Rowena Gamage Long

WALES – Rowena was the youngest of five children born to Alfred and Bertha Gamage. She was raised on a farm in Litchfield. She attended the town’s one-room schoolhouse, then graduated from Monmouth Academy in 1944. She attended Westminster Choir College before marrying W. Raymond Long and moving to Hell’s Kitchen in NYC. She worked as a switchboard operator for Riverside Church.

The couple bought an old barn in Closter, N.J., and converted it into a house, doing almost all the labor themselves. They planted gardens and an orchard, sang in church choirs, and raised three children. Rowena taught piano lessons. In 1981, Rowena and Ray retired to Wales, where they built a passive solar house and again planted an enormous garden, a vineyard, and fruit trees.

Rowena’s passions included music, camping, painting, knitting, making wine, cross-country skiing, and gardening. She loved sharing produce! She also loved spending time with family and friends. She was a wonderful grandmother!

Rowena is survived by her children, Jim and his wife Beth Long, Cynthia and her husband Hank Volin, and Eugene and his wife Joyce Long; grandchildren, great-grandchildren, and many nieces and nephews.