Carol Anne Christy

Carol Anne Christy, a resident of Kendal at Granville in Granville, Ohio, lost her six-year battle with Multiple System Atrophy (MSA) and died peacefully on June 13, 2012. She suffered her disease with remarkable serenity. She was the oldest child of R. Neil Christy (1919-1997) and Doris Clevenger Christy (1919-1989), Carol was born in North Hollywood, Calif., on Feb. 6, 1944, and grew up in Marietta.

Prior to her senior year at Marietta High School she spent a summer in Denmark under the auspices of the American Field Service. She graduated from Marietta H.S. in 1962 and enrolled at Duke University from which she graduated magna cum laude with an election to Phi Beta Kappa; her junior year at Duke was spent with the Smith College International Studies program in Geneva, Switzerland. She also participated in a Duke summer program to live among and assist residents of Bluefields, Nicaragua. She was rewarded a three-year fellowship at The Ohio State University from which she received an M.S. (1972) and Ph.D. (1980) in Political Science.

Carol's professional career of 30-some years was spent teaching Political Science at Ohio University-Lancaster where she attained the rank of full professor in 1988 and became emeritus professor in 2001 . She authored a book and a number of scholarly articles in her specialty field of women's participation in politics around the world. She was a dedicated and enthusiastic teacher who thrived among her students. She attempted to involve students in local and state-wide politics and campaigns, drawing on her own volunteer experiences in politics. She would take students on tours of the Ohio State Legislature and the state headquarters of the two main political parties.

Carol had an enormous zest for life, a great determination, a wealth of interests, and an extraordinary sense of humor often hinted at by the sparkle in her eyes. She loved to travel and visited all continents (but "alas" not the poles). Her favorite mode of transportation was the bicycle on which she toured parts of Ohio, Vermont, France, the Netherlands, and Australia (including Tasmania). She also walked the Milford Sound track ("The Finest Walk in the World") in New Zealand. She loved gardening, especially the challenge of changing a wilderness into a thing of beauty; her Granville garden was on display twice as part of charity events. Her great love was opera; for years, during Spring break, she would spend a week in New York City and attend as many performances of the Metropolitan Opera as she could.

Carol volunteered her participation in nature or environmental projects wherever she lived. In Ohio she volunteered at Dawes Arboretum and the Granville Recycling Center; in Vermont she checked for invasive plant species and counted loons in Lake Seymour, and in Florida (where she was a certified Master Naturalist) she volunteered as an interpreter for the Pelican Island National Wildlife Refuge; Carol also was an English tutor for the Indian River Literacy Council.

Carol is survived by her husband of nearly 25 years, Adriaan ("Arie") Janssens and by sister, Janet and husband Terry (Silvester) and their children Scott (Rebecca Manning) and Christy (Joseph Patt)) and Cynthia (VJ Stockdale). A brother, Richard Neil Christy II, died at age 25 in the air over Cambodia during the Vietnam conflict.

Those who wish may contribute in Carol's name to St. Luke's Episcopal Church, 18 S. Main Street, Granville OH 43023; North Woods Stewardship Center, P. O. Box 220, E. Charleston VT 05833; or Pelican Island Preservation Society, P.O. Box 781903, Sebastian, Fla. 32978-1903.