Eleanor “Caroline” Johnston Stokes passed away peacefully on October 3, 2019, in Hilton Head Island, S.C., just one month shy of her 99th birthday. Born in 1920, she was the daughter of Albert and Belle Johnston.

She cherished her years growing up in Madison, N.J., and her many summers in Guilford, Conn. With her southern family ancestry, she ventured to college in South Carolina in 1938. After graduating from Winthrop College, she obtained her Master’s Degree at New York University and became a social worker on the Lower East Side. It was there that she developed a devotion to community and women’s and children’s needs.

She married Robert Pierson Stokes and moved to Newtown, Conn., in 1946, where she lived for almost 60 years at “Grey Patch” on Church Hill Road. Her love of the town began on the first day they visited, driving down Mt Pleasant Road into the center of Main Street with the historic flagpole. As an active volunteer in many local organizations, she was a founding member of the League of Women Voters, the Garden Club, American Field Service (AFS), and the Horticulture Club. She served on the Board of the C.H. Booth Library, where she also became curator of their art and antiques museum. Many Newtown residents knew Caroline as the very first kindergarten teacher in 1948 and later as a third grade teacher at Hawley School. She took great pride as a member of the Newtown Congregational Church and helping with the preservation of the historic Meeting House. Caroline received many honors and awards throughout her life, but one especially valued was a Connecticut state award for her contributions to the C.H. Booth Library in town.

The love of travel was inherited from her parents, and together with Bob and her daughters, she traveled the globe. Whether Caroline was barging in Europe, riding the trains out in the Western United States, or doing genealogy in England, she was always enthusiastic about travel and loved entertaining international visitors in their home. After Bob’s death in 2004, she continued to travel with her daughters and friends to Europe and the Caribbean until age 90.

Besides being an avid gardener, Caroline was passionate about researching and documenting family genealogy, and one of her treasured gifts to her family were books and documents tracing her family back to England in 1610. She was a member of the First Families of South Carolina, The Mayflower Society, and the Daughters of the American Revolution.

Caroline was predeceased by her parents; brother, Albert; and husband of 58 years, Robert.

She is survived by her daughters, Nancy Saumsiegle (William) and Bonnie Layton (John), both of Hilton Head Island, S.C.; grandchildren, Liz Saumsiegle of Arlington, Mass., and David Saumsiegle (Trixie) of Brookfield, Wis.; a great-granddaughter, Daxy Blu; as well as nine nieces and nephews.

Special thanks to the “Bloom” community and Compassus Hospice of Hilton Head, S.C., for their outstanding care.

A celebration of life service will be held at a later date.

In lieu of flowers, contributions in her name can be made to the C.H. Booth Library, 25 Main Street, Newtown CT 06470 and chboothlibrary.org; or Compassus Hospice at hospiceangels.org.