When you’ve lived in town for 61 years, you get to know a fair number of people, especially if you’re Carolyn Wenzel. On July 11, twenty-four of the many friends she has made over the years at Apawamis Club as a member, as well as Ladies’ Golf Committee Chair, helped her celebrate her 90th birthday at a picnic on the beach of Manursing Island Club.
It was no ordinary picnic, as silver candelabras, fine china, and sterling flatware adorned the tables. After enjoying songs and poems, dinner and cake, and a champagne toast, Carolyn put her feet into Long Island Sound to commemorate the occasion.
For most of her adult life, Carolyn Wenzel lived on Franklin Avenue, where she and her husband Arnold raised their family. She worked as an international account manager at IBM from the time she graduated from Cornell University in 1955 until the birth of her first son, Karl, in 1961. Her second son, Charlie, was born three years later.
In the 1970s, she served as president of the Osborn School PTO and was active in the Rye High School Mother’s Guild. She also worked as a real estate agent. In 1977, when her husband, an IBM executive, died of a heart attack, she returned to her previous career at IBM, retiring in 2000.
She has remained active by playing bridge and golf.
Mrs. Wenzel recently moved into The Osborn, where she has made more friends and enjoys visits by family members, including her great-grandson. She is pleased to announce that her family is growing, with two more great-grandchildren on the way.
