Constance Jean Ahlin

Constance Jean Ahlin, longtime resident of New York's Upper West Side, passed away peacefully on November 23, 2024, after a brief illness. She was 72.

Connie was born to Jack and DeLoris Ahlin on March 10, 1952, in Los Angeles, California. From kindergarten through high school she lived in Chappaqua, New York. Early on, Connie displayed a keen interest in music. She excelled as a cellist in the Horace Greeley High School orchestra and also played French horn in the band.

Connie continued to pursue her musical passion at Manhattan School of Music, where she obtained both Bachelor's and Master's degrees. From that time, she made her home in New York, a city she loved, above all, for its orchestral and operatic music scenes. She saw dozens, if not hundreds, of operas at the Metropolitan Opera House. A musical highlight was her time as a guest conductor for the Nutley Symphony Orchestra in Nutley, New Jersey.

Connie's early career involved managing and promoting classical musicians, working at the prestigious Columbia Artists Agency. She spent some time working for the Philadelphia Opera as an artistic assistant, a role she loved and was very proud of. In recent years, she was a highly valued employee in a technical support area for the law firm Wachtell, Lipton, Rosen & Katz, where her intelligence, good humor, and organizational skills were cherished.

Another passion for Connie was animals. Several generations of cats, most of them with special needs, made their home in her New York apartment. Her deep love for animals continued with her extensive volunteer work for decades as a much-beloved docent at the Bronx Zoo.

Connie loved to travel. Her varied interests took her to Stockholm, Sweden; Vienna and Salzburg, Austria; Prague in the Czech Republic; the pyramids of Egypt, which she visited with Marianne Williamson; and the game parks of Kenya. The Masai Mara was one of her favorite places on earth, and she requested that at least some of her ashes be scattered there. She met the president at the White House, sang in the United Nations chorus accompanying world-renowned cellist Pablo Casals (and appeared prominently in the picture of the event on the front page of the New York Times), worked on developing opera productions at the legendary Chautauqua Institution, and owned a small piece of land in Scotland, affording her the title of Lady.

Connie was empathic and intuitive; she was interested in all things New Age, and she excelled at the ability to interpret Tarot cards and create environmental "cures" using Feng Shui. She rubbed elbows with the likes of Louise Hay, Eckhart Tolle, and Joe Dispenza while working at or attending new age seminars. She loved playing cards, like the rest of her family, and