Caroline Marcia Freeman Jacobsonage 91, died on September 29, 2020 in Hanover, New Hampshire. Born on May 21, 1929 in Middlebury, Vermont, she was the second of three children of Stephen Albert Freeman and Ruth Hayden Freeman.

Her parents were avid world travelers, and took their children on remarkable journeys of exploration, including a North African desert adventure by car. Caroline, then a 9-year old, never forgot the sight of the family Chevy, with its Vermont license plate, being loaded by crane into the hold of an ocean going ship, or how her dad had to let air out of its tires for better traction on their long journey through the roadless desert. Shortly before her death, Caroline vividly re-told the story of how that heavily-laden sedan, packed to the bumpers with canned foods and cases of evaporated milk for the children, became hopelessly bogged down in the sand late one night, and how they all peered into the darkness for what felt like many hours, hoping to see lights from another vehicle so that they might be pulled out. The trip ended in Algiers in January 1939, from where they sailed home to America. From that experience and others, Caroline loved to travel, and to immerse herself in foreign settings and cultures. She was particularly passionate about all things French, much encouraged by her father, a professor of French and a founder of foreign language programs at Middlebury College and overseas.

Caroline was very impressed, from an early age, with a number of accomplished and independent-minded women in her large and close-knit family. Her parents had both grown up in Cambridge, Massachusetts "€" where they became sweethearts in the Christian Endeavor church youth movement "€" and visits there were frequent. Her great-aunt Marcie Freeman, in whose honor she was given her middle name, helped her sister Albina run a successful, fashionable clothing and millinery store in Central Square, and Caroline often referred to their character and accomplishments. She also spoke fondly of going to hymn-sings with her grandmother at the Tremont Temple Baptist Church.

In many ways, the strongest influence was that of her big sister Hope, Caroline's elder by almost 4 years. For example, seeing the excellent, horizon broadening experience that Hope had enjoyed at the Northfield School for Girls, Caroline was eager to do the same, and so transferred from Middlebury High School to Northfield for her senior year plus one additional year. She cherished her time at Northfield, not only academically, but also spiritually and socially. At Northfield, Caroline found herself very much at home in a religious environment that was not only devotional but also both intellectually stimulating and justice-oriented, with notable influences from the Social Gospel movement, Albert Schweitzer, Gandhi and other sources. And she loved to tell of the camaraderie that she enjoyed with the group of young women who lived, studied, played, sang hymns and did communal chores together for those years.

Caroline then went on for four years of study in a somewhat similar atmosphere at Wellesley College, again following her sister Hope's example. There she studied English and French, receiving her bachelor's degree in English in 1951. Caroline went on to complete a Master's degree in French from Middlebury College in 1955, and then spent the next five years teaching French to American students at private schools in Massachusetts and Colorado, and also teaching English to public school students in France at the Lycée de Bordeaux.

As a teacher, the moments she loved the most were when she felt that she was helping a student further explore something that was of interest to them. She was always eager to make resources available, to help take a question further, and to find ways of inspiring greater curiosity. As she put it, she loved "finding out how to find out." Libraries full of such resources were always settings of pleasure and wonderment for her, and so she decided to pursue a Master's degree in Library Science at Simmons College. She graduated from Simmons in 1962, while also working as a librarian at the Harvard Business School. The sheer breadth of topics which students, professors, and other researchers pursued at "The B School" made her job very interesting and satisfying for her.

In her free time, she enjoyed going on outings with groups of friends, with members of the Appalachian Mountain Club, and also with a fellowship group of young adults at First Church on Garden Street in Cambridge. It was there that she met a "very handsome guy" two years her junior, named Albert Jacobson, who was teaching math at Newton North High School, and who, like her, was far more interested in going dancing and being outdoors than in spending time at cocktail parties, and they soon began dating.

Caroline and Al were married on June 24, 1961, and in 1962 moved to Urbana, Illinois, where Al was part of a team developing a new line of math textbooks through a project at the University of Illinois. Their son Barry was born there in July of 1963. The family moved back east in 1967 (to 17 Longfellow Road in Needham Heights "€" Caroline and Al's home for the next 42 years), and, in March of that year, their daughter Amy was born.

