Carolyn Marie Wortendyke Gouverneur, of Litchfield, Conn. and Pemaquid Harbor, died on May 17, one day shy of her 83rd birthday, which she celebrated the day before at home with her five children and five of her 11 grandchildren. She died of complications from melanoma.
She was born May 18, 1926 in Jersey City, N.J. to Reynier Jacob Wortendyke, Jr. and Rosamond Rogers Brown Wortendyke. She grew up in Maplewood, N.J., graduated from Kent Place School and attended Vassar College, graduating in 1948. She married Minor Fairfax Heiskell Gouverneur II of Rochester, N.Y., a founder of Asquared Industries, in 1949; they were married 44 years until his death in 1993. In her communities in Wheaton, Ill. and Goshen, Conn., she was a member of the League of Women Voters, onetime chairman of Planned Parenthood, frequent cast member in the Goshen Players, and longtime choir member of St. Michael’s Episcopal Church Litchfield, where she also served on the vestry. She wrote for the Waterbury Republican and devoted more than a decade of service recording books for the blind for the Connecticut Volunteer Services for the Blind and Physically Handicapped program of the State Library.
From the age of 10, she spent summers at Pemaquid Harbor, where her husband proposed marriage; her grandparents, parents, children and grandchildren have vacationed with her there.
She is survived by Eliza Gouverneur, Sallie Gouverneur, Jeffress Gouverneur, Abigail Gouverneur Carr, Jacob Gouverneur, their respective spouses and 11 illustrious grandchildren aged 30 to 1½.
Memorial service 11:30 a.m., Sat., July 18 at Trinity Church Milton, Litchfield, Conn.
Donations in her honor may be made to Trinity Milton Church, P.O. Box 839, Litchfield, CT 06759 or CVSBH program, c/o Oliver Wolcott Library, South St., Litchfield, CT 06759.
Arrangements by Rowe Funeral Home of Litchfield, Conn.