Charlotte Wilbur

CUMMINGTON -- Charlotte Wilbur, 85, of 87 Dodwells Road, a 40-year resident of Cummington, died April 2 at Cooley Dickinson Hospital in Northampton following a short illness.

Born in New York City on Jan. 22, 1922, daughter of Herbert D. and Edna Jeffress Ward, she was educated at the Lee School in Boston, the Dana Hall School in Wellesley and Smith College, from where she graduated in 1943.

Mrs. WIlbur was a homemaker for most of her life.

She was a communicant of St. Stephen's in Pittsfield and enjoyed cooking.

She was married to Richard Wilbur, former U.S. poet laureate, from 1986 to 1987, for 64 years.

Besides her husband, she leaves a daughter, Ellen Wilbur of Cambridge; three sons, Christopher Wilbur of Arlington, Nathan Wilbur of Newburyport and Aaron Wilbur of Wakefield; and three grandchildren.

FUNERAL NOTICE -- A memorial service for Charlotte Ward Wilbur, who died Monday, April 2, 2007, will be held Saturday, May 19, at 3 p.m. at the Village Congregational Church in Cummington. Mrs. Wilbur was a friend and supporter to many writers, including Ralph Ellison, Stanley Kunitz, Theodore Roethke, John Malcolm Brinnin, William Jay Smith and James Merrill, who congregated in her homes in Rome, South Lincoln, Cambridge, Houston and Albuquerque. "My mother was an elegant woman, an inspired cook, a great reader, and a friend and confidante to many -- a woman who could bestow on others her delight in life," her daughter Ellen said.