Chaffin, Carola A. (Anderson)
Carola Ann (Anderson) Chaffin of Covenant Living of Cromwell, passed quietly to her heavenly home, Friday, January 14, 2022. She was born October 31, 1923, in Boston Massachusetts to Herbert and Agnes Anderson. Known to her family as Tola, she was educated in the Boston public schools, graduating from Roslindale High School in 1941. She attended Kathleen Dell Secretarial School as well as Bryant and Stratton while working. She received her Associates degree from North Park College in 1945 and her RN from New England Deaconess School of Nursing in 1948.
Carola loved active travel. While at the International Nurses Congress in Sweden, she and two fellow graduates biked through Europe. She maintained close connections for many years with her nursing school classmates on vacations and reunions. She met Patterson Chaffin on a Youth Hostel bike outing, whom she married September 8, 1951, at Forest Hills Covenant Church. Officiating was the Rev. Dr. Nils W. Lund, North Park Seminary Dean. They were married 54 years. In retirement, they often volunteered with Habitat for Humanity and traveled with Road Scholar programs.
Together they raised three boys in South Windsor and Brookfield, CT. Always active in their faith, they were
members of Trinity Covenant Church of Manchester, Covenant Church of Easton, and Covenant and Methodist churches in Orange County, California and Spring Hill, Florida.
Carola worked until her retirement in 1989 in a variety of long-term care facilities, mostly as a night supervisor. She was acknowledged for her diligence and professionalism by the facility owners throughout her career.
Carola kept up the family traditions as a voracious reader, committed gardener and plant lover, and as a knitter of Afghans, as well as caps for the New England Seafarer’s Mission. Moving to Covenant Living of Cromwell in 2008, she returned to the location of the youth camp she attended as a young person. Here, she joined a community that was also home to her former college roommate, members of Covenant churches she had attended and fellow campers at Cromwell from long ago. She maintained a heavy schedule of wellness classes, concerts, and bible studies, along with weekly
games of Scrabble and Skip-bo with her friends. Hilltop Covenant Church became her place of worship here. She is survived by three sons: Rev. Mark Chaffin and Dr. Julie Shaw of Troy, NY, Dr. Todd Chaffin of Rockford, IL, and Dr. Scott Chaffin of Vashon Is, Washington. She leaves behind five grandchildren who meant so much to her: Anna, Ella, Matthew, Aidan, and Sadie, as well as her beloved nephews David, John, Daniel, Brian, and niece, Susan.
A memorial service will be held in the chapel of Covenant Living of Cromwell on Saturday, May 21, 2022, at 1:00pm. Interment will be held privately at Memorial Garden at Hilltop Covenant Church. Arrangements are in the care of Erickson-hansen Funeral Home of New Britain. Memorial donations may be made to the radio station – KICY, Alaska, New England Seafarer’s Mission, Habitat for Humanity, or the organization of your choice. Please share a memory of Carola with the family in the online guestbook at www.ericksonhansen. com