Sister M. Carolyn Madden
Adirondack Daily Enterprise, March 20, 2023Born: October 28, 1928
Died: March 15, 2023
Sister M. Carolyn Madden was a teacher who served as principal of schools in Lake Placid, Plattsburgh and Tarrytown.
Adirondack Daily Enterprise, March 20, 2023
Sister M. Carolyn Madden, age 94, died on March 15, 2023. Sr. Carolyn was born in Saranac Lake on Oct. 28, 1928, the daughter of Francis and Lillian (Colburn) Madden. She held a bachelor’s degree in education from Fordham University and a master’s in guidance and counseling from SUNY Plattsburgh.
Sr. Carolyn taught in schools in Plattsburgh, Rouses Point, Saranac Lake, Lake Placid and New York City. In addition, she was principal of schools in Lake Placid, Plattsburgh and Tarrytown. Many will remember Sr. Carolyn as director of arts in education in Saranac Lake.
In retirement, Sr. Carolyn served as a volunteer at Uihlein Mercy Center, High Peaks Hospice and Adirondack Medical Center. She also served on the Board of Directors at Mercy Care for the Adirondacks.
Sr. Carolyn is survived by many nieces and nephews including Frank Heald and his wife Bonnie of Rutland, Vermont, Jim Heald and his wife Kathy of Mt. Holly, Vermont, Robert Woodard of Portland, Maine, Dorothy Hastings of Boynton Beach, Florida, Kelly Woodard of Enfield, Connecticut, Theresa Spanos and her husband Vaughn of New Samaria Beach, Florida, Lee LaPlante and his wife Leslie of Saranac Lake, Lynn Frost of Dundalk, Maryland, and Judy Sheldrake and her husband Tom of Palm Coast, Florida. She is also survived by many grandnieces and grandnephews including a very special grandnephew Matthew LaPlante of Saranac Lake.
She was predeceased by her brother Thomas and her sisters Helen, Betty and Eileen.
Among the many honors she received in her lifetime was a designation as one of the “Remarkable Women of the Adirondacks.” Sr. Carolyn was also honored in the Who’s Who in America, Who’s Who in the East, Who’s Who of Women, Community Leaders of America, Foremost Women of 20th Century and the Directory of Distinguished Americans.
Calling hours will be held Wednesday, March 22 from 5 to 7 p.m. and Thursday, March 23 from 9:45 to 10:45 a.m. at Fortune Keough Funeral Home, 20 Church St., Saranac Lake.
A Mass of Christian burial will follow at 11 a.m. at St. Bernard’s Church in Saranac Lake. Burial will be in St. Bernard’s Cemetery in Saranac Lake in the spring.
Family and friends wishing to remember Sr. Carolyn are asked to make memorial contributions to a local charity.
Adirondack Daily Enterprise, March 29, 2023
Remembering Sister Carolyn Madden
To the editor:
Having read the news of Sister Carolyn Madden’s death with sadness, I wanted to write an appreciation for all she did to connect artists and school children.
Sr. Carolyn was the arts in education director at North Country Community College when I met her in 1992. I told her I was working on an arts in education program of songs about science and nature. Without hesitation, she encouraged me, and said that schools would be interested.
Once my BioSongs program was complete, Sr. Carolyn helped me put together a brochure which outlined the objectives of the program and the concepts presented in each song. The following spring, she booked me into several North Country schools, from Moriah to Moira and Old Forge to Ogdensburg. For each school I was sent an envelope with contact information, schedule of workshops and assemblies, an evaluation form and a map. Sr. Carolyn had mastered communicating all the necessary details to the school and to me.
Using the feedback she compiled from each school, I honed my program to be more and more interactive, adding movement, rhythm and sign language. I came to expect her thorough communication and support. What never ceased to surprise me though, was how often she would attend those programs. I’d be in some small school, such as Brasher Falls, and she’d be standing quietly smiling at the back of the cafetorium. Artists often received colorful hand-drawn pictures of story/song images in the mail after programs. What a gratifying feeling to see the children’s impressions of what we shared with them!
Over the course of several years, Sr. Carolyn Madden booked hundreds of arts programs in North Country Schools for the benefit of thousands of children. Most of those schools could never have afforded to bring a ballerina, storyteller, musician or acting troupe to present for them. Because Sr. Carolyn wrote grants for funding, and block-booked the artists, she gave us all opportunities we would not have otherwise had. Through artist showcases, “her” artists met and got to know each other as well. That networking fostered a deeper artistic expression and professionalism in our community.
In 2004, I asked Sr. Carolyn how she asked for, and received, so much monetary and logistical support for the arts. She replied that arts programs gave donors the opportunity to do something meaningful with their wealth. I hope she will always be remembered as bringing the arts to children, schools, communities and donors. We artists will remember her for her gentle encouragement of the development of our craft.
Peggy Lynn
Lake Clear
