction and care of the Strong-Hancock Funeral Home, Damariscotta.
