Virginia Oliver
American lobster fisherwoman (1920–2026)
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Virginia Oliver (June 6, 1920 – January 21, 2026) was an American lobster fisherwoman.
Virginia Oliver | |
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| Born | June 6, 1920 Rockland, Maine, U.S. |
| Died | January 21, 2026 (aged 105) Rockport, Maine, U.S. |
| Children | 4 |
Life and career
Virginia Oliver was born June 6, 1920,[1] in Rockland, Maine,[2] and grew up "on the Neck, a small island connected by a tidal sandbar"[3] to Andrews Island.[2] Oliver began lobstering at age eight alongside her father and older brother.[4] At the time, few women were lobster fishers in Maine.[3] During the schoolyear, she lived with an aunt in Rockland.[2]
Virginia married Bill Oliver,[2] a lobsterman from Spruce Head.[3] The couple had four children, and Virginia was a stay at home mother until her youngest child was nine.[2][5] She worked at a sardine factory[3] and spent 19 years at a printing press in Rockland,[2] but "decided lobstering, I wouldn’t have to work half as hard, and I could be my own boss".[2] She began daily lobster fishing with Bill in the early 1970s.[2] After Bill's retirement, Virginia worked on her son Max's lobster boat beginning in 2005 until he retired at age 80.[2][3] The two would lobster three days a week during the fishing season, waking up at 3 am.[1]
She gained media attention around her 100th birthday, with outlets calling her the county's oldest lobster fisher.[6]
Oliver stopped lobstering at age 103, after a fall.[4] She continued to renew her commercial lobster fishing licence, with her last licence expiring in December 2025.[3]
On January 21, 2026, Oliver died at Pen Bay Hospital in Rockport, Maine, at the age of 105.[3]
In media
In 2019, a documentary about Oliver, Conversations with the Lobster Lady, was aired on PBS.[5]
Two children's books have been published about Oliver's life: the first in 2022 by journalist Barbara Walsh, and the second, The Lobster Lady, in 2023 by Bangor author Alexandra S.D. Hinrichs and Peaks Island illustrator Jamie Hogan.[3][7]