Carolyn Buhai Haas

94, Tiburon

Carolyn Buhai Haas was six weeks shy of her 95th birthday when she was diagnosed with COVID- 19. She died Nov. 17, just 24 hours later. “She had a good, long life,” said her daughter Betsy.

Carolyn battled dementia in the last seven years of her life as a resident of Marin Convalescent and Rehabilitation Hospital in Tiburon.

Before breaking her hip and later losing much of her memory, she’d maintained an independent lifestyle, participating in more than 50 educational travel programs geared toward senior citizens.

In her youth, Carolyn was an outspoken champion of civil causes. She was a member of the League of Women Voters and an ardent supporter of Hubert Humphrey, who served as vice president under President Lyndon B. Johnson.

She graduated from Smith College in 1947 and married her husband, Robert, the same year. After his death in 1984, she spent time living in Chicago, East Hampton, N. Y., and Santa Fe, N. M., before finally settling in Marin County.

A lifelong advocate of children’s education, Carolyn taught at Francis Parker School until the birth of her son, the first of five children.

She went on to co- write three children’s books, “I Saw a Purple Cow and 100 Other Recipes for Learning,” “Purple Cow to the Rescue” and “A Pumpkin in a Pear Tree,” and later wrote two of her own: “Recipes for Fun” and “Big Book of Fun.”

“She was very outgoing,” Betsy said. “She was somebody who did a lot of volunteer work: Boy Scouts, Girl Scouts, children’s museums. She was very crafty. She was [ a person] who loved to do crafts but made a mess and left it for us to clean up. Anything to entertain the kids.”

In addition to Betsy, Carolyn is survived by her son, Thomas; another daughter, Karen; sister Sandra; nine grandchildren and five great- grandchildren.