Carolyn was born on 9th February, 1927, the oldest of the four children of Jud and Ruth Crary, although she also had an older sister, Jean, from Ruth’s first marriage. Jud was a banker, and they lived in Palo Alto, California.
Carolyn’s next youngest sister, Ginger, went on to marry Edward Goulding from Britain, who worked with MRA and focused particularly on industry.Her other sister, Eleanor, also worked with MRA for a period.
Carolyn was the editor of her high-school magazine.
She knew of MRA through her parents, although the details seem to have been lost to history. Her older son John can only remember that when he asked Carolyn about her initial contact with MRA she stated, ‘My mother went to a tea party in 1934.’
Whatever the story, Carolyn eventually volunteered full-time with MRA. She joined a large group of who travelled extensively with MRA across America and other countries including her first visit to Britain in the 1950s, starting in Liverpool. She was a highly organised and talented secretary, and became secretary to the theatre production teams.
Carolyn’s Californian roots were always evident, not least in her love of pancakes, chilli con carne and peanut and jam sandwiches.
She first met her future husband, Hugh, in Caux, Switzerland, and they were married in 1957 in the US. They spent most of their 65 years together in London - for almost half a century in 5 Dunmore Road, Wimbledon.
Carolyn was the first in her family to master a computer, a skill which she used to support Hugh’s work when he became actively involved with the Global Communications Forum.
As well as bringing up their two sons, one of whom has Downs Syndrome, Hugh and Carolyn hosted many guests – often for long periods. Among them were Major Charles Pooley (retired British Army officer), Kojo Jantuah (Ghana), Vitalie Cracan (Romania) and Valerie Tikkanen (British but now living in Sweden). When Carolyn died in 2022, Valerie wrote: ‘Carolyn cared for me when I arrived in London aged 18 to work at Fulham Hospital. I knew about MRA, as it was then, and with her encouragement I went through the four absolute standards, gave my life to God and started to experiment with listening to my inner voice, this changed the direction of my life and still leads me today. Thank you for taking me into your family at the beginning of this fantastic journey.’
