Carolyn Orchard Ruscoe Burt, aka “Rusty,” passed away on March 13, 2025. She was 91.
Photo from her obituary on Legacy.com
Carolyn “Rusty” Burt, 91, passed away on March 13.
Rusty was a born and bred native of Darien, born April 29, 1933 and educated in the Darien school system. Her childhood home was the Bell Mansion, overlooking Gorhams Pond.
Rusty spent most summers of her youth at her favorite place in the world, the all-girls Camp Arcadia in Maine, playing tennis, swimming, enjoying campfires, and dreaming about the boys camp across the lake.
She eventually went on to wear many hats there including a tennis instructor, youth ambassador, and eventually grandmother of Burt campers. She made many friends on the shores of Pleasant Lake.
She graduated from Skidmore College, Class of 1955.
Rusty met and married Victor F. Burt in the late ’50s in San Francisco, his home town. They both soon decided to return to her home in Darien to raise a family. Through her later years, other places she was proud to call home included Fairfield and Sarasota, Florida, before finally settling in Madison.
She was a longtime swim instructor at the Darien YMCA and instilled that love of swimming into her sons.
Rusty’s love of the outdoors included tennis and paddle tennis, whitewater canoeing trips on the Farmington River, sailing trips out of Stamford Yacht Club and hiking.
Rusty and Vic hosted many a party over the years in their house overlooking Gorhams Pond. In the ’70s, she was a member of the Junior League of Norwalk, and could be found painting background scenes for the local theater in the cavernous Lockwood-Mathews Mansion.
The family were longtime members of Middlesex Swim & Tennis Club in Darien, and in her later years, Rusty was a member of Wimbledon Tennis Group for Singles in Stamford.
Rusty was baptized and confirmed at St. Luke’s Episcopal Church. She sang in the choir, was a Sunday school teacher and worked tirelessly for Person to Person. She co-founded a women’s group at St. Luke’s for divorced and single women with Reverend Anne Kimball.
Rusty leaves behind three sons, David, 63, Peter, 62, and Jeffrey, 55, as well as seven healthy and lovely Burt granddaughters: Justine, Bridget, Tess, Hattie, Sophie, Chloe and Phoebe.
It would please Rusty greatly if, in lieu of flowers, a donation be considered to Camp Arcadia, PO Box 158, Casco, ME.
— an obituary from Swan Funeral Home, where online condolences may be left