The Reverend Barbara J. Morgan (1938 – 2022)
ANCRAMDALE—The Reverend Barbara J. Morgan, 83, passed peacefully May 30, 2022 at her home.
She was born December 30, 1938 to Henry Wadsworth Morgan and Myra (Meta) Morgan.
Rev. Morgan attended the University of Delaware and received her Bachelor of Science degree from Lesley University in 1978 and her master’s in education from Northeastern University in 1981.
In 1988 she received a Master of Divinity from the Episcopal Divinity School and was ordained a deacon in 1991. She served as a deacon at St. Andrew’s Episcopal Church in Ann Arbor, MI from 1991-1992. In October of 1992 she was ordained an Episcopal priest in the diocese of Eastern Michigan by Bishop R. Steward Wood, Jr. She served from 1992–1998 as the associate rector of Trinity Episcopal Church in Alpena, MI. In 1998 she was named rector of the Church of Saint John in the Wilderness in Copake Falls, where she served until her retirement in 2007. During her tenure she was well-known for her ministry to both the congregation and the Roe Jan community.
Survivors include: her cousins, Hal and Helen Forsythe of Litchfield, CT, and her nieces, Sally and Lynn Morgan of California. Her brother, Robert Morgan predeceased her in 2008. She is also survived by Betty Shufelt and family of Ancramdale, where she was lovingly cared for over the last 12 years.
A Memorial Service will be held Sunday, July 17, 2022 at 2 p.m. at the Church of Saint John in the Wilderness, Copake Falls.
Arrangements are with the Peck and Peck Funeral Home of Copake.
To send an online condolence visit www.peckandpeck.net.
S. Jean (Bathrick) Peck
WEBSTER, NY – Jean Peck passed away on the morning of June 16, with her most loving advocate and confidant at her bedside. Born in Great Barrington, MA, Jean lived the majority of her life in Copake and Millerton, NY, before moving to Webster, NY later in life. She is predeceased by her parents, Homer and Cuba Bathrick; husband Alan; son Gary; grandson Zachary; brother Elwood; four nephews; and several in-laws. She is survived by her sons Bruce, Mark (Jane) and Glenn (Lynn); granddaughter Rhiannon; great-grandchildren Lily, Valerie and Ayden; sister Joyce; sisters-in-law, Helen, Jeanette, Jane and Lois; many nephews and nieces; and her dearest friend for life, Barbara.
Jean’s life revolved around her family, her friends and her faith. She raised her four boys at home, and later worked as an office, and assistant in the medical field until retirement. She was a life-long, very active member of the Church of St. John in the Wilderness, Copake Falls, where she worked tirelessly and served in every capacity possible. Jean was a member and past-president of the Roeliff Jansen Historical Society. She volunteered with Community Hospice – Columbia/Greene Counties, and later at the Webster Comfort Care Home, where she then returned to live out her final days in the care of those with whom she once served. Jean loved people and made friends wherever she was. Her smile and her spirit will be missed, yet ever present.
A Celebration of Life, and burial, will take place in Copake Falls, NY at a later date. Donations may be made to the Church of St. John in the Wilderness, 261 NY-244, Copake Falls, NY 12517. PAID OBITUARY
Carolyn Heiser Smith (1943-2022)
Carolyn Heiser Smith (March 30, 1943 – June 18, 2022) was born in Laurelton, New York, NY to Edna Myra Schirmer and Walter T. Heiser. Her family moved to a big colonial home in Hillsdale, NY in the fall of 1947, where she and her brother “Dutch” grew up in a country setting, rich with fresh corn, gladiolas, a horse named “Smokey” and neighborhood parties.
Carolyn thrived during her early education at Roeliff Jansen Central School, and was the valedictorian of her graduating class in 1961. In school, she participated in band and choir, cheerleading, baton twirling, and was a member of the National Honor Society. She was enthusiastic and ambitious, infectiously happy and kind to everyone she met, according to her friends from that time.
Not incidentally, Carolyn’s list of friends and acquaintances during those school-years included a shy, tall, wiry fellow named Larry. While she might have accidentally overlooked his sense of humor back then, Carolyn was never the type to let any connections fade. In fact, she maintained an admirable number of close connections with many friends her entire life.