Caroline and Al delighted in being parents together, and brought to child-rearing all of the considerable skills, patience, and passion which they had developed as teachers. Their mutual love of the natural world and of being outdoors was joyfully shared with their kids, who grew up having a lot of fun camping and exploring on Cape Cod and in the woods and hills of Vermont and New Hampshire. Caroline loved to sing, and she sang children's songs, folk songs, hymns and Christmas carols in both French and English to her kids from birth, if not before. She and Al both loved reading books with their children and reciting poems with them, so both kids grew up in a rich learning environment indeed!

Caroline was also engaged in educational and social issues through Action for Children's Television, through the Social Concerns committee at the Carter Memorial United Methodist Church, involvement with the League of Women Voters, and by hosting a series of French classes for local elementary school students in her home during years when French was no longer offered for those grade levels.

She and Al were eager travelers like both of her parents, taking their kids on many excursions within the US and Canada when they were young, and then on a series of overseas trips starting in 1981. In later years, they traveled as a couple to Tuscany, Istanbul, and the Greek islands, and on a river trip from Vienna to Amsterdam. After moving to Kendal at Hanover in 2009, they relished every opportunity to head out in the car to explore the towns and landscapes of New England. They also delighted in many visits to and from their friends and family! Kendal at Hanover was a stimulating and caring community "€" residents and staff alike sustained Caroline and Al emotionally, intellectually, and physically in their later years.

Having had close family members who served in the First World War, and having been overseas shortly after the end of World War II, Caroline was highly aware of and concerned about the terrible destructiveness of human conflict. This was another area of mutual influence with her sister Hope and her brother Harvey, strengthened by their engagement with the Society of Friends (Quakers). Over the decades of her adult life, Caroline kept seeking to know more about, and to do more about, proactive engagement for building peace and avoiding war wherever war is not truly morally necessary. She was determined to see a real investment in the handling of conflict through mutual understanding and the active promotion of respect for human and civil rights.

This was a passion which she pursued in all areas of her life "€" in her family, neighborhood, church, and local community, through organizations with which she worked such as the Urban League, and, not least, as a voting and vocal U.S. citizen. As she put it, she continually "badgered" her representatives on Beacon Hill and Capitol Hill "€" and in the White House and the local church pulpit to boot "€" about everything that she believed might maximize diplomacy and peace-building in order to minimize the horrors and immoralities of war. By the time of the American invasion of Iraq, she and her previously less-vociferous husband were quite radicalized, and, following the lead of local friends and activists such as Elise & Ken Boulding and Sue & Don Fleming, they and many other local folks kept up a weekly protest vigil in fair weather and foul for years.

All of her life, Caroline was eager to "soak up" information. In conversation with others she always asked the next question, and the next, seeking more detail and greater understanding. Whether asking her granddaughter about horses, her grandson about creative writing, or someone she just met about their family history, her questions were never pro-forma, but rather an exercise in broadening her horizons and showing appreciation for the gift of the opportunity to meet, befriend, and learn about the people around her in every setting.

Because of this keen interest in people, their lives, and their stories, the major diminishments of her last months, though very real, could not erase her zest for living in connection with others. Her ill health and a serious injury amid COVID-19 restrictions made for a great deal of physical confinement and frustration, but her bright eagerness to learn the names, family members and stories of every caregiver and visitor, and her fervent hopes to see everyone again soon, were with her to the end!

Caroline leaves behind: sister Hope Freeman Schultz and her husband J. Donald Schultz of Shelburne, VT; brother Harvey and his partner Christine Lord of Brewster, MA; son Barry Jacobson and his wife Amy S. Welch of Franconia, NH; daughter Amy Jacobson Grove and her husband Allen Grove of Alfred, NY; grandson Nathaniel Albert Jacobson Grove of Amherst, MA and granddaughter Abigail Ruth Jacobson Grove of Alfred, NY; seven beloved nieces and nephews and all of their families; and many other beloved relatives and friends.

A private graveside service will be held in Middlebury, VT, when circumstances allow.