Carole Audrey Stephens, 76, passed away at her home in Amherst, MA on January 26, 2016, surrounded by the love of her family and friends. 

Born in 1939, Carole spent her childhood in the small town of Ipswich, in St. Elizabeth Parish in the island of Jamaica, West Indies, where her father was a landowner and political figure. Her brother remembers how meticulous she was, and how delighted he was in rumpling the sheets that she had carefully straightened of all wrinkles when they shared a bed as very small children. She graduated from the Immaculate Conception High School Class of 1957, and received her Higher School Certificates in the Principal Subjects of History and Zoology, and the Subsidiary Subjects of English and Religious Knowledge, from the University of Cambridge. 

In Jamaica Carole built her career as a banker, working for the Bank of Nova Scotia Jamaica Limited for 25 years of loyal service before immigrating to the United States and becoming a citizen. Once in the United States, Carole embarked on a second career as a Licensed Practical Nurse, receiving her training and license from the University of the State of New York Education Department in 1997. She worked at Brookhaven Memorial Hospital in Patchogue, New York until she retired and moved to Amherst to be near her granddaughter. 

Carole married George Stephens in 1969, with whom she had two daughters. She is survived by her daughters, Michelle Ann Stephens of East Brunswick, NJ and Sandra Hope Stephens of New Hartford, NY and her granddaughter Alexandria Stephens Prisock. She is also survived by her brother Errol Powell Wright and sister-in-law Valerie Joy Wright of Estero, FL. Carole was predeceased by her parents Egerton and Doris Wright. 

A Mass of Christian Burial will be Saturday, February 6, 2016 at 10:00 AM at St. Brigid’s Church, Amherst. Burial will follow in St. Brigid’s Cemetery, Hadley, with a reception to follow.

 The family requests that donations be made in memory of Carole Stephens to Cooley Dickinson VNA & Hospice at PO Box 329, Northampton, MA 01061-0329 (http://www.vnaandhospice.org/vna/ways-to-help-vna.aspx) or the Doctor Kenneth Clover Somers-Dehaney Medical Foundation at 113 Eastwood Drive, Johnson City, NY 13790 (a charity founded to help provide medical care and equipment to populations in the Caribbean and beyond).