Caroline Russwick

1930 - 2022

Caroline Russwick

Canterbury, NH — Caroline Wunderly Russwick, 92, a longtime resident of Canterbury, passed away May 27, 2022 at Tall Pines, Belfast, Maine, surrounded by her family. Always known as Cal, she was born at home on April 6th, 1930 in Arlington, Massachusetts.

Years later, she would tell the story that on that night the last of the ice houses on Spy Pond burned down, in a fire that could be seen from New Hampshire. Cal was the third daughter of attorney Albert Wunderly and his wife Ruth (Mitchell) Wunderly, and was the younger sister of Charlotte and Virginia, and older sister to John. She learned to play the bugle, and was a member of a drum and bugle corps in Arlington. As a teenager, summers were spent at Camp Kineowatha in Wilton, Maine and as the camp bugler, she played forty-five signals each day. There was only one time that Cal woke up the whole camp an hour early by accident!

Many summers were also spent with her family at the Wunderly's cottage at Dockham Shore on Lake Winnipesaukee. Cal attended the Northfield School for Girls in Northfield, Massachusetts, where she graduated in 1948. She studied Early Childhood Education at Hood College in Frederick, Maryland where Cal met Douglas Ruesswick, who was singing in the U. S. Naval Academy's choir in December 1949. This began nearly seventy years of the dynamic partnership affectionately known as "Duggr and Cal". After her graduation from Hood, they were married on June 14th, 1952 at the Congregational Church in Acton, Massachusetts and during Doug's Naval service, they were stationed in Newport, RI and Groton, CT.

After his discharge, they spent the summer of 1957 at Lake Winnipesaukee with their young family of three sons, Kent, Glenn and Scott. Determined to find a home for them that summer, Cal searched towns along the eastern side of the Merrimack River, which led her to Hubbard's Country Store in Canterbury, New Hampshire. She learned of a house across the Center that was for rent, and they moved in that fall of 1957, purchasing "The French Place" the following spring of 1958.

Her neighbor, Madeline Guertin, brought Cal to her first meeting of the Canterbury Women's Club, a group in which she was active for many years. Through the Women's Club, she taught swimming lessons with Priscilla Lockwood to Canterbury children at Dudley's Pond for more than twenty years. She was a member of the Canterbury Ladies Benevolent Society and was a participant in 1958 with the beginning of the Canterbury Fair, an event Cal supported each summer through various roles for decades. She was a member of the Canterbury Players, performing in their shows, and sang with the Canterbury United Community Church choir.

She returned to work in 1967 as a reading specialist for the Merrimack Valley School District, and earned a Master's Degree in Education from Notre Dame College in 1978. Later, she worked at Canterbury Elementary School, and during her career took joy in seeing the generations of students move through her classroom. She also authored a series of analogies for educators and students.

Cal's greatest love was her family, her five sons and husband, and was never surprised when there were extra faces at their busy dinner table, including one year, a pig named Rowdy! Her roles as grandmother, homemaker, gardener, hostess, seamstress, and friend always developed personal and treasured relationships with those around her. Cal had a quick wit and an infectious laugh, but was also known for her quiet sensitivity that she brought to a conversation or situation. She enjoyed the boisterous family holidays and summers spent at Rangeley Lake, hosting decades of Christmas parties on Morrill Road and the travels and adventures she and Doug shared across the world together. Cal was most herself in the gardens she cultivated, among the vegetables and flowers that she grew, and quietly sitting on the patio and watching the sun set behind the distant hills.

Left to treasure a lifetime of memories are her four sons and their families: Kent Ruesswick and his wife Doneta Fischer of Canterbury; Glenn Ruesswick and his wife Pam Stone of Camden, ME; Mark and his wife Deborah Ruesswick of Warrenton, VA; and Wayne Ruesswick and wife Becky Ford of Camden, ME; daughter-in-law Barb Cook of Canterbury; grandchildren Eric, Heidi, Sophie, Ginger, Max and Gabe Ruesswick and "bonus grandson" Sam Papps; great grandchildren; nieces, nephews, and numerous friends in her Canterbury community and beyond. Cal was predeceased by her husband of 66 years, Douglas Russwick, and son Scott Ruesswick, in 2019; daughter, Sarah Ruesswick, in 1963; her parents, and siblings Charlotte Sweetser, Virginia Edgecomb and John Wunderly.

Relatives and friends are invited to join for a gathering in honor of Cal that will be held at the Canterbury Town Hall, 1 Old Tilton Road, Canterbury, New Hampshire on Saturday, June 25th, 2022 beginning at 2 p.m. Interment will follow in the family lot at Maple Grove Cemetery, Canterbury, New Hampshire.

Contributions in her memory may be made to The Canterbury Fund, PO Box 216, Canterbury, NH 03224. Arrangements are in the care of Burpee, Carpenter & Hutchins Funeral Home, 110 Limerock Street, Rockland, Maine.