Carole Anne Carlin (nee Cipra), 90, of Maplewood, NJ, passed away on November 24, 2024, after a brief hospitalization, attended lovingly every step of the way by her husband, children, children-in-law, grandchildren, great-grandchildren, and others dear to her.

Carole was born April 15. 1934 in Cleveland, OH, the daughter of James and Gabrielle (Hala) Cipra.

She was a graduate of Bainbridge High School, Ohio University, and Rutgers University, where she earned a Master's Degree in Social Work, facilitating her professional life of some forty years as a psychotherapist in private practice.

Carole began her married life after college with Charles R. Joyce, the father of her four children, in New Orleans in 1957, and the family moved to Montclair, NJ in 1962, where she continued to live until the mid-1980s. Carole was subsequently married to Edward (Ned) E. Heydt, with whom she lived in Montclair and later in West Caldwell, until his death in 2005. She and her current spouse, Gerald (Jerry) Carlin, began a love story shortly after each had been widowed; they celebrated their marriage in 2006, and went on to enjoy life between their homes in New Jersey and Montauk and their travels around the world.

In addition to her husband, Carole is survived by her sister, Gabrielle Johnson (Gideon) of Chardon, OH. Her first marriage produced four children, Charles David Joyce of Los Angeles, Katherine Carole Joyce (Tim Koechlin) of Montclair, the late John James Joyce (Stacey) of Verona, and Michael Scott Joyce (Wanda) of Colchester, VT, seven grandchildren, Benjamin Feldman, James Joyce (Kaitlin), Kate Anderson (Mark), Kevin Joyce (Aparna Patankar), Molly Joyce (Avery Attinson), Matt Joyce and Sophie Joyce, and ten great-grandchildren. She is also survived by a niece, Laura Adams, and nephew, David Douglass. Carole was stepmother to Stephen E. and John (Jay) Heydt and Wendy Heydt Gordin, as well as to Helene (Michael) Kates and Norman (David Gladstein) Carlin, and a step-aunt to Corey McLauchlin and Burchie Green. Finally, Carole is survived by Fendi, the last in a long line of dogs she loved, who were fortunate to be loved by her.

As important as her family was to her, anyone who knew Carole also knew she was ever surrounded by a close and spirited group of friends that only grew more numerous over time. At 90 years of age, one outlives many contemporaries, but she maintained close connections over the decades with friends dating back to school days, her early life in Montclair and especially at St. John's Church. She added friends among her peer supervision groups in the psychotherapeutic community, through her extensive travels to countries all over the world, and her last and very happy years at the senior community at Winchester Gardens, where she and Jerry never wanted for company at their dinner table.

Carole began her career as a Social Worker at Community Hospital in Montclair, and then as a psychotherapist in private practice, first in Montclair and later in Caldwell, until her retirement in 2008. Practicing as Carole Heydt a majority of her career, she was a member of IPPNJ (Institute for Psychoanalysis and Psychotherapy of New Jersey), as well as several related professional and informal organizations.

Carole never tired of travel or of gardening and would undoubtedly be spending this winter poring over seed catalogs and travel brochures planning next year's garden or destinations, had she lived. None of her survivors can definitively number the countries she visited, but all can fondly recall their own memorable trips with her to Bali, Canada, France, Greece, Ireland, Italy, North Africa, Spain and Turkey, among others. Carole acquired not only experiences through travel, but also friendships, and family remembers many holidays when Carole's expansive hospitality extended to new friends from around the world.

How to describe Carole's gardening – passion? Obsession? Avocation? Whatever it was, she was nearly never without a little dirt under her fingernails and plans hatching for a way to change a planting bed, improve the prospects for an existing plant or re-create an indoor space to better accommodate and nurture her vision. There was no place she lived that wasn't at least slightly – but more often, substantially – transformed by her gardens, and through her lifelong endeavors, her children learned 50 years ago to makes space for and respect her commitment to such "modern ideas" organic gardening and composting.

We could elaborate on Carole's convictions about and extensive research into health foods, alternative medical practices and holistic healing, but suffice it to say here that some of her kids eventually appreciated that they had never been served convenience foods or developed a taste for soda, despite the deprivations these seemed at the time.

Carole studied piano for 13 years and never lost her love of music. Whether it was her children falling asleep at night to the sounds of her practicing Chopin etudes downstairs, Christmas carols at the piano, sing-alongs with friends as a cocktail party verged into convivial late-night performances, or her own extensive collection of both classical and contemporary sounds on the stereo, music was always a part of Carole's life and home.

A celebration in Carole's memory will take place on May 16, at 11:00am at St. John's Episcopal Church, 55 Montclair Avenue, Montclair, NJ, with reception to follow.