Beulah Marion Scott Kilgore of York, Maine spent her life doing good things for people she loved. She doted on nine younger siblings, raised two children, spoiled three grandchildren and looked in wonder at three great-grandchildren. She laughed often, loved to dance and drank Manhattans, neat. She was born before television and FaceTimed with great-grandchildren. She died in the early morning of Nov. 24, 2021. She was 97.

Beulah was born to Walter and Marion Scott on April 11, 1924 in Kingman, Maine, just this side of Whiskey Brook. She helped raise nine beloved siblings who followed: Carolyn, Walter, Frances, Stella, Esther, Jack, Robert, Andy and Tom.

Beulah grew up in Surry, Maine. The town offered no transportation between her house and the nearest high school, and so she lived with a host family in Ellsworth so she could walk to Ellsworth High.

As she finished school, Beulah’s parents moved to Gardiner, where she met Merton H. Kilgore at Gardiner High. They fell in love and married on Sept. 27, 1947. They had two children, Kaye and Kent, in 1950 and 1954.

Merton’s job as a merchant marine took them to York in 1963. They moved into a big yellow house on the corner of Long Sands Road and Woodbridge Road, where Beulah lived until her final years. A full-time homemaker, Beulah worked for 25 years as the Assistant Manager at the York Community Service Association Thrift Shop.

Beulah welcomed Lucy Mulford of Westfield, N.J. and Bob Hamel of Laconia, N.H. as children of her own after they married Kent and Kaye. She made her three grandchildren, Todd, Adam and Zachary, feel as if they were the most loved people on Earth.

Merton died in 1979, and in the early 80s, Beulah met John Graves of Princeton, Mass. on a blind date at Bos’n’s Landing. Beulah and John spent the next three decades filling the other’s life with laughter and joy. They traveled to Africa, became staples at Beulah’s grandchildren’s sporting events and lovingly called each other names over a cribbage board.

Beulah bowled for more than 40 years in the Gadabouts candlepin league at Bowl-O-Rama in Portsmouth, N.H, serving as league treasurer. She rolled a high single of 167, a high triple of 335 and carried an average over 100 into her 70s.

Beulah cherished marathon sessions of Nassau rummy, cribbage and bridge with her sisters. She took freight cruises all over the world with Blanche Staples, a close family member.

In her later years, Beulah read voraciously, sewed braided rugs, watched tennis in her recliner, plowed through books of crossword puzzles and watched birds nibble at feeders she filled full of seed, shooing away enemy “chippies.” She loved a good lobster roll.

Beulah met all three of her great-grandchildren, Nate, June and Frances. Beulah held Frances at 11 weeks old in early November, less than a month before her death.

The Kilgore family greatly appreciates the care Beulah received during her final days at Watson Fields Assisted Living in Dover, N.H.

A graveside service will be held Saturday, Dec. 4th at 11 a.m. in the First Parish Cemetery in York, followed by a celebration of life at Foster’s Clambake on Axholme Road. In lieu of flowers, contributions may be made to the York Community Service Association or Watson Fields Assisted Living in Dover, N.H.