YARMOUTH – Virginia Mitchell Abbott Look, 94, died peacefully Sept. 24 at her home in Yarmouth surrounded by family.

She was born Aug. 25, 1921, in Haverhill, Massachusetts to Gladys Mitchell and Arthur Hazen Abbott. She grew up in Salem, New Hampshire and graduated from Woodbury High School and Burdette College in Boston.

Look was an accomplished classical pianist and played for a live broadcast radio series at the age of 17. She instilled her love of classical music and the piano to all her children, insisting on piano lessons at the Conservatory in Bangor every Saturday, a four-hour round trip. She worked as a nurse’s aide during World War II in Boston and as a hostess at the officers club and the USO.

After graduating from college, she worked in Boston at Brown Publishing Company, various advertising agencies and, later, for a stock broker, who introduced her to her future husband, Oscar Look.

Look had just returned from the Pacific Theater, where he had been imprisoned by the Japanese for more than 3 1/2 years after surviving the Bataan Death March.

Look loved to cook for her family and the community, and played the organ for the Community of Christ Church for nearly 50 years. She was a founding member of the Women’s Auxiliary, as well as a volunteer for the Red Cross. She helped organize the Addison Historical Society and served as the president for several years.

Look was worthy matron of the Eastern Star and the organist for many years. She was a member of the Daughters of the American Revolution, and president and librarian of the Mayhew Library Association. She shared her love of music and gave music lessons to many children of the local community over the years.

She was a loyal Republican and served as a state committee woman. In addition to her volunteer work, she worked as a secretary/bookkeeper for A.L. Stewart and Sons in Cherryfield and later in advertising for the Ellsworth American and as a top salesperson for WDEA Radio. Upon retirement, she went to live with her daughter, Jane, and granddaughter, Hanna in Yarmouth.

She is survived by her children, Jane Abbott, Sarah, Elizabeth, Kathryn Grace, and Robert Arthur; her grandchildren, Erin Jessica Look, Christopher Robert Caler and his wife, Stephanie, Kristin Lin Hernandez and her husband, Tim, and Hannah Elizabeth Abbott Look and three great-grandchildren, Andrew, James and Addison Elizabeth Caler.

She was predeceased by her husband, Oscar Lowell Look Sr., a son, Oscar Lowell Look Jr. and her grandson, Vance Emerald Caler.

Services were held at the South Addison Union Church in South Addison Sept. 27, with a graveside memorial afterwards at the family cemetery on the east side in Addison.

Flowers or donations may be made to the Union Church c/o Pastor Harold Tyler, South Addison Union Church, Mooseneck Road, South Addison, ME 04606.


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