Caroline Wohlforth

Caroline Penniman Wohlforth, a community leader for more than 45 years, died at home in Anchorage on Monday, April 18, 2011, of metastatic breast cancer, while surrounded by her family. She was 78.

Wohlforth was a pioneer of alternative education in Anchorage, a founder of schools and community organizations, and a leader in her church for decades. She served on the Anchorage School Board from 1975 to 1979, two of those years as president.

In recent months, she had been honored as a YWCA Woman of Achievement, had been inducted in the Alaska Women's Hall of Fame, and was the first recipient, with Marilyn Conaway, of the Annual Wohlforth-Conaway Vision of Education Award, given by Steller Secondary School, which she was instrumental in founding.

Wohlforth was born Caroline Barbour Penniman on May 9, 1932, in Wilmington, Del. Her father was a noted Episcopal theologian, the Rev. Dr. Charles F. Penniman.

Caroline remained deeply involved in the Episcopal church throughout her life, including serving as a board member, writer and editor for the Educational Center, of Charlotte, N.C., and St. Louis, Mo., which continues to carry on her father's teachings.

Wohlforth graduated from Smith College with a bachelor's degree in English in 1954, and received a master's degree from New York University. She married Eric Wohlforth, an attorney, in 1957. They moved with their two sons from New York City to Anchorage in 1966.

Community involvement was one of Wohlforth's first orders of business upon becoming an Alaskan. She helped found Planned Parenthood of Alaska in the 1960s.

When Eric became Commissioner of Revenue under Gov. Bill Egan in 1970, the family moved to Juneau and Caroline there observed a new open-classroom educational concept. Returning to Anchorage a few years later, Wohlforth helped start Chugach Optional Elementary School on the same model.

She was the chair of the Committee for Alternative Secondary Education, which successfully advocated for the founding of Steller Secondary School in the mid-1970s. The group's first meeting took place around her kitchen table and the school's first students included her son, Evans.

School Superintendent Carol Comeau recently credited that work with spurring the development of a broad array of school choices that now exist in the Anchorage School District. Wohlforth supported many of them in the beginning stages, including back-to-basics and Montessori models, because she believed parents should be able to choose the best educational method for their own children.

Wohlforth's community efforts beyond education included participation in the founding of KSKA Public Radio and Childcare Connection, now known as Thread. She led the FISH food pantry for many years, and personally delivered food to needy families with Eric at her side for more than three decades.

Wohlforth's deepest and most lasting contributions were at St. Mary's Episcopal Church in Anchorage, where she performed roles ranging from church secretary and helper to the bereaved, to Senior Warden, the church's top lay leader.

She was chair of the Standing Committee of the Episcopal Diocese of Alaska, twice chaired the Bishop Selection Committee for the diocese, and repeatedly served as a consultant to Episcopal parishes in Alaska when they selected new clergy.

Friends recalled Wohlforth's warm and inclusive personality, and her humility, as key to her ability to solve problems in groups. Former Gov. Tony Knowles recently credited Wohlforth with ending strife between the municipality and the school district in the 1970s with her skill of calmly bringing people together.

Wohlforth leaves her husband, Eric, who continues to practice law in Anchorage; son, Evans, an attorney in Newark, N.J, his wife, Naomi, a violinist with the New Jersey Symphony; their children, Samuel and Mollie; and son Charles, a writer in Anchorage and former member of the Anchorage Assembly, his wife, Barbara, a teacher, and their children, Robin, Julia, Joseph and Becky. She is also survived by her brother, Reverend Charles F. Penniman Jr., of Philadelphia.

A funeral service is planned for Friday at 3 p.m. at St. Mary's Episcopal Church.

In lieu of flowers, St. Mary's will accept contributions to the Caroline Wohlforth Memorial Fund, at 2222 E. Tudor Rd., Anchorage 99507.