Carolyn Garvin obit

DELMAR - Carolyn H. Garvin, beloved mother, grandmother and sister, passed away peacefully on Saturday, December 29, 2012 at Our Lady of Mercy Life Center. Born in Arlington Heights, Mass., she was the fourth of six children of the late E. Weston Hulse and Jessie Shumaker Hulse of Binghamton. She is predeceased by her sister, Dorothy E. Parr (John) of Camp Hill, Pa.; her brother-in-law, Eugene Meyer of Maple Park, Ill., and her daughter, Michele Jean Garvin of Selkirk. She is survived by her husband, the Rev. Robert Merrill Garvin, Ph.D., of Albany; her daughter, Christine Marie Flandera of Delmar; her son, Paul Stewart Garvin (Karen) of Springfield, Va.; her grandchildren, Marie Elaine Flandera of Cleveland, Heather Jean Flandera of Schenectady, Shawn Lamont Blue of Delmar and Mason Stewart Garvin, Taylor Glenn Gibson and Katerine Evan Gibson of Springfield; her sisters, Mary L. Drewry (Granger) of San Marcos, Calif., and Charlotte W. Meyer of Maple Park; her brothers, Weston E. Hulse (Barbara) of Roseville, Calif., and Frank R. Hulse (Nancy) of East Wenatchee, Wash.; her close family friends, J. Melvin Bostic and James N. Blue of Delmar; four great-grandsons, and numerous cousins, nephews, nieces and friends in the Capital Region. Carolyn was raised and educated in Binghamton, where she was best known as a tomboy, chasing the neighborhood boys with snakes and outplaying them in baseball, while graduating as valedictorian of Binghamton Central High School in 1947. She received her BS degree in education at Westminster College in New Wilmington, Pa., where she met her husband, Robert M. Garvin. While he pursued a divinity degree, Carolyn taught fourth grade in Tenafly, N.J. After leaving New York City, she filled the role of co-director of a migrant labor camp in King Ferry, N.Y. They moved to Albany when Robert was given an associate pastor role at the First Presbyterian Church and she filled the role as a minister's wife, being especially active with the youth ministry. In the turbulent 60s, she was very active in the Civil Rights movement. At this time, she also helped start the Montessori School of Albany and filled the role of executive director of Planned Parenthood of Albany, where she provided counseling and support to young women and their families. After spending many years raising a family, she yearned to get back to her passion of helping the underprivileged, so she got her master's degree in social work at SUNY Albany and re-entered the workforce. After rewarding internships at the Berkshire Center for Families and Children in Pittsfield, Mass. and the psychiatric in-patient unit at Albany Medical Center, Carolyn spent several years as the director of the Kairos Center for Care and Counseling in Albany, where she provided counseling services for individuals, couples and families. She ended her professional career as a social worker with the Eleanor Roosevelt Developmental Services in Albany, where she provided exhaustive care and support to the mentally challenged and their families. Concurrently, she provided supervision for case managers at the O.D. Heck Developmental Center in Albany. She has been a member of First Presbyterian Church of Albany for many years and has acted both as elder and deacon several times over the years, where she was able to provide community outreach and act as ombudsman for the elderly. She loved gardening, raised several cats and their litters over the decades and could be seen walking her dog, Frodo, throughout the streets of Delmar in the 90s. She was a frequent visitor of the trails at Five Rivers Environmental Education Center. Carolyn also traveled extensively, spending a year in Asia in 1970, summers at Lake George and Cape Cod and participating in several elder-hostel adventures. Relatives and friends are invited to her funeral service at 1 p.m. Saturday afternoon, January 5, 2013 at the First Presbyterian Church, corner of Willett and State streets in Albany. Friends are invited to her calling hours Friday from 3 to 7 p.m. at the funeral home. Interment will be in Bethlehem Cemetery in the spring. The family has requested that those who wish to make memorial contributions in her name do so to either the Alzheimer's Association (alz.org) or Habitat for Humanity (habitat.org). See website.