Kilbourn Caretto, Anne

Anne Kilbourn Caretto, 95, a longtime resident of Garden City, NY and later Glastonbury, CT, went to her eternal reward on April 2, 2024 after a period of declining health. She was preceded in death by her husbands, Austin Kilbourn and Albert Caretto, her parents George and Elizabeth Williams McGrath, and her brothers John and Gregory McGrath. She was the proud mother of Mary Kilbourn, Timothy Kilbourn, Anne Bonington and Elizabeth Graham and their spouses, grandmother of 9 and great-grandmother of 11. She leaves an extraordinarily powerful example of a purposeful life.

In an age where many confuse the ephemeral with the lasting, the trivial with the important, and the mundane with the sacred, hers was in many respects a profoundly countercultural life that hewed to the simpler, straightforward values of an earlier day: she believed in faith, family, children, living modestly and treating others with respect. Her Catholic faith was extremely important to her, and she loved gardening.

She followed her mother and grandmother to Smith College, graduating with the Class of 1950. While there she formed friendships that lasted her entire life. She met her future husband Austin at Yale, and their joyful bond lasted over fifty years. At age 80 she married Al, a high school classmate, and began a new chapter of her life in Pittsburgh. A lifelong early childhood teacher, hundreds of children began their education with her at schools on Long Island. Her legacy, above all, lies in the power of her example and the moral center of gravity she sought to instill in her family.

A Mass of Christian Burial will be held on Saturday, April 27 at 11 am at the Church of the Incarnation in Wethersfield, CT. In lieu of flowers donations may be sent to the Interfaith Nutrition Network, 211 Fulton Avenue, Hempstead, NY 11550.