Caroline Amiss

Ann Caroline Amiss was born on May 18, 1937 in Harrisonburg, Virginia, to Ann Macon Amiss and James Edward Amiss.  She died on Christmas Eve, December 24, 2020, at age 83, peacefully, in Watkinsville, GA.  While she struggled with Dementia for the past 8 years, she died of acute leukemia.   She lived a long, successful and love-filled life.  While missing her is a challenge, we share our love for her in positive legacy here.

Caroline was born in the spring in the Shenandoah Valley to the family of the local family doctor in the small town of Altavista, Va.  She was an adorable toddler, deep blue eyes and a mischievous face.  Her beloved father, a flight surgeon in the U.S. Navy, passed when she was only 18 years old.   Ann, her mother, her brother Jimmy and sister Frankie all moved to Norfolk, VA.

Mom was well educated with a long successful career.  She finished high school in Altavista, Va.  She headed directly to college at William & Mary, where she met our father, Albert D Kowalak in 1956.  Mom earned her Bachelors of Science in Biology.  She worked as a teacher or research assistant until Carole was born in 1959, and Rebecca Amy was born in 1962.  At the same time, she pursued and earned a Masters of Science degree in Microbiology and her husband his PhD in Inorganic Chemistry at VPI, now Virginia Technological Institute & State University, Blacksburg, Va., in 1965.  She became an Assistant Professor at Radford College, Redford, VA.  The family moved to Terre Haute, IN for two years, where Mom taught briefly at Indiana University.  The family moved to Chelmsford, MA in 1967.  Mom taught at Chelmsford High School, as a biology teacher from 1968 to 1981. The family temporarily moved to Marseille, France for her husband’s sabbatical.

Mom had such an empathic relationship with the students at CHS that she decided, after she and her husband divorced, to move to Atlanta, GA and earn another Masters degree followed by a PhD in Educational Psychology at Georgia State University.  She worked at and was well loved at various teen hotlines in Atlanta.  She earned her PhD, in 1987.  Her dissertation was unique - an ethnographic study in student drug culture called the ‘Drug Lady’. Mom interned in Poughkeepsie, NY for two years and then returned to Georgia, to work at the UGA Health Center as a counseling psychologist.  From a career perspective, her work in alcohol and drug counseling with young people was her heart and soul, and she helped many.  She retired from UGA in 2007.

Mom remained active in the Athens mental health community after retirement. She walked regularly with a dear friend, and for charity events.  When daughter Carole moved two houses away, two year old grandson, Jackson, and “Granny’ became very close.  She maintained a loving relationship, even if from a distance, with Rebecca Amy and her three children, Veronica, Jake and Bella up north.  She built loving relationships with her new son-in-law, Bob, and his children, Drew and Kaity.

Mom sadly began to show signs of cognitive issue several years after retirement.  She moved to an independent living home in Lawrenceville, GA, to be near her sister, Frankie.  Mom found love again in a wonderful resident at this community, warming all hearts to see.  As Mom’s illness progressed, she moved back to to an assisted living facility in the Athens area.  Carole and family were fortunate to continue to take her out to lunch most every Sunday and to dinner at their home every Wednesday, where dear friends and family joined.  Mom was surrounded by family and love, as she journeyed through the difficulties of increasing dementia.

Who was our mother?  She was first and foremost a loving, forgiving, empathetic, and accepting person.  She could be strong willed, but never judgmental.  She loved her cozy house, her back porch, shopping, eating out, the beach, dogs, books, her piano and all of us.  She often loved us more than we knew.  She did not like to cook in general, but she taught us how to make the best pie crust, gravy, and a Christmas bread.  She did not like to travel alone, get up early, or to have to say goodbye.  What did we learn from her?  Being kind and non-judgmental to others is paramount, as you have no idea of their struggles if not in their shoes.  What did Carole love most about her?  She loved me unconditionally, and always saw me at my best, making me feel cherished.  She did this up until she lost consciousness a few days before her death.  She shed a tear when she realized she was saying goodbye to grandson, Jackson, at that same time. What did Rebecca Amy love most about Mom?  She sent regular Daily Reflections and spiritual readings, staying in close touch spiritually.  Mom loved the 12 Step Programs, and passed that on to both daughters.  She also carried on the family tradition of wearing almost anything as a hat for impromptu photo shoots - colanders, pots, paper bags…  Her Soduku books, sent by Rebecca Amy, were her favorite things up till the very end.

She leaves on this earth daughter Carole Vandenberg (Bob), daughter Rebecca Amy Kowalak, grandchildren Drew Vandenberg (Catherine), Kaity Vandenberg (Dan), Veronica Kowalak, Jackson Griner, Jacob Thomas and Isabella Thomas, and sister Frances

Amiss.  Preceding her in death are her mother, Ann Macon Amiss, her father, James Edward Amiss, and her brother, James Edward Amiss Jr.

A celebration of life will be held privately for the family in the spring or summer, at a location near and dear to our mother’s heart, the beach.

For donations, in lieu of flowers, please donate to either the Athens Area Humane Society (https://athenshumanesociety.org), where Mom often stopped and just handed them a check, or the Alzheimers Association (https://www.alz.org/alzheimer_s_dementia).  Thank you for reading and hugging your mother a bit closer today and every day.