12/30/1937 – 01/15/2021
Carol Ida Spin, maiden name Phillips born to James Arthur and Edna (Tymeson) Phillips on December 30th, 1937, in Troy, New York, passed away on January 15, 2021. She made this world a better place, and will be dearly missed.
Carol attended Catholic High and later the Mildred Elley Business School, which led her into an industrious career. Carol worked as an executive secretary at Knolls Atomic Power Laboratory in Niskayuna, New York where she was tasked to remember codes too classified at the time to write down. Carol had an enduring passion for the outdoors. She’d share stories of calling in sick for work but returning sunburned and smiling from a day skiing. Her coworkers would smile and express gratitude that she was feeling better. She was fearless continuing her love for skiing and the outdoors during a time in which it was not conventional for women to do so. In 1969 Carol married Eric Spin, a Dutch immigrant, together they had a daughter Jeannette.
Living with her small family in Warners Lake, NY she cherished the simple life. She loved to travel and to spend time with neighbors. Her love for nature, life and adventure was contagious!
In 1982, Carol experienced a car accident resulting in a traumatic brain injury, moved to Ballston Lake NY and worked as administrative assistant at State Farm Insurance Corporation in Malta, New York. Resolve and kindness were some of her defining characteristics. She was “the eternal optimist”; able to see herself and others through any hardship including TBI recovery and parenting with support from the Brain Injury Association of NY State.
In 2003 she moved to Park City, Utah where she lived her dream. She skied, snowshoed and met new wonderful friends until moving to Lafayette, Colorado in 2016 to be closer to her Jeannette and family.
She is survived by her daughter Jeannette Sutton, son-in-law Scott Sutton, sister Marion Beaudoin, and grandsons Teddy and George Sutton. She was preceded in death by Edna and James Phillips. Carol’s light will never leave us and now her light shines in new form. Her smile made the stars dull; it was contagious even in her last days. Donations in Carol’s name may be made to the Brain Injury Association of New York at https://bianys.org/donate/.
