January 26, 1950 – August 15, 2020
Carol (Tubbs) Devenir loved life and all that is beautiful. She was a talented musician, an enthusiastic gardener, a fierce protector of Mother Nature, an inveterate world traveler, a devotee of libraries and farmers’ markets, and a loving friend to many, many people.
Carol was born January 26, 1950 to Frederick B. Tubbs and Margaret Ross Tubbs in Newport News, Virginia, the oldest of four children. The family moved to Oneonta, New York, when Carol was 12. She was a Rotary Exchange Student to the Netherlands for her junior year in high school and quickly became fluent in Dutch. She graduated from Oneonta High School in 1968 and from Harpur College in Binghamton, N.Y., in 1971 with a degree in English Literature.
On December 24, 1971, Carol married Steve Naatz, her high-school sweetheart. She and Steve moved to Fort Collins, Colorado, and fell in love with the mountains and the sunshine. She and Steve divorced a few years later. Carol studied urban and regional planning at UCLA, then returned to Colorado where she was a city planner in Glenwood Springs, after which she offered contract planning services for Fort Collins, Boulder and other Colorado cities. As a volunteer, she helped launch “Recycle Something,” Fort Collins’ first recycling program. At various times, she was a vocalist, a volunteer and a staff member of the Boulder Bach Festival.
Recycling was both a career and a personal passion of Carol’s. She was a trendsetter in the emerging field of solid waste management, rooted in recycling principles. In 1990 she moved to Boise, Idaho, where she started the first “blue bin” recycling program for the city, a program that grew into a city-wide endeavor that continues today. From there, Carol was recruited by the city of Vancouver, Wash., to be its director of solid waste management. She married Martin Moore in Vancouver in 1997, and they bought a historic home, which they lovingly restored. In Vancouver, Carol tended a stunning flower garden, including a diverse and magnificent collection of roses. Martin and Carol divorced a few years later.
Ready for more sunshine in her life, Carol returned to Colorado in 2006, settling in Lyons, then Pinewood Springs. She wrote for the Lyons Redstone Review and other publications. After a battle with breast cancer, Carol authored the book “Beyond Chemo Brain.”
Carol is survived by her sister Joanne Kelly of Boulder, Colorado; her brother Stephen Tubbs of Boise, Idaho; nieces Louise Oldenkamp (Mindy) of Nampa, Idaho; Annah Tubbs; Erin Decker of Evergreen, Colorado; Sarah Dufoe (Candace) of Dyken Lake, New York; nephew Joshua Wetmore of Boulder, Colorado; and several grandnieces and grandnephews. She was predeceased by her parents, her brother Frederick B. Tubbs, III, and her brother-in-law Alan Kelly.
The family extends heartfelt thanks to Susan Nemcek of Willow Farms for giving selflessly and taking tender care of Carol for so many years. Thanks also to the staff at The Bridge at Longmont for going the extra mile to make Carol feel loved and cared for.
Memorial contributions may be made to The Nature Conservancy at nature.org.
Love you and miss you my sweet friend.
Carol was my first college roommate. We were as different as two fresh-faced 18-year-olds could be, but we hit it off from Day One. I cut the cake at her 1971 wedding to Steve and will never forget the red velvet wedding dress she made herself. She taught me a little Dutch and I taught her a bit of Yiddish. I was going to getv back in touch and am so sad to have missed her by less than a month. Like her chosen name, she was one of a kind.
I am so sorry to just hear that Carol moved on. I’ll miss you.
How sad it is to lose a friend and colleague, and one so intelligent, talented, conscientious and sweet.
I have just read the sad news that Carol has passed away. I first met her in Boulder in the 1980s, where we had shared passions for music and the environment. After I moved back to the UK, we stayed in contact, and she and Martin came to England to celebrate our wedding – and later welcomed Randi and me to their home in Vancouver. Since then, we stayed in touch for a while, and we knew about her battle with cancer, her book, and her losses in the floods. She was a special and brave person who we will miss.