Castro, Carolyn Mary
Carolyn Mary Castro passed away Saturday, July 24, 2010, with loved ones by her side in Anchorage.
A memorial service will be held 11 a.m.-noon, Saturday, Aug. 21, at St. Matthew's Episcopal Church in Fairbanks. A reception will follow. The Rev. James N. Hunter II will officiate. Carolyn's family and friends will share in a celebration of her life at 4 p.m. at Chatanika Lodge, Mile 28.5 Steese Highway.
Carolyn was born Nov. 23, 1941, in San Mateo, Calif., to Frances Garcia and Manuel Torres Reyes. She attended Sequoia High School in Redwood City, Calif.
She was married to Joseph Castro on Dec. 12, 1958, who survives. In the 1970s, she moved to the Pacific Northwest, where she attended Umpqua Community College.
Carolyn was proud to have been born into a biracial family and possessed an innate skill and passion for cooking ethnically diverse foods. Her profound enthusiasm for food led her to refine her skills at a culinary arts school while living in Oregon. To the happiness and gratification of Carolyn, she owned and operated fabulous eateries throughout the Pacific Northwest while raising her family.
In 1981, Carolyn moved to Alaska where she continued to enjoy her love of cooking and life-long friendships, while employed at the Bread Line Soup Kitchen, co-founded by Dick Farris and Sharron and James Hunter, in Fairbanks. After her retirement in 1999, Carolyn and her fellow Bread Line volunteers started a weekly tradition of sharing a Saturday brunch together.
Her friends wrote: "She had a unique way of knowing the type of cake you would enjoy the most. On your birthday, she would invite you over for one of her delicious home- cooked meals, then top it off with presenting you with your favorite cake. Her kind and thoughtful generosity, her brightly illuminated smile, and an impressive portfolio of culinary delights has filled our hearts with great warmth and an everlasting devotion of friendship."
Carolyn was a member of the Episcopal Church. She loved listening to music, enjoyed traveling, was an avid reader and had a passion for hosting social gatherings. Her family wrote: "Her favorite thing to do was to have family and friends over to share in a bountiful meal she had cooked. She was a matriarch to all of us and was loved and respected in the highest regard. She taught her children, nieces, nephews and grandchildren how to prepare our family's traditional Mexican and Guamanian foods while quietly instilling an enthusiasm in us to share meals with others. Her honorable values, maternal guidance and unwavering love filled our hearts and memories with infinite treasures of adoration."
Carolyn is survived by her sister, Virginia Untalan; her four children and their partners, Joseph Castro of Fairbanks, Todd and Heidi Castro of Springfield, Ore., Janice Castro-Reed and Dan Reed of Fairbanks, and Charles Castro and Lindley Garnier of Honolulu; 11 grandchildren, Philip, Adam, Jenell, Daniel, Brezi, Nichole, Sean, Katelyn, Anthony, Shanna and Paige; and 14 great-grandchildren, Deona, Anthony, Marshall, Nicholas, Kaelyn, Ethan, Richie, Hayden, Ian, Charlie, Cyrus, Nckayla, Harlan and Maddelynn.
She was preceded in death by her parents; and siblings, Arthur Ram, Frank Ram, Leonard Reyes, Manuel Reyes, Charles Reyes, Andrew Reyes, Cynthia Reyes and Janice Reyes.
In Carolyn's memory, donations can be made to the National Kidney Foundation at www.kidney.org and/or organ donor wishes can be declared at www.donatelife.net.
Published in Daily News-Miner on August 10, 2010