Carol G. Burns.

WORCESTER Community volunteer Carol Gertrude Burns of Worcester, Massachusetts has died at age 85 in Clare Bridge Brookdale Senior Living facility of Tequesta, Florida. She was a longtime volunteer at Abby's House in Worcester which helps women and children make their way out of homelessness. She was well known for her ability to listen and her genuine interest in what others had to say. A resident of the Tatnuck Square area of Worcester for 51 years, she was born to the late Francis and Alice Gertrude McCarthy on August 1, 1923 and attended Worcester schools, including the former Classical High School. A devoted parishioner of Christ the King church on Pleasant Street in Worcester, she served as Eucharistic Minister and on the Parish Council.

She was a graduate of Regis College in Weston, Massachusetts, and was a loyal alumnus of that women's college where she had fond memories. Because it was an expensive school for her parents to fund, her mother sewed all her stylish, lined, pleated wool skirts and painstakingly matched all the plaids. Although she wanted to major in English because she loved literature, Carol Burns felt she should be practical so she would find work upon graduation. She graduated in 1941 with a BA in education and a minor in business and then began work as a reporter for the Worcester Telegram and Gazette. She contributed to the article which the paper ran on December 8th, 1941 about the bombing of Pearl Harbor.

When the last of her five children entered school she became a teacher for the city of Worcester. She was a member of the National Education Association and taught business, typing, and shorthand classes at Burncoat Senior High School. She served as secretary for many volunteer boards and community groups so whenever she needed to take notes, either on the phone or at any meeting, she always used shorthand, which meant she never missed an important point. It also meant that her notes were inscrutable to the prying eyes of her kids, who were awed as well by her lightning fast typing skills.

Until his death in 1973 Carol Burns was married for 34 years to Joseph P. Burns, also of Worcester. Their five children survive her: Katherine Charbonneau of Longmeadow Massachusetts; Sharon Burns Tipping of Palm Beach Gardens, Florida; Joseph Burns of Falmouth, Massachusetts; Michael Burns of Sewall, New Jersey and Thomas Burns of Mt. Horeb, Wisconsin. Other survivors include her brother, Francis McCarthy, Jr., of Vero Beach, Florida, her nine grandchildren who will always remember her as a wonderful grandmother and numerous nieces and nephews.

When she died on June 29, 2009 she was a parishioner of St.Jude Catholic Church in Tequesta, Florida. In lieu of flowers, the family requests donations be made to Abby's House, 52 High St., Worcester, MA, 01609.

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