Walter Rudolph "Rudy" Carlson Jr.

Walter R. Carlson, Jr., age 91, died peacefully at his home on January 5, 2026.

A veteran, he served in the U.S. Army, 1952-1954, in Korea. Rudy was a lifelong skier and a founding member of the National Ski Patrol’s certification program. 

Rudy studied culinary arts at the University of Colorado and the University of New Hampshire. He then turned to forestry and operated his own timber management company in Wolfeboro.

A Maine guide, Rudy led many hiking and canoeing trips for Camp Kehonka, the oldest American girls’ camp in the nation. 

In 1974, he earned a BA in education from Plymouth State College and began his teaching career at Somerset School, Washington DC. He and his wife Martha developed an outdoor studies program for Somerset, bringing students to their farm in Sandwich and to a house on Vinalhaven, Maine. That program led to the creation of Five Days of Sandwich, a day camp for children in Sandwich that still is going strong. 

And that program led the Carlsons to found the Sandwich Community School which became the youngest private school ever to be fully accredited by the New England Association of Schools and Colleges. Rudy was beloved by his students and inspired many to go into careers and volunteer work as conservationists, medical personnel and teachers. 

Rudy served for many years on the Sandwich Fire Department and the Sandwich Planning Board. He worked with his fellow townspeople to conserve prime wetlands, trails and timberland in Sandwich. He lived most of his life on Range View Farm where he grew high quality red oak and white pine.

Rudy is survived by his wife Monty, his beloved daughters Claudia Dubit and her son James, Jenny and Brook Hsu, Katie Doyle Smith and her husband Paul Swegel, Marianne O’Loan, two sons Michael Weaver and Bernal Picado, and beloved friends Stein Feick, Lenore Higgins and Reed Harrigan.

Funeral Services will be held on Friday, January 16, 2026 at The Community Church of Sandwich, the Methodist Meetinghouse at 6 Main Street, Center Sandwich, at 11:00 a.m.

Tributes may be made in Rudy’s memory to the Sandwich Fire Department or Quality Care Home Health and Hospice. The family is deeply grateful to both of these agencies for making it possible for Rudy to pass his final days at home.

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