Ask family members to describe Josephine “Josie” Carlyle, and they use words like “feisty,” “spirited” and “passionate.” They remember her as the life of the party who never missed an opportunity to get out on the dance floor. Former colleagues at the Visiting Nurse Health System, where she worked for 14 years, recall her as a dedicated advocate for clients and employees.
“She was a very special person, independent, full of life, just brimming with personality,” said her husband of 50 years, Samuel Jackson Carlyle. “I could go on and on talking about all the things that made her such a great person. She had a real zest for life. She will be missed so much.”
Sister Rebecca Carpenter McCune of Atlanta recalled Carlyle dancing at her granddaughter’s bat mitzvah.
“Josie, with lung cancer and a boot on her broken foot, danced the night away. Some of the young boys were on the sidelines. Josie told them if they didn’t get out there and dance with the girls, they would have to dance with her.”
Josephine “Josie” Carpenter Carlyle, 71, died at her home in Vinings on Aug. 27 after a 20-month battle with lung cancer. She was born in Atlanta on July 4, 1945, to John Wallace Carpenter and Carolyn Malone Carpenter and attended E. Rivers School, The Westminster Schools and Emory University. She worked for 14 years with Visiting Nurse, where the Josie Carlyle Award of Excellence was established in her honor to recognize annually an employee who exemplifies a can-do attitude, spirit of teamwork and ability to solve problems with humor and kindness.
Dorothy Davis, Visiting Nurse executive director of long-term care at home, worked with Carlyle for five years and helped create the award in Carlyle’s name.
“She was dedicated, she was fun, and she knew how to get things done with a can-do attitude and a smile,” Davis said. “She made the world a better place with everything she did. And at the end, she got to know the organization on a very personal level when it provided hospice care for her. It is such an honor to be able to care for people like her who give so much.”
Carlyle grew up in Brookwood Hills where she had a reputation as a natural athlete. She excelled at basketball in high school and later enjoyed playing tennis as a member of the Atlanta Lawn Tennis Association.
“Josie never met a game or sport that she didn’t love,” McCune said. “Tennis was one of her favorites. When she was on the Buckhead Broads, the team’s all-time favorite excuse that anyone ever had for losing a match was Josie’s. On an off day that she wasn’t hitting her overheads well, she told her partner, ‘The sky is just too blue.’ ”
Carlyle volunteered with the Atlanta Junior League and served on the board of the Vinings Historic Preservation Society. For many years, she helped raise money for her class of 1963 at The Westminster Schools.
In her spare time Carlyle was a voracious reader and accomplished knitter, and she enjoyed playing games. After retirement, she planned to spend some time gardening, but her plans changed after receiving a puppy, Annie, as a retirement gift.
In addition to her husband and McCune, Carlyle is survived by sons Dr. William Matthew Carlyle of Monterey, Calif., and Andrew Madison Carlyle of Atlanta; sister Lucy Carpenter Vance of Atlanta; and brothers John Wallace Carpenter, Jr. of Atlanta and James Malone Carpenter of Canton, Ga.; and three grandchildren and numerous nieces and nephews.
A memorial service was held in the chapel at Peachtree Road United Methodist Church on Friday, Sept. 2. In lieu of flowers, the family requests donations be made to Visiting Nurse.
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