Carolyn Gray Abdalla

For our Carolyn Gray Abdalla (Rusty), you immediately felt welcomed when you were in her presence and you were affected by her smile, genuine interest and beautiful spirit. She so wanted to be remembered as one who respected, promoted and protected nature and also who tremendously loved her family and friends.

She was born in Evergreen, South Carolina on November 3, 1934 and grew up in Hopewell, Virginia.

Carolyn graduated from Thomas Dale High School in Hopewell, Virginia. She embraced students and faculty at Longwood University with friendships that have lasted to the present time. She adored serving on Longwood’s student council, CHI and particularly loved playing field hockey. She earned a masters at University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill.

Carolyn was a Girl Scout leader in Virginia. She was a tough, but very well loved, high school biology teacher at Woodrow Wilson High School in Portsmouth, Virginia. She cherished her position as a field guide for state parks and the Brandywine River Museum in Pennsylvania. She served as the President of the Florida Native Plant Society, Tarflower chapter in Orlando. Working one or two days a week for the past 30 years, Rusty was a knowledgeable, experienced, brainstorming, detailed fashion consultant at the Sewing Studio Fabric Superstore in Maitland, Florida where she thoroughly enjoyed and admired her coworkers.

While teaching in Portsmouth, Rusty met her partner in life, her husband Peter Abdalla who was in the Navy at the time. They were married on the Naval Base on May 5, 1962. They raised a son and daughter; Jerry, and his wife Joanne of Eagleville, PA; and Ann of Cochranville, PA. They were blessed with six grandchildren: Leah, Calvin, Peter, Jacey, Luke and Cassidy. Pete and Carolyn‘s adoring and inspirational bond has paved a path of love for the entire family.

As a storyteller, her tales would draw you in and make you smile. She volunteered and used her skills in telling stories to elementary school children to encourage them to read and in turn, tell their stories.

Rusty was an incredibly talented and patient seamstress. Whenever you saw her, she would most likely be in an outfit that she had sewn. Her expertise as a seamstress was reflected in her incredible, fitted outfits, detailed quilts, backpacks and wall hangings that she made for her family and friends with loving stitches.

As a lifelong birder, Carolyn and Pete traveled to many Florida state parks, the Everglades and local wildlife drives, often dating their sightings in her bird book along with identifying plant life.

It’s easy to picture Carolyn in work gloves and her gardening shoes because she loved, studied, and delighted in perennial, shrub and tree identification. She was always excited in spotting wonderful roadside and mountain trail weeds, as well as maintaining her beautiful and varied flowerbeds and plantings in her backyard.

Although a shy player in front of a crowd, Rusty had such a beautiful touch when she played the dulcimer, either in her living room or at local events.

At Saint Matthews Church in Orlando, she was a dedicated volunteer and active member, served on the Altar Guild and also contributed her sewing skills.

We look forward to celebrating her life with love and stories at Baldwin Fairchild Funeral Home, 501 E. Mitchell Hammock Rd., Oviedo, FL 32765 on Friday, July 15, from 7PM to 9PM and her funeral service at Saint Matthews Episcopal Church, 5873 North Dean Road, Orlando, FL 32817 on Saturday, July 16 at 11 AM with a reception after in the church hall. In lieu of flowers and gifts, please consider donating to the American Cancer Society (https://donate3.cancer.org/) or the Florida Native Plant Society (https://www.fnps.org/support/donate). As a special request, Rusty had hoped that anyone would bring to the church service and drape over the pews, a quilt, wall hanging, bag or piece of clothing that she might have sewn for them. She felt that would show her love.