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Carolyn Demchar Wilson
Carolyn was born in Poughkeepsie, NY, in 1949 to Paul and Pauline Demchar. But one month later, the family moved back to their home town of Peekskill, NY, to live with her paternal grandmother.
Sh...view moreCarolyn was born in Poughkeepsie, NY, in 1949 to Paul and Pauline Demchar. But one month later, the family moved back to their home town of Peekskill, NY, to live with her paternal grandmother.
She began school in Peekskill at The Assumption School where some of her cousins attended, providing an easy entrance to school life. In the summer of 1956, big brother Paul Jr. was heading to the US Navy after graduation. Worse yet, Carolyn’s mother left her father, taking Carolyn with her. Carolyn was admitted into the prestigious Pocantico Hills Elementary School, in September 1956, but November found her afraid and alone at St. Vincent de Paul’s Institute in Tarrytown, NY; a boarding school. After a year of learning the discipline requirements, the child began admiring the Sisters, finding in them the love and care that her mother was not providing. At the age of ten, when she’d completed fourth grade, she told her mother that her goal in life was to be a nun. Her mother pulled her from St. Vincent’s and next enrolled her in the Chappaqua Public School District where she spent the next seven years adjusting.
Springtime of her junior year at Horace Greeley High, the property on which they lived had been sold for development and they had sixty days to vacate. They moved to an apartment ½ mile out of the district and her Guidance Counselor advised Carolyn that she’d be able to finish her Junior year, then could pay tuition for her Senior year. Her mother refused.
Using the business address of her mother’s new bar and grille, Carolyn started Senior year at Briarcliff High School. She quickly made friends. The Board of Ed found out that she did not live at the business address. Guidance notified her that she needed to pay tuition or enroll at Ossining High School where she actually lived. Carolyn was enrolled into the third school of her happy high school endeavor. Without home or school support, Carolyn had enough self-stamina to continue her business courses throughout the ordeal of high school, and upon graduation was qualified to fill secretarial positions in her area.
In 1971 she began studying Fiction Writing at Famous Writers’ School – a home study course out of Westport CT. Rod Serling, Bennett Cerf and Faith Baldwin were some of her mentors.
More recently Carolyn studied USCB in Beaufort, SC, where she had the pleasure of meeting Pat Conroy, and has attended many gatherings in his honor. He gave her much encouragement to follow through on “But the Trees Can’t Speak” and was looking forward to reading it upon completion. Unfortunately Pat Conroy passed away before this work was finished.
She has been married to her second husband, Bob, for thirty-eight years, has three step children and six grandchildren.view less