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)

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