Carolyn Ward Townsend's Obituary
Carolyn Townsend was born to Betty Derrickson on Chincoteague Island, VA, on the Eastern Shore of Virginia, on January 21, 1948, where she also spent a lot of time with her grandmother, Caroline Derrickson, and her Aunt Anna Mae. After her mother married Roy Ward in 1955, Carolyn moved to Oak Hall, VA, where she was living when she met her future husband, Bill, in 1964. They met at the Dream Drive-in Roller Rink in Wattsville, VA, which turned into a teen-age dance hall on Saturday nights, when Bill asked her to dance. And the rest, as they say, was history.
Carolyn and Bill dated for over three years before getting married at Downing’s Methodist Church, in Oak Hall, VA, on September 3, 1967. They honeymooned in the Pocono Mountains, a popular resort location in that time period, thus starting their lifelong quest to expand their knowledge of other places near and far, eventually including other countries. Immediately after returning from their honeymoon, they loaded up a U-Haul trailer and moved to Blacksburg, VA. They lived in a lovely 1-bedroom apartment, within walking distance of Virginia Tech’s campus, while Carolyn worked as a bank teller, to support Bill as he pursued an Electrical Engineering degree.
Following Bill’s graduation in 1970, they returned to the Eastern Shore when Bill’s work brought them to the NASA Wallops Island facility. In 1973, Carolyn also started working at NASA Wallops Island thus initiating a 32-year career with NASA which she was tremendously proud of. In 1974 they bought their first house in nearby Pocomoke City, MD. In 1979, Bill’s job took them to a new location again, this time to NASA Headquarters in Washington, DC., where Carolyn also transitioned into a new role. During her 25 years working at NASA Headquarters she held a variety of exciting positions ranging from working in the NASA Administrator’s Office, to interacting with Congress while the Space Shuttle was being developed, to supporting guest operations for the first four Space Shuttle launches from NASA’s Kennedy Space Center, to being a charter member of the Space Station Task Force, to being a Public Affairs Specialist for Human Spaceflight.
In 1981, they settled in Annapolis, MD to balance their DC jobs with weekends spent enjoying their sailboat, Sunshine II. Living in their historic home in downtown Annapolis, things were going really well for them, and in 1983, after 16 years of marriage, they had their first child, Jason, followed in 1987, by their second child, Tiffany. Their children enriched their lives greatly, they loved them immensely, and had the pleasure of watching them grow and spread their wings into their independent adult lives. Carolyn and Bill were especially proud of their children’s academic accolades, going from the Annapolis Public School System for K-12 through the completion of their advanced degrees, a Master’s for Jason and a PhD for Tiffany. Beyond that, Jason and Tiffany are both happily married, well employed in areas that they enjoy, and happy homeowners. Carolyn and Bill also think very highly of their spouses, Kevin and Tucker, who have enriched their lives as well. Recently, Carolyn and Bill took on the new title of grandparents when their first grandchild, Bowman, was born to Tiffany and Tucker on September 11, 2022.
Following Jason’s birth in 1983, Carolyn went back to work full time with the help of Mae Hardesty, Jason and Tiffany’s eventual longtime caregiver. When Tiffany was born in 1987, Carolyn fought hard to transition her NASA role to part-time, ultimately succeeding and working a 3-day a week schedule until she retired from NASA in 2005. She was proud of her ability to continue to make significant contributions at NASA, while also being with her children as they grew. Her persistence made this possible in a time when there was little support of women in the workplace, and is an illustration of what an incredibly tough woman Carolyn was.
Carolyn’s retirement from NASA in 2005 coincided with a job offer for Bill which took them on their next adventure and moved them temporarily to Boulder, CO. Carolyn would continue to spend summers in Annapolis when Jason and Tiffany would come home to work their summer jobs. In 2007, Bill was asked to take a Ball Aerospace team to Huntsville, AL to pursue a $1 Billion contract with NASA. With this new opportunity, Carolyn brought her career skills out of retirement to join the team alongside Bill where they worked together tirelessly on this task for about a year. Bill eventually wrote a book about the experience published and titled “In Pursuit of the Moon” that was dedicated to Carolyn who had been uniquely instrumental in getting Ball Aerospace integrated into the Huntsville business community. It was a great experience, but both Bill and Carolyn decided it was time to move on and left Ball Aerospace in 2008.
In 2009, Carolyn and Bill founded Townsend Aerospace Consulting (TAC), LLC, a Woman Owned Small Business, through which they worked hard to support the important efforts of NASA and NOAA in space. This business did exceptionally well and was active until medical issues and age conspired to lead to the shutting down of TAC at the end of 2022, after a very successful 14-year run.
Outside of work and her children, Carolyn was a member of the Junior League of Annapolis, dedicated many hours volunteering for the kid’s PTAs, and a long-time member of the Garden Club of Old Annapolis-Towne, where she played a key communications role in their signature annual May Day celebration. She also enjoyed sailing alongside Bill, which they did together starting in 1972, and continued until recently with their Catalina 315, Jazzy, their 5th sailboat. During these approximately 50 years, they sailed a total of over 10,000 miles exclusively on the beautiful and expansive Chesapeake Bay. One of their favorite things to do locally was to anchor out overnight in Ridout Creek, something they did many, many times from 1980 on. But ultimately, what Carolyn enjoyed the most was making memories with Bill, ranging from their many trips to France, and especially to Paris, to sitting on the front porch together at the end of the day.
In 2020, Carolyn started showing signs of Dementia which progressed to require additional support in 2023 when she moved into Memory Care. Dementia, as most people know, is a cruel and unforgiving disease with no cure or effective treatment. Carolyn passed away peacefully on June 23, 2024, at Brightview South River in Edgewater, MD, where she had enjoyed excellent care for almost a year.
Carolyn is survived by her husband of 56 years, Bill Townsend, two children, Jason and Tiffany, their spouses, Kevin and Tucker, a lovely grandson, Bowman, and a sister, Jo Lynn Young.
A Celebration of Life will take place at Lasting Tributes in Annapolis on Sunday, July 21 from 3-5 p.m. In lieu of flowers, please consider a donation to the Alzheimer’s Association at http://act.alz.org/goto/carolyntownsend.
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