Carolyn Winlock Arbuckle, age 77, passed away Thursday, April 9, 2020, at the Sunnyside Presbyterian Retirement Community.
Born May 25, 1942, in Lexington, Kentucky, she was the eldest child of the late Reverand J. D. Arbuckle and Mattie Winlock Harrison Arbuckle.
Carolyn was a graduate of King College (University), in Bristol, Tennessee, and the Presbyterian School of Christian Education (now Union Presbyterian Seminary), in Richmond, Virginia. She worked for 22 years in children’s homes in Virginia, first at the Presbyterian Home, in Lynchburg, Virginia, and then at the Children’s Home of the Highlands, in Wytheville, Virginia.
In 1988, she returned to the home of her parents, who were in fragile health, and worked for the next 22 years on staff of the Presbytery of West Virginia as Hunger Action Enabler with the Presbyterian Hunger Program. In 2010, she retired to the Sunnyside Presbyterian Retirement Community in Harrisonburg, Virginia.
In addition to the passion she had for her work, Carolyn loved the State Fair of West Virginia in Lewisburg, which she attended every year from the age of five. She was on staff of the Fair for 34 years followed by serving on the Board of Directors for 18 years. In 2012 she was elected Director Emeritus and served until her death.
In addition to her parents, she was preceded in death by her sister, Margaret Arbuckle Watts Pauley; an infant brother, Matthew Brown Arbuckle; and infant sister, Harriet Elaine Arbuckle.
She is survived by her nieces, Maria Watts Taylor, (Curtis), of Bridgewater, Virginia, Margaret Jane “Meg” Miller, (David), of Lubbock, Texas, and Mattie John Watts, of Milton, Washington; great-nieces and great- nephews, Clint Taylor, (Gabriell), Cassie Taylor, Taylor Miller, Alex Russell and Matthew Miller. She is additionally survived by many cousins whom she cherished, especially Houston Arbuckle, who was like her brother, and Shirley McCue.
Beyond her biological family, Carolyn was closely connected to the children and their families from the children’s homes in Lynchburg and Wytheville, Virginia.
Memorial donations may be made to any of the following: Sunnyside Fellowship Fund (Harrisonburg campus), C/O Development Office, 600 University Boulevard, Suite L, Harrisonburg, VA 22801; Presbyterian Children’s Home of the Highlands, 425 Grayson Road, Wytheville, VA 24382; or Humankind Presbyterian Homes Campus Headquarters, 150 Linden Avenue, Lynchburg, VA 24503.
