Obituary of Louise Tucker Kilbourn

Louise Tucker Kilbourn, who lived in Darien for 61 years, died Friday, February 11, 2011 in Freeport, Maine. She was 98. Mrs. Kilbourn, the daughter of Wilson Hatch Tucker and May Reilly Tucker, was born and raised in Montclair, NJ, and spent summers of her youth on the Jersey shore at Monmouth Beach with her family and in Intervale, NH with friends. In New Hampshire she acquired her lifelong love of the White Mountains and especially Mt. Washington, to which she returned almost annually even into her nineties. In 1939 while working as head of the admitting office at Doctor's Hospital in New York City she married Samuel Van Dusen Kilbourn. In 1949 the family moved to Darien. A highlight of her life was accompanying her husband on business trips to Belgium, France, and Italy, where she made lifelong European friends. Mr. Kilbourn died in 1976. In 1999 Mrs. Kilbourn moved from her home at Prospect Avenue to Atria of Darien, where she spent 11 very happy years. In 2010 she relocated to Freeport, ME. A lifetime avid reader, Mrs. Kilbourn was also devoted to music and the opera. Her children remember many weekend radio broadcasts of the Metropolitan Opera and the New York Philharmonic. A subscriber to Saturday matinee seats at the Met for five decades, she continued to enjoy opera on the arm of her son until her 96th year. Her son Gordon Kilbourn having died in 1973, Mrs. Kilbourn is survived by her daughters Victoria Munson of Claremont, CA and Jennifer Kramer of Chappaqua, NY and her son Samuel Kilbourn of Freeport, ME, and six grandchildren and three great-grandchildren. A Funeral Mass will be held on March 5 at 11:00 am at Saint John Roman Catholic Church, 1986 Post Road in Darien. Burial will follow at Spring Grove Cemetery in Darien, CT. Funeral Home: Edward Lawrence Funeral Home 2119 Post Road Darien, CT USA 06820