Allison MacKay (Smith) Salsbury

Bar Harbor

Allison MacKay (Smith) Salsbury, 93, passed away peacefully with her children by her side on May 12, 2022. Allie was born July 31, 1928 in Town Hill, the youngest child of Lyle E. and Luzetta (Swazey) Smith. She married Roland Salsbury, Jr. at Ellsworth City Hall May 6, 1947 and they drove across country to Washington state where they lived for 10 years. While in Washington, they had 2 children (Roland III and Kathleen) and operated Salsbury’s Let’s Eat Cafe. They returned to Town Hill in 1957 where their youngest child, Robert, was born the following year.

The family built a home on the top of Town Hill where Allie lived until this past winter. She was devoted to her family and managed the household and tended the children. She visited relatives and friends and delivered food and comfort around the neighborhood. Once the children were grown, her circle of friends and caring extended throughout the county.

As a devout Christian, she was an active member of the Town Hill Federated Church until it closed, and she then joined the fellowship at Lamoine Baptist Church.

Alongside her husband, she participated in community and political functions and was always willing to contribute to the latest bake sale or fundraising project.

Raised during the depression on a small dairy farm, she followed the motto “Use it up, wear it out; Make do, or go without.” Her parents, a game warden and an artist, instilled in her a love and respect for the natural world; she was as comfortable foraging for wild mushrooms and dandelions as she was bottle feeding an orphaned fawn.

Allie was a prolific letter writer and artist. Genealogy was another of her passions. She traced family histories and recorded them, clipped newspaper articles, saved letters, old pictures, and became the informal “Town Hill Historian.”

Allie is survived by her children Roland III, Kathleen, and Robert, grandchildren Rebecca, Tyler, Margaret, Emma, Brandy, and Frances, great-grandchildren Natalie, Carolina, Luzetta, Nell, and Rita, and her only remaining in-laws, Richard and Virginia Salsbury. She was predeceased by her parents, her husband, her two brothers, Leslie and Robert, two sisters, Lyla and Harriet, and their spouses, her grandson Aaron, and her favorite son-in-law Gary.

A service will be held at Lamoine Baptist Church on Friday, May 27 at 11:00 a.m. In lieu of flowers, donations may be sent to Lamoine Baptist Church, 24 Lamoine Beach Road, Lamoine, ME 04605.

Arrangements by Acadia Burial and Cremation Direct, 248 State St. Ellsworth.

Condolences may be expressed at www.acadiacremation.com