Obituary of Caroline Gardner Beckjord

Caroline Gardner Beckjord passed away surrounded by her family on April 16, 2016, in Brunswick, Maine, at the age of 84. Born in Boston on July 29, 1931, Caroline was the daughter of Charles Sidney Gardner and Margaret Gardner. The third of three children, she grew up in Cambridge, Massachusetts. When she was very young, the family lived for several years in Beijing, China, where her father, a noted historian of China, was undertaking research. Caroline graduated from Vassar College in 1953 with a BA in English, and married Eric S. Beckjord that same year. Together they had four children and would live in many places, including Norfolk, VA; Cambridge, MA; Schenectady, NY; Lombard, IL; Los Gatos, CA; Pittsburgh, PA; Brussels, Belgium; Hinsdale, IL and Washington, DC. Throughout these many moves, Caroline was a devoted mother to Rick, Suprabha, Charles and Sarah. Professionally, Caroline first pursued her love of literature, completing a MA in English at Carnegie-Mellon University in Pittsburgh in 1969. She taught for many years, first at Taylor-Allderdice High School and the University of Pittsburgh, and later at the George Washington University in Washington, DC. She would later change fields, graduating in 1986 with a MS in Counseling Psychology from Benedictine College in Illinois and training at the Institute of Mental Health in Washington in 1988-90. She practiced as a therapist at the Center for Mental Health in Anacostia and at the Capitol Hill Clinic on Capitol Hill in Washington, DC from 1986-1996. Throughout her life, Caroline nurtured her love of letters by participating in reading and poetry groups and by regularly attending the theater and the opera. She was fond of gardening, tennis, bird watching, and walking in the woods near the family summer cottage in Sorrento, Maine. She cherished her many dear friends and relatives across the US. Caroline’s siblings, John Gardner and Sara Hull, and her oldest son Rick, died previously. She is survived by her beloved husband, Eric, and her devoted children, Suprabha of Washington DC, Charles (Nora) of St. Paul, and Sarah (Álvaro Aramburu) of Brookline, as well as her grandchildren, Tomás and Lucas, and many cousins, nieces and nephews. Memorial services will be held at a later date. In lieu of flowers, donations may be made to First Parish Church, 9 Cleaveland St., Brunswick, ME 04011.