ROCKPORT — The Town of Rockport honored three longtime citizens for their service to their community Thursday, June 4, at two separate ceremonies that continues a time-honored tradition.

Charlie Knight, a volunteer firefighter with 50 years of committed service to the Rockport Fire Department, walked across the street Thursday evening for what he thought was going to be the regularly scheduled weekly training at the fire station. To his surprise, however, the department and town leaders were gathered, waiting to celebrate just him.

Annual reports — the summation of a year's work for the sake of a municipality, and the projected costs to make it thrive in the coming year — is the town's collective yearbook, and the dedication of that report is made annually to distinguished citizens.

It is a nomination kept secret up until the last minute, when the town reports have returned from the printer and are ready for distribution to the public. The Select Board discusses well before the town report is sent off to the press, and most manage to keep a lid on who the honorees will be. 

This year, the town honored Knight by dedicating the town report to him, and likewise honored former Select Board member Molly Sholes, as well as Alex Armentrout for his years serving on various municipal committees. Both Sholes and Armentrout died in 2025.

Thursday afternoon, Dwight Sholes, who is Molly's son, and Paulette Martin, a close friend of Molly's, visited the Rockport Town Office where members of the Select Board and town staff held a brief in memoriam ceremony. It was a walk down memory lane as the small group recalled how Molly loved Rockport, and cultivated many friendships, as well as her specialty, her wild blueberry Spruce Mountain Chutney business atop Pleasant Mountain.

What follows is the 2026 dedication and in memoriam.

Charles “Charlie” E. Knight – 50 Years of Service

The Town of Rockport is proud to dedicate the 2026 Annual Town Report to Charles “Charlie” E. Knight in recognition of his remarkable 50 years of dedicated service to the Rockport Fire Department and the community he has faithfully served since 1976.

Charlie joined the Rockport Fire Department in 1976 and quickly became known for his dependability, work ethic, and unwavering commitment to public service. Over the course of his distinguished career, he rose through the ranks while continuing to lead by example every step of the way.

• 1976 – Joined the Rockport Fire Department 
• 1982–1991 – Lieutenant, Engine 22 
• 1991–1999 – Assistant Chief 
• 1999–2013 – Deputy Chief 
• 2013–2025 – Firefighter until his retirement in the spring of 2025 

Even in the final decade of his career, Charlie remained one of the department’s most active and dependable members. From January 1, 2015, through his retirement on December 31, 2025, Charlie responded to 1,524 calls, logged 2,153 hours on emergency calls, and completed 339 hours of training—demonstrating the same level of dedication that defined his entire 50-year career.

Following his promotion to Assistant Chief, Charlie became the steward of the department’s “red phone,” the emergency dispatch system used prior to county communications. A red phone was installed in his home, where Charlie—or his wife, Barbara—would answer emergency calls before Charlie rushed across the street to the station to relay information and activate department tones. For nearly 15 years, Charlie served as a critical link in Rockport’s emergency response system until Knox County assumed dispatch operations.

Charlie’s service extended far beyond emergency response. He consistently led fundraising efforts for the department and for community members in need, always willing to lend a hand wherever it was needed. He also organized and ran the kitchen crew during annual county and chiefs’ dinners hosted by Rockport, helping strengthen the camaraderie and traditions of the firefighting community.

Outside the station, Charlie’s woodworking talents became an important part of the department’s longstanding participation in the National Toboggan Championships. The construction and maintenance of the department’s four toboggans would not have been possible without his craftsmanship, dedication, and pride in representing Rockport.

For five decades, Charlie has exemplified the values of service, commitment, humility, and community spirit. His contributions to the Rockport Fire Department and the Town of Rockport have left a lasting impact that will be remembered and appreciated for generations to come.

On behalf of the Town of Rockport, thank you, Charlie, for your extraordinary service and dedication. We congratulate you on your retirement and wish you and Barbara many years of happiness and well-deserved enjoyment ahead. 

Molly Sholes passed peacefully on Jan. 30, 2026, surrounded by friends and family. She was 95 years old.

Molly Washburn was born in Duluth, Minn., on Oct. 8, 1930, and spent her childhood in Minnesota, North Carolina and Maine. After graduating from Cornell in 1952, she worked for the Defense Intelligence Agency in Washington, D.C., translating Russian documents.

In D.C., she met her future husband, Christopher Sholes, a U.S. foreign service officer. Molly and Chris moved to Lahore, Pakistan, in 1956. For the next 30 years, the Indian subcontinent was their home, with brief stints in Washington, D.C., and Istanbul, Turkey. Their son Christopher was born in Lahore, Pakistan; their daughter Rebecca was born in Mumbai, India; and their son Dwight was born in New Delhi, India.

In 1985, Molly moved to her farmhouse in West Rockport, which she revived the blueberry fields on the farm, and Spruce Mountain Blueberries was born.

Molly installed a pick-over line in the shed of her farmhouse, and SMBB soon acquired a reputation among local stores and restaurants for offering fresh, clean berries. The pick-over line became a gathering place for local community members, and a place to exchange the latest news and gossip!

Molly was the first person in Maine to produce wild Maine blueberry chutney, adapting a recipe from an old cookbook she bought in India.

Molly was an avid equestrian and an accomplished sailor. She rode the hounds in North Carolina, played polo in Pakistan, officiated horse races in India and taught horseback riding to youngsters who often loved and feared her at the same time. As a teenager in the late 1940s, after the death of her father, a family friend and his wife invited Molly to crew their schooner, The Owl, as they sailed up and down the East Coast and to Nova Scotia.

The Owl had no onboard engine, so in calm winds it fell to Molly to push the boat with a dinghy and outboard motor. Molly was smart, entrepreneurial, tough and practical. She was exceptionally generous. Throughout her life, she devoted time and resources to helping others, whether volunteering in a leper colony in India or supporting her local community in Maine.

She served for two terms on the Rockport Select Board, which had traditionally been dominated by men, and dedicated many years to the Comprehensive Plan Committee and the Ordinance Review Committee.

Alexander VanDyke Armentrout departed this earth on March 17, 2026. Eldest son of James Sylvester and Dorothea Virginia Armentrout, he was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania on March 12, 1941.

He attended Germantown Friends School in Philadelphia and graduated from the Hill School, the Princeton School of Public and International Affairs, and Harvard Business School. He was husband, father, son, sibling, businessman, business owner, investor, trustee, racing sailor, art collector, and wine afficionado.

His business career commenced with shift work where he was General Manager in a textile mill in Sanford, Maine. From there to being President of Journal Publications in Camden; Publisher of the Waterway Guide in Annapolis, Maryland; Associate Publisher of Yachting Magazine, and later to ownership of Portland Transmission, Portland, Maine, and other locations in Maine and New Hampshire.

In 1989, Paula and Alex moved to Maine and settled in Rockport in 1999 where Paula was born and grew up. In Rockport, Alex worked with school boards in the effort to promote educational excellence while endeavoring to keep school costs down.

Alex served on various town boards, acting as Vice Chair of the Zoning Board of Appeals for several years, Chairman of Ordinance Review Committee, and for years after provided input to that group. He also served as Commodore of the Rockport Boat Club.

Alex is survived by the very special woman to whom he referred as "The Love of His Life," Paula Goodridge Armentrout, his wife of 48 years; by his children, Victoria Fields Armentrout and Nicholas Ross Armentrout; and grandchildren, the children of Nicholas and Sarah Chappell Armentrout, Jacob Ramsay, Hazel Holloway, and Ivy Siver Armentrout; and the step-daughter of Victoria and husband Maxsween Myrvin Emmons, Tasia Madison Safaree Emmons.