Carolyn Stringer Chalker Allen

Carolyn Stringer Chalker Allen 1921 - 2012

Carolyn Stringer Chalker Allen, who was 91, died in Archbold Hospital in Thomasville, Georgia, on June 20, 2012. Her two daughters, Rebecca Chalker of New York City and Fran Mulcahy of Lighthouse Point, Florida were with her.

Carolyn was born February 16, 1921, on Springwood Plantation, in Grady County, Georgia, where her father, Robert E. Stringer, Jr., was Manager. She graduated with a degree in journalism from Georgia State College for Women in Milledgeville, Georgia in 1939, and as a summer project, she wrote and edited the Tybee Island Times near Savannah. In 1940, she took a job as Society Editor at the Tallahassee Democrat where she met her husband, Charles Wilfong Chalker, who was City Editor. Carolyn worked at the Florida Public Service Commission from 1952 – 1983 where she served as Chief of Administrative Services for many years. She and “Charlie” retired to the Recovery Community on Lake Seminole in Decatur County Georgia in 1975. After his death, she married John Allen of Tallahassee who died in 1987.

In addition to her daughters, Carolyn is survived by her sister, Helen Hardee of Gainesville; her nieces, Kathleen Stinson, Elsie Thomas and Susan Grooms and their families; her cousin, Sidney Stringer, III and his wife Carolyn Stringer; her son-in-law, Scott A. Mulcahy and his sister Gail Wray; grandson, Scott A. Mulcahy, Jr.; twin great grandsons, Zachery and Chandler Mulcahy of Atlanta; her granddaughter, Shannon DiNota and her husband Tony DiNota; and great-granddaughters, Simone and Vivian DiNota, of Tuckahoe, New York.

In her long retirement in Recovery, Carolyn enjoyed traveling with her family, reading mystery novels and doing the New York Times Sunday Crossword puzzle. She is fondly remembered as “a unique southern lady” whose sunny disposition, intelligence and unfailing sense of humor embraced all she met. She was a member of Bethpage Methodist Church, a lifelong Democrat and served on the Leon County Democratic committee for many years. She was “heroine” to her granddaughter Shannon and her grandson Scott remembers that “she made the best cheese grits ever.”

The Funeral Service will be held Saturday (June 23, 2012) at 10:00 a.m. at Culley's MeadowWood Funeral Home, 1737 Riggins Road. Visitation will be one hour prior. Burial and committal service will follow at Roselawn Cemetery on Piedmont Drive.

Arrangements are under the direction of Culley's MeadowWood Funeral Home in Tallahassee, Florida.