Lucinda Caros

1949 - 2016

Lucinda "Cindy" Shipps Caros, 67, of Stoneham, Maine, passed away peacefully on Thursday, August 11th at the Gosnell Memorial Hospice House in Scarborough, Maine following a seventeen-month journey with liver cancer. She was predeceased in 2012 by her husband of 31 years, Nicolas George Caros. Cindy is survived by three daughters; Allison Caros Long and her husband Jason, of Buckfield, Maine; Ashley Caros Kuntz and her husband Eric, of Hollis, Maine; and Amanda Caros Coombs and her husband Timothy, of Stoneham, Maine; and seven grandchildren, Emma Paige Coombs, 5, Annie Marie Coombs, 4, Timothy Coombs Jr., 21 months, Norah Kathryn Kuntz, 3, Molly George Kuntz, 2, William Nicolas Long, 4 months, and William's two-year-old foster sister. Cindy's eighth grandchild, Lucian Howard Kuntz, is due to be born in mid-September of this year. Cindy is also remembered by her brother, Stephen W. Shipps and his wife Debora Schnappauf of West Newbury, MA, as well as her nephew, William Harry Schnappauf Shipps, and her best friend of 57 years, Cynthia Albert of Berlin. Cindy was born May 10, 1949 in Hartford, daughter of William Helveston Shipps and Audrey Howard Shipps of Newington. She graduated from Newington High School in 1967 and from Elmira College in 1971. Cindy continued from Elmira to the Cornell University New York School of Nursing where she earned a Bachelor of Science in Nursing in 1973. Following Cornell, Cindy worked for four years as a surgical nurse at the UConn John Dempsey Hospital, after which she became a floor supervisor and then the supervisor of the emergency room. As ER supervisor, Cindy introduced triage nursing and placed a charge nurse on all shifts, both of which were relatively new practices in nursing care at the time. Her proudest accomplishment (other than pulling elaborate pranks on ER resident doctors) was the ride-along program she piloted to improve the working relationship between the ER nurses and paramedics. Cindy required that nurses join paramedics for a shift on the ambulance and have paramedics spend more time in the ER. It was through this collaboration that Cindy met Nick. After more than two decades in the UConn emergency department, Cindy became a nationally certified poison control specialist at the Connecticut Poison Control Center. Throughout her life, Cindy fondly remembered and spoke of the wonderful people she met when caring for them as patients. Cindy and Nick retired to Deer Isle, Maine where Cindy worked briefly at the Inn on the Harbor and cared full-time for her mother and mother-in-law until their deaths in 2007. Despite her numerous professional accomplishments, Cindy's proudest lifetime achievement was her family. Nick and Cindy instilled in their daughters a strong work ethic, a curiosity about the world and a commitment to the common good. The family always made time to travel together, especially enjoying Disney World and Acadia National Park. Cindy donated her body to the University of New England College of Osteopathic Medicine and will be cremated and returned to her family at a later date. A memorial service and reception will be held on August 26th. Please contact Allison Long at allisoncaros@gmail.com for service information. In lieu of condolences, donations can be made to St. Jude Children's Research Hospital or the Susan Curtis Foundation.