Audrey Ringer Eldred Joslyn

1939 - 2024

Audrey Eldred, business owner, social worker, therapist, college professor, director of the Human Services Program at Berkshire Community College, and mother to a multi-racial family of 16 children, died July 15, 2024, at Kimball Farms Nursing Care Center, where she had been a resident since October of 2019. The cause was complications of Alzheimer's dementia. She was 85.

She attended Barnard College, as a National Merit Scholar, where she obtained her B.A. before receiving her M.Ed. from Harvard University and, years later, her M.S.W. from Smith College School For Social Work. In 1960, she married Andrew Alan Field, with whom she traveled to Moscow, U.S.S.R., in 1963. The couple had a son, Andrew Jonathan Field, in 1964. The marriage later ended in divorce.

She began her professional and academic career when she joined the faculty of Lasell Junior College in Newton, Massachusetts. There she met her second husband, Wayne Ringer. They both taught at Lasell for seven years before moving to Pownal, Vermont, where they owned and managed two motels, later moving to Williamstown, Massachusetts, where Audrey managed the gift shop at the Williams Inn. During these years, they had a daughter by birth and adopted nine children from four different countries: Korea, India, Vietnam, and Cambodia. This marriage also ended in divorce in 1982. After receiving her M.S.W. from Smith College, she worked at Berkshire Mental Health Center (now the Brien Center) in Pittsfield, Massachusetts, as a social worker and therapist until 1996, when she joined the faculty at Berkshire Community College

(BCC), teaching in the Human Services Program, eventually becoming director. She married her third husband, Charles Joslyn, in 1984, and together they adopted three more children, all from the U.S.

Although she legally changed her last name from Ringer to Eldred (her mother's maiden name) in 1987, she continued to use the last name of Ringer professionally for the remainder of her career, until she retired from Berkshire Community College in 2016 as Professor Emeritus.

Audrey Constance Smith was born April 16, 1939, in Troy, New York, the only child of the Rev. Herman J. Smith, an Episcopal minister, and Dorotha Eldred Smith, a registered nurse. As a child, she enjoyed long visits with her maternal grandparents Leon and Blendina Eldred in Bennington, Vermont. She spoke frequently of Bennington, and had many fond memories and stories to tell about her time there. Her parents moved frequently, as Rev. Smith was a skilled leader and often assigned by the Episcopal Dioceses to parishes that were struggling with poor attendance, financial problems, or other issues. Audrey was deeply attached to the last community her father was assigned to, Charleston, West Virginia, where she graduated as her high school valedictorian. Her family lived there for about ten years until her father's death in 1961.

The international adoption of 12 children was the most notable of her many achievements and represented the core of her identity and self-esteem, primarily driven by Audrey's lifelong commitment to helping those less fortunate than herself. She was completely unfazed by the well-meaning but often misguided inquiries of others concerning the adoption of so many children. Her motivation to adopt was also no doubt driven by the loss of an infant son in 1969, an emotionally devastating experience for her that she rarely spoke of.

At BCC, she was widely respected and admired by both students and faculty. In the Human Services Program, essentially a two-year undergraduate social work curriculum, she taught many older non-traditional students, helping them achieve a level of professional competence and identity comparable to students in a graduate social work program, and encouraged them to move on to obtain BSW and MSW degrees. Many times, when she and her husband were out shopping or at sporting events with their children, former students of hers would approach her with heartfelt praise for the ways in which she had changed their lives and launched their careers.

During her teaching career at Berkshire Community College, she received several awards and recognitions from BCC and elsewhere, most notably the Mary Killeen Bennett Award, "given annually to a human service worker who has demonstrated a commitment to social change and justice and to the education and training of human service workers of diverse cultures," by the Social Work Advisory Board of Elms College.

Socially, she preferred family-related events, rarely missing her children's baseball, football, basketball games, and wrestling matches. Otherwise, she was happiest at home, tending her vegetable and flower gardens. Christmas and Thanksgiving were her favorite times, along with the annual Joslyn/Ringer family reunion on Columbus Day weekend. On these occasions she would make her favorite dishes, mac n' cheese, green bean casserole, and BBQ chicken. Most anticipated by all was her zucchini bread, which was always devoured eagerly by everyone immediately upon their arrival at the house.

Audrey is predeceased by an infant son, Daniel, who died in 1969, by another son, Benjamin, who died in 2008, and by a cousin, Stuart Eldred, who died 2020. She is survived by her husband, Charles, by a cousin, Thayer Jolivette, and by her children: Andrew, Jenny, Gail (David), Susan (Michael), Johanna (Mario), Mai, Amy (Ira), Mark (Rosana), Nancy (Julie), John (Becky), Kate, Daniel, Caroline (Kevin), and two stepchildren, Amy (Rafael) and Nick (Ana), along with 20 grandchildren.

Audrey's family extends gratitude and appreciation to the staff and administration of Kimball Farms Nursing Care Center and to Hospice Care of the Berkshires for their outstanding care and support.

Services will take place at 11 am on July 30th at All Saints Episcopal Church, 4935 NY Rte.7, Hoosick, NY. Burial will be private. Also on July 30th, an informal gathering in celebration of Audrey's life will take place at Zucchini's restaurant, 1331 North St. in Pittsfield, MA, from 4 to 7pm.