Carolyn (Tall) Drugge

FARMINGTON – Carolyn Tall Drugge, 85, passed away peacefully on Friday, Jan. 23, 2026, surrounded by loving family after suffering from corticobasal degeneration for several years.

Carolyn was born on May 13, 1940, in Caribou to Axel and Verna (Hjelm) Tall, the second of their five red-headed daughters. She grew up on a farm on the side of Stockholm Mountain. As a child, in the winter, she skied to school and went sledding down the middle of the road all the way to Anderson’s store. In the fall, she picked potatoes and used her earnings to buy school clothes and Christmas presents. During summer vacation, she picked wild strawberries for homemade ice cream, helped bring in the hay by driving the hay truck, and cooled off swimming in Madawaska Lake at the camp built by her father. All year long, she took the train from Stockholm to Caribou every Saturday for piano lessons.

Carolyn attended the Stockholm School through 10th grade. There, she skipped first grade and was tasked with helping other students learn to read, which may have triggered her lifelong interest in education. She later commuted to Caribou High School with her father, who taught math at Caribou Middle School, dropping off jars of cream to customers and picking up additional students all the way there. After graduating from Caribou High School, Carolyn attended the University of Maine at Farmington (UMF), then Farmington State Teachers College, where she earned a Bachelor of Science degree in Home Economics. There, she met Herman Drugge. They married and had two children, Jan Erik and Karen Ingrid.

Carolyn earned a Master of Science degree in Early Childhood Education from the University of New Hampshire. After a few years of teaching in Connecticut, she returned to her beloved home state with her two children and took a job at her alma mater, as Director of the Home Economics Resource Center for Maine teachers where she remained for more than two decades. During this time, she served as the president of the Maine Home Economics Association and represented the State at national conferences of the American Home Economics Association. She was a believer in the value of Home Economics that included financial literacy, child development, food/nutrition, consumer science, and textiles. She spent three years as an Educator with Cooperative Extension in Somerset County where she ran community programs that were the topic of admiring conversations decades later.

Her never-ceasing intellectual curiosity led her to pursue a second master’s degree– this time a Master of Arts in Public Policy and Management from the Muskie School of Public Policy. She accomplished this while working full-time and living in Chesterville well before the advent of online courses. Her education and experience made her especially well qualified to become the Director of the Office of Child Care and Head Start for the Maine Department of Health and Human Services. Her passion for the care and education of young children led to a study grant funded by the Swedish Institute and a four-week tour of that country to learn about its policies on families and children. After “retirement,” she returned to UMF to work as an academic advisor helping students with associate’s degrees in early childhood education complete their bachelor’s degrees.

Despite her busy career, Carolyn found ample time to create a loving and warm home for her family. She was an amazing cook who could make a meal out of what seemed like empty cupboards and whose Christmas Eve smörgåsbords were legendary. She nurtured numerous gardens and fruit trees and spent hours canning and freezing their bounty. She indulged her children by supporting a wide array of unusual household pets and various farm animals. She married David Wilkinson and was happy to have David and his son, Brad, and on a part-time basis, his daughter, Hester, join the rest of the family in Chesterville. Later, Carolyn loved being a wonderful grandmother to her three grandchildren, Jan Erik II, Peter Anders, and Anna Sophia and spent as much time with them as she possibly could attending concerts, games, and graduations. She loved visiting her family even when they were far away, which included trips to Sweden, Mexico, England, Scotland, and all over the United States.

Carolyn married the love of her life, Fran Fuller in 2000, and they remained together until his death in the Fall of 2025. They were both active in the restoration and care of the Chesterville Center Union Meeting House with Carolyn serving as president of the board for several years. They very much enjoyed the relationships formed with many in the community through this work. They both loved the outdoors even when it meant braving the blackflies while working in the garden or the woodlot. Carolyn was always up for a fresh-air adventure including canoeing, swimming, kayaking, hiking, cross-country skiing, downhill skiing, water skiing, and even becoming a certified scuba diver. She was also quick to agree to attend a concert, play, movie, or other cultural event no matter how far away nor short the notice. The mileage on her vehicles was a testament to her regular exploits.

Carolyn leaves behind two sisters, Sylvia Tall Mattson and Alice Tall Noyes (and husband Nick), brothers-in-law, Geoff Gallant, Jack Buss, and Bill Fuller (and wife Judy); two children, Jan Erik Drugge (and wife Diane), and Karen Drugge Kemble (and husband Jay); three grandchildren, Jan Erik Drugge II, Peter Kemble (and wife Sydni Cosgrove), and Anna Kemble; as well as many much-loved cousins; nieces, and nephews.

She was predeceased by her husband, Fran Fuller; her parents; and sisters Marion Tall Buss and Ella Mae Tall.

The family would like to express its sincere appreciation for the care she received at home from FCP Live-In Care and Visiting Angels and while living at Orchard Park Rehabilitation and Living Center.

A celebration of life will be held on Monday, Feb. 16, at 11 a.m., at the North Dining Hall, University of Maine at Farmington, 111 South St., Farmington, (parking available on High Street) with a light luncheon to follow at the family home in Chesterville.

Arrangements are under the care of Dan and Scott’s Cremation and Funeral Service, 488 Farmington Falls Road, Farmington, where memories, photos and condolences may be shared at dsfuneral.com.

In lieu of flowers, if you would like to make a contribution in Carolyn’s memory, please feel free to make a gift of support to the

Chesterville Center Union Meeting House,

General Delivery,

Farmington Falls, ME 04940, or to the

Children’s Defense Fund at https://www.childrensdefense.org/donate/.