Longtime Newtown resident Caroline Stokes graced the pages of The Newtown Bee for decades for her work in town.

In 2010, before her move out of state, The Newtown Bee wrote of her many contributions saying, “Teacher, Sunday School teacher, Girl Scout leader, founder of Newtown League of Women Voters, advocate for women and education, original member of Garden Club of Newtown and Horticulture Club, board member Sandy Hook Library, Board of Trustees for Booth Library, and Booth Library’s first curator, the lively nonagenarian was honored at a tea before embarking on her new life in the south.”

She was even the Newtown Labor Day Parade grand marshal with her husband, Robert, in 1994.

In each avenue of work and play, she touched the lives of many.

When the news began to spread about Mrs Stokes’ death, on October 3, residents who knew her sent in their condolences and shared memories of times they had with her. Here are a few of those messages:

Kim Weber

Former C.H. Booth Library Young Adult Librarian Kim Weber said, “I met Caroline Stokes at the library when she was the curator. She had a passion for the library and also for Newtown and loved to share our town’s history with everyone she met. Many of the handwritten signs in the library’s museum cases were written by Caroline and if she saw you walking by one, she’d grab you and lead you to an artifact and then share a story or two, or even three.

“She had a positive, can-do attitude, a twinkle in her eye, [and] she laughed easily, but you knew she was made of tough stuff. I once was invited to tea at her house and got a tour of the back forty (her backyard) and also many of her personal treasures. I won’t ever forget her, a very special lady who loved this town and gave so much. She was one in a million and will be deeply missed.”

Andrea Zimmermann

Former C.H. Booth Library Reference Librarian Andrea Zimmermann said, “I best came to know Caroline during the 16 years I worked as a reference librarian at the C.H. Booth Library, and also when I interviewed her for the Oral History Project.

“Caroline was the library’s curator, and she was so knowledgeable about the collection, the people connected to the artifacts, and archival practices employed to care for and store these local treasures. She communicated her enthusiasm for all things Newtown through her displays and in every conversation I had with her. She loved to refer to town benefactress Mary Hawley as ‘Newtown’s Fairy Godmother.’

“Caroline had been instrumental in arranging the Bicentennial Oral History Project in town, and then was a subject, herself, in the 2005, Newtown Remembered: More Stories of the 20th Century.

“I knew Caroline loved to travel but was surprised to find out she was a member of the United World Federalists, an organization that had a chapter in Newtown from 1947 to at least 1954. The group, which predated the United Nations, was an intellectual organization that believed, as Caroline put it, ‘The world needed to work together and be a place for world government.’

“Caroline also was an advocate for women’s health issues, including access to birth control, which was not legally available in Connecticut when she moved here in 1946 as a new bride. She became active in Planned Parenthood and in the local chapter that was formed the year she moved here; she worked to foster an understanding of the right to choose even after birth control was finally legalized in this state in 1965.

“Caroline had that sparkle in her eyes when she spoke about Newtown. In her oral history interview, she summed up her feelings by saying, ‘This is a very special place and beloved by many of us because of its character, natural beauty, and residential neighborhoods.’

“I am amazed at how much Caroline contributed to the social, cultural, and intellectual development of our town. She was an activist, educator, and preservationist.”

LeReine Frampton

Newtown resident LeReine Frampton said, “I attended Newtown Middle School during double sessions. In the morning, before middle school started, I went to third grade at Hawley and helped Mrs Stokes. She was a great teacher, very inventive in ways to engage her students. I was given a reading group and a math group to work with my second year. Mrs Stokes had a student with home problems and learning disabilities [and] she asked me to work with him one-on-one. She brought in a manual typewriter for him, to encourage him to do his work. That little extra was enough that he started trying and succeeding. It was amazing.

“That next year, I went to high school and when I graduated, I got a lovely card from her. It was so nice to be thought of. Many years later, when my daughter graduated high school, I got another card congratulating me on my daughter’s success.

“Such [a] kind, thoughtful woman.”

Beryl Harrison

C.H. Booth Library Assistant Director Beryl Harrison said, “I met Caroline when I joined the Garden Club of Newtown in 1987. The club met in the afternoon at the Methodist Church. After attending a few meetings, I suggested we might consider an occasional evening meeting or program to attract working women. Caroline rose and said, “We always meet in the afternoon!” As one of the original founders of the Garden Club in 1955, she was in charge. End of story.

“What a delightful, articulate, intelligent, and strong-willed woman, decades ahead of her time. She was wife, mother, teacher, expert gardener, lover of family and genealogy, and especially a lover and supporter of the C.H. Booth Library. She knew the history of Mary Hawley’s gifts to the library, from the beautiful building to the furnishings and artwork, and shared her knowledge with library staff and patrons.

“As volunteer curator, she kept a card file of donations to the library, but her stories about the donors, many her personal friends, brought the objects to life. She was unfailingly warm and compassionate but a no-nonsense woman who accomplished whatever she set her mind to.

“Caroline was a prime example of Newtowners who helped Newtown grow from a small farming town to a thriving modern community, nurtured by those who treasure the past while looking forward to an even brighter future.”

A Service of Celebration and Remembrance for Caroline Stokes will take place on Friday, November 15, at 11 am at the Newtown Meeting House, 31 Main Street.