MACHIAS and SWANS ISLAND – Carolyn E. Jellison, 79, died Jan. 3, 2012, at Downeast Community Hospital, Machias, from complications from advanced stages of pancreatic cancer. Her husband, Eugene “Gene” A. Jellison, who suffered from Alzheimer’s disease for more than a decade then died March 8, 2012. She was born Feb. 20, 1932, in Scarsdale, N.Y., daughter of Paul J. and Vashti (Cope) Bruning.
Carolyn’s childhood and formative years were spent living in that suburban New York community where she attended the Scarsdale public schools. It was during these early years that she discovered a deep and abiding affection for music and the theater. As a teenager she showed considerable talent as a pianist and, although she never studied voice professionally, had a natural singing talent, a good ear, and a pure soprano voice. She performed as a soloist in numerous high schools musical productions, including Handel’s “Messiah.” Upon her graduation from high school in 1950, Carolyn attended Colby College, Waterville, where her artistic interests broadened to include drama. She performed in many college’s dramatic productions, and it was while attending Colby that she met and fell in love with Gene Jellison, who was a teaching assistant in the drama department. The two were married in March 1955, in Los Angeles. After their wedding, the Jellisons moved back to New York for two years where Gene pursued a course of graduate study at Columbia University. They were drawn back to the West Coast in the late 1950s, however, where Gene taught English and drama at Santa Monica High School, and Carolyn and Gene raised their family. Each summer, during the long school vacation, the family made the long cross country trek from their home in bustling Los Angeles to spend the summer holiday in the bucolic and peaceful setting of Swans Island where Gene had spent his boyhood. Throughout these many years the Jellisons were active in community theater productions, Gene as a director, Carolyn as an actress. Even after retirement the couples organized and were instrumental in maintaining active community theater groups both on Swans Island and in Machias, the community they adopted after returning to the East Coast.
She is survived by her five children, Katherine Rosenfeld of Arlington, Mass., Robin Jellison of Bangor, Christina “Rilla” Jellison of Voorhees, N.J., Francesca Jellison of Portland, and Paul Jellison of Machias and Swans Island; and one grandson, Benjamin Rosenfeld of Cambridge, Mass.
A service of remembrance and family gathering commemorating Carolyn and Gene’s lives will be held 1 p.m. Sunday, June 10, at their summer cottage on Swans Island. The ferry leaves the dock 10:30 a.m. in Bass Harbor. Arrangements by Jordan-Fernald, 1139 Main St., Mount Desert. Condolences may be expressed at
www.jordanfernald.com.