Carole Anne Adams

A beloved wife, birder, and friend, Carole, was born in Manhattan, N.Y. on October 6, 1943. Though she spent much of her childhood growing up in Kansas, which is precisely where her love of birding and advocacy for all-things nature began.

As a faithful member of the Junior Audubon Society, Carole identified her first “spark bird”—a cardinal—at the age of 10. From that moment forward, Carole had officially succumbed to the birding bug. As she once put it, “it’s the exploration that gets you.”

Carole eventually migrated back to New York, where she obtained her Bachelor of Science from Stony Brook University and went on to serve as the Director of Education at the Queens Children’s Psychiatric Center (QCPC), from 1977-1996.

As many of her friends and loved ones will attest to, Carole had a magnetizing-yet-grounded presence. She had this intrinsic ability to see and foster the potential in others—making nearly everyone she came into contact with feel seen, heard, and empowered to take action, especially when it mattered the most. Carole was a natural-born leader and phenomenal educator. And these characteristics underpinned not only her work at the QCPC, but also her life as a birder, partner, environmental advocate, mentor, and friend.

While living in New York, Carole became the education chair, board member, and president of the South Shore Audubon Society on Long Island. It was also during this time that Carole encountered another great love of her life, Marge Dilts Bodenburg, who she would go on to marry in 2010.

Following Carole’s retirement from the QCPC, the pair flocked south to find warmer weather in Jacksonville, Fla. But a big part of their life—both before and after Carole’s retirement—was spent halfway in between New York and Florida, at the Chincoteague National Wildlife Refuge in Virginia. Teeming with protected beaches, marshes, and forests, the refuge at Chincoteague was a birder’s paradise.

Each year, Carole would meet up with her niece and nephew in Chincoteague, encouraging them to scout for owl pellets and gathering them around the campfire at night, while she used her digital audio Identiflyer to call in the likes of barn owls, screech owls, and great horns.

Calling in the owls for the kiddos quickly became a prized pastime of Carole’s, so much so that she went on to lead an “Owl Prowl”—her “greatest contribution and what [brought her] the most joy”—at the annual Wild Amelia Festival in Fernandina Beach, Fla., where she also led children’s workshops and walking tours for more than a decade.

What’s more, Carole went on to work with the St. Johns Audubon Society and served as the president of the Duval Audubon Society. In honor of her valuable contributions to the Jacksonville community, Carole was presented the Barbara Stephens Award in 2003. In 2009, Carole was the recipient of the Carol and Bob Grimes Environmental Award, and in 2010, she was awarded the Presidential Recognition for Outstanding Service and Dedication by the National Audubon Society Board of Directors.

Carole’s passion for preservation work was infectious, her joy for birding, contagious. In fact, it was so contagious that Carole once convinced her brother-in-law to pull over so that they could get a closer look at what appeared to be either a premature bald eagle (according to Carole) or a black vulture (according to Tom), high up in a tree on the side of the road.

After five minutes of heated deliberation, Carole’s nephew stepped out of the car and delivered an earth-shattering identification. They weren’t looking at an eagle. And it wasn’t a vulture either. Sure enough, they were looking at and arguing over a wind-blown plastic bag! A moment of silence and an awkward side-glance later, Carole and Tom hopped back into the car, and the whole family laughed their way on down the road.

Whether she was identifying plastic bags, leading workshops, or calling in Eastern Screech Owls, nearly everything Carole did was infused with fun. For Carole, life was something meant to be lived. And there’s no denying that she has now moved on to the next grand adventure—soaring high amongst her hallowed starlings and swallow-tailed kites.

Carole is survived by her wife, Marge; children, Guy (Jeannie) and Gregory (Anne); six grandchildren; three great-grandchildren; brother, Don; and sister, Billie.

A Celebration of Carole’s Life will be held after the COVID-19 social-distancing measures are lifted in Ponte Vedra, Fla.

Memorial donations in honor of Carole may be made to the National Audubon Society, located at 225 Varick St., 7th Floor, New York, NY 10014.