IN LOVING MEMORY OF
Caroline
Garside
February 27, 1928 – April 28, 2012
Obituary
Waterbury- Mrs. Caroline Grubbs Garside was born in Youngstown Ohio on February 27, 1928 and passed away unexpectedly at her residence in Waterbury Connecticut on April 28, 2012.
She was a child of the Great Depression, and her father whom she adored had been displaced from the East Coast to find work at the time of her birth. She spent happy summer seasons not long after as a young child on her maternal grandparents' farm in Kentucky, along with several cousins. She always recalled these times as blissful. She also happily remembered her early years in Skaneateles New York, living at her father's family homestead with her eccentric relatives from a bygone era. Her parents finally settled their own family in Windsor Connecticut.
Caroline was the only child of Richard Holmes Grubbs and (Clara) Jean Saunders Grubbs. She graduated the Chaffee School in Windsor, and met her future husband Richard Garside, another Windsor local. Caroline graduated Oberlin College as a History major, and had a love for the dramatic arts, performing in several productions. She possessed a strong-willed independent Yankee character, and due to her liberal bent at an early age, piqued her proper Southern mother over being expelled from the Daughters of the American Revolution for refusing to pay her dues.
After graduating college, Caroline and Richard married and set up residence in Riverdale, New York. Caroline worked in Manhattan for a publishing house and for CBS television during its early years. Not long after this she gave birth to her first child, Emily Todd.
Caroline and Richard soon moved to Connecticut and welcomed their second daughter, Julia Holmes. The family eventually found a home in Watertown Connecticut, where Caroline and Richard lived for more than four decades. As an at-home mom, Caroline was involved in many volunteer organizations including the Waterbury YWCA and the League of Women Voters. In the mid-1970s she received certification and became the recreation director at Cheshire Convalescent Center, where she worked for many years.
Caroline and Richard were very active members of Christ Episcopal Church in Watertown, serving as choir members and lay readers. They also later belonged to other area churches, including St. George's in Middlebury. At the time of her passing, Caroline attended St. John's Episcopal Church in Waterbury. It was her devotion to her faith that led her to become one of Connecticut's first ordained female Episcopal deacons, one of her proudest accomplishments. She enthusiastically served in this capacity in several parishes throughout the years.
She enjoyed reading, music, history, politics, gardening, and most of all, spending time with her loving family.
Caroline's husband Richard predeceased her in 2005. She lived near her eldest daughter in Newburgh New York for a brief few years after her husband's passing, prior to her return to Connecticut. Her two daughters, Julia Garside Savage of Waterbury and Emily Metaxas of Newburgh survive her. She is also survived by the granddaughters she adored and helped raise, Katherine and Caroline Savage of Newburgh, and by her caring son-in-law Robert Metaxas.
Arrangements: A celebration of the life of the Rev. Caroline Garside, Deacon will be held on Tuesday, May 8, at 2:30 P.M. at St. John's Episcopal Church, 16 Church St. Waterbury, with Right Reverend Laura Ahrens, Bishop Suffragan of the Diocese of Connecticut officiating. Burial of cremains will follow in the memorial garden of St. George's Episcopal Church in Middlebury.
She was a child of the Great Depression, and her father whom she adored had been displaced from the East Coast to find work at the time of her birth. She spent happy summer seasons not long after as a young child on her maternal grandparents' farm in Kentucky, along with several cousins. She always recalled these times as blissful. She also happily remembered her early years in Skaneateles New York, living at her father's family homestead with her eccentric relatives from a bygone era. Her parents finally settled their own family in Windsor Connecticut.
Caroline was the only child of Richard Holmes Grubbs and (Clara) Jean Saunders Grubbs. She graduated the Chaffee School in Windsor, and met her future husband Richard Garside, another Windsor local. Caroline graduated Oberlin College as a History major, and had a love for the dramatic arts, performing in several productions. She possessed a strong-willed independent Yankee character, and due to her liberal bent at an early age, piqued her proper Southern mother over being expelled from the Daughters of the American Revolution for refusing to pay her dues.
After graduating college, Caroline and Richard married and set up residence in Riverdale, New York. Caroline worked in Manhattan for a publishing house and for CBS television during its early years. Not long after this she gave birth to her first child, Emily Todd.
Caroline and Richard soon moved to Connecticut and welcomed their second daughter, Julia Holmes. The family eventually found a home in Watertown Connecticut, where Caroline and Richard lived for more than four decades. As an at-home mom, Caroline was involved in many volunteer organizations including the Waterbury YWCA and the League of Women Voters. In the mid-1970s she received certification and became the recreation director at Cheshire Convalescent Center, where she worked for many years.
Caroline and Richard were very active members of Christ Episcopal Church in Watertown, serving as choir members and lay readers. They also later belonged to other area churches, including St. George's in Middlebury. At the time of her passing, Caroline attended St. John's Episcopal Church in Waterbury. It was her devotion to her faith that led her to become one of Connecticut's first ordained female Episcopal deacons, one of her proudest accomplishments. She enthusiastically served in this capacity in several parishes throughout the years.
She enjoyed reading, music, history, politics, gardening, and most of all, spending time with her loving family.
Caroline's husband Richard predeceased her in 2005. She lived near her eldest daughter in Newburgh New York for a brief few years after her husband's passing, prior to her return to Connecticut. Her two daughters, Julia Garside Savage of Waterbury and Emily Metaxas of Newburgh survive her. She is also survived by the granddaughters she adored and helped raise, Katherine and Caroline Savage of Newburgh, and by her caring son-in-law Robert Metaxas.
Arrangements: A celebration of the life of the Rev. Caroline Garside, Deacon will be held on Tuesday, May 8, at 2:30 P.M. at St. John's Episcopal Church, 16 Church St. Waterbury, with Right Reverend Laura Ahrens, Bishop Suffragan of the Diocese of Connecticut officiating. Burial of cremains will follow in the memorial garden of St. George's Episcopal Church in Middlebury.
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