Caroline Hammond Booth
June 25, 1925 - April 16, 2018
Caroline Hammond Booth died peacefully at her Oakland home of 60 years on April 16, surrounded throughout her very brief illness by her family and caregivers. She was 92. She is survived by her children Christopher Patterson Booth, Douglas Anderson Booth, Julianne Booth Knell, Carolyn Booth McFarland, and Corwin Hammond Booth; their spouses Debora, Margaret, Ernest, Richard, and Margaret; her twelve grandchildren; and her two great grandchildren, with a third expected. During her final six years, Carol was attended by many warm and caring caregivers. Primary among them, the family extends special recognition and appreciation to Martín Tinajero, who became a close friend. Martín attended devotedly to Carol’s needs both at her home and on her travels.
Carol was born on June 25, 1925 (half-Christmas) to Julian Theodore Hammond III and Mary Shallcross Hammond in Bucks County, Pennsylvania. Mary and Julian instilled in their daughter an ardent curiosity, a love of reading, an attention to detail, and a great love of music. She excelled at school, graduating Phi Beta Kappa from Illinois College with a degree in American History under the mentorship of Professor Joseph Patterson Smith. Soon thereafter, Carol met her life’s great love, and following a whirlwind romance, married Corwin L. Booth on June 11, 1949. The couple moved to the Montclair district of Oakland, California and began to raise their family as Corwin’s architectural business grew. Their exemplary marriage never lost its romance, serving as a loving model for their children and grandchildren. Although Carol likely had a hard time imagining it as her five children squabbled growing up, they have become a loving and close -knit group of siblings.
Carol’s great passion was service, especially to education, community, and church, upon all of which she left a great and lasting influence. She served in the Montclair School Parent Teachers Association, including as its President, and was active in Oakland school board elections. In 1975, she helped found St. Paul’s Episcopal School in Oakland, serving on its original board, and later as Board Chair. Carol was instrumental in establishing the school’s founding principle: to serve a richly diverse student body reflective of Oakland’s population, taught by superb teachers providing spiritual and ethical as well as academic training. These values mirrored Carol’s view of life, and the school’s mission still reflects her spirit.
Carol and Corwin made significant contributions to the Episcopal Diocese of California, including helping start the Dream of California Campaign with the Rt. Rev. William Swing, which re-energized the Diocese, and supporting ministry work with the elderly Filipino population at Canon Kip Senior Center in San Francisco. Carol played a critical role at the Bishop’s Ranch in Healdsburg, helping to increase its physical size and the scope of its operation. In addition to these good works, Carol was deeply involved in her local church, St. John’s Episcopal Church in Montclair, serving on the vestry, as People’s Warden, and as Senior Warden. She will be especially remembered for her devotion to the music program. Carol also served on the Board of Trustees of the Church Divinity School of the Pacific (CDSP). After retiring from active leadership in these institutions, she remained involved in the role of trusted advisor, by attending functions and retaining close relationships with their leaders and communities.
In addition to her strong leadership in these organizations, Carol was a generous philanthropist, contributing with care to religious, cultural, educational, political, environmental, health, and social welfare causes.
Carol loved spending time with her family, ensuring the now-big family gatherings were elegant, fun, and frequent. She loved to explore the world, traveling widely with her husband, friends and family. She enjoyed attending the San Francisco Opera with them, passing along her love of music to her children. In addition, she and her husband were known as people one could turn to in times of need, both within their community and especially within the larger family.
A fiercely elegant woman, Carol will forever be remembered as a kind, generous, empathetic, intelligent, and formidable woman who led her community and her family quietly and eloquently through word and example. Carol won people over, considered alternate points of view, and worked toward an inclusive society. She truly loved this world, and improved it.
A memorial service is planned at St. John’s Episcopal Church, 1707 Gouldin Rd, Oakland, at noon on May 12. In lieu of flowers, her family suggests a contribution to the St. Paul’s Episcopal School endowment (http://www. spes.org/carolinebooth) or to the Nature Conservancy (https://gifts.nature.org/ products/tribute-honorgifts).