Carolyn completed two years at the University of Vermont before transferring to Cornell University and the New York Hospital School of Nursing. During her time at Cornell she participated in summer programs in Guatemala and Honduras. Lynn (as she was called by her college friends) credited these overseas experiences with shaping her career more than anything. She devoted her professional life to serving underserved populations: migrants, underinsured, and homeless and relied heavily on the language skills she acquired to connect and communicate with people. She graduated from the Cornell School of Nursing in 1966 and accepted her position in the competitive Peace Corps program in Chile. Over the next three years, Carolyn worked as the head nurse in the surgery and maternity wards in the hospital in Traiguen, Chile. She told many stories about her time and travels in South America, often writing detailed letters and postcards describing her adventures and the people that she met.
Carolyn returned from the Peace Corps to work at New York Hospital in 1969, and after her mother died in 1970, she moved back to Columbia County, NY. Around that time, and with a renewed appreciation for his charm and wit, she and Larry re-connected. In November 1970, they got married.
While Larry worked as a toy salesman, Carolyn built a career in medicine, beginning at Columbia Memorial Hospital where she worked as the head nurse. She then graduated from the Albany Medical College Nurse Practitioner Program in 1976 and later passed the Physician Assistant Board Exam, a real accomplishment which confirmed her expertise as an invaluable professional (a “Physicians Assistant or P.A.”). Later she obtained her credentials as a Certified Diabetes Educator.
Although her career was a main focal point, Carolyn wanted a family more than anything. She and Larry adopted Jennifer Lynn in 1977 and then Carolyn gave birth to daughter Allison Lee in 1978! The girls grew up in the perfect country setting, but more than that, Carolyn made sure that her girls had regular trips to the city for theater, museums, and shopping. She planned amazing family vacations and even after long work hours always found the energy to organize graduation parties, and birthday or holiday celebrations for friends and family.
Her career spanned many decades and multiple locations near Chatham, New York, and later, around Red Lodge, Montana. As many of her colleagues noted, it is the unusual clinician who can sort through long lists of symptoms with patience and grace, and arrive at a good treatment plan for their patients. That was Carolyn. Even more rare, she had the special ability to make her work seem effortless, while being consistently reluctant to take credit for her no-nonsense brilliance.
Her patients invariably trusted her, in part because of that under-stated brilliance, but even more because they KNEW that they had her undivided attention. What more could any patient ask? Carolyn had a seemingly endless reservoir of energy to devote to her work – this is a person who did not miss a day of work for more than 50 years!
Other than some epic struggles to co-exist with the terrible and infuriating computer systems where she was supposed to be completing her charts, Carolyn seemed grounded by her life at work. So, it is little surprise that some of Carolyn’s many long-term friendships began there too. For many people, their work-life and their personal-life are separate. But for Carolyn, her work in clinical medicine and patient-care was simply inseparable from her belief: that kindness and decency and outreach still matter. This is a perspective she shared with Larry Smith, her husband of 52 years.
Carolyn brought that same sense of under-stated competence into her informal role as guardian and guide of her family’s health care decisions. It seemed like someone was always calling her for advice on a grandson’s ear-ache, or COVID protocols, or some skin issue, not to mention requesting her input and perspective regarding her daughter’s and grandson’s Type I diabetes. As Larry’s health slowly declined over the last few years, Carolyn dutifully cared for him through his end-of-life, and never seemed overwhelmed, even as her responsibilities steadily increased.
Never one to sit still, Carolyn was involved in many activities, even before she was fully retired from clinical medicine. She volunteered at the Carbon County Arts Guild, Kids Corner, Early Childhood Education, Beartooth Humane Alliance’s “Operation Nip-Tuck”, while maintaining a seemingly infinite list of really tight friendships, while still being a Mom, a Grandmother (“Mimo”), and a wife.
Amidst all this, she also developed a passion for golf in the years after her retirement. She never appeared to lose her patience with golf, and as her game grew stronger, she slowly became more and more obsessed! It seemed like nothing for her to play round after round, usually in Red Lodge, walking all the way around the course and never seeming fatigued!
Carolyn was predeceased by her mother, father and brother, as well as her brother-in-law and sister-in-law. Her husband of 52 years, Lawrence Edward Smith died March 14th, 2022
She is survived by daughters Jenny and Alli, grandsons Johnny, Oliver, Noah, son-in-law Peter, nieces Ivy and Lisa, and her nephew Doug.
A Remembrance for friends will be held at the tent at Sam’s Tap Room in Red Lodge at 5PM on July 13th.
A grand Celebration of Life for Carolyn and Larry will be held July 30th in Columbia County, New York. For more information about this celebration please email alliandjenny@gmail.com
Carolyn was passionate about her community, and was eager to volunteer her time to the flood relief efforts. Donations in her name may be made to The Red Lodge Community Foundation Disaster Relief Fund (www.rlacf.org) or to the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation (www.JDRF.org) PAID OBITUARY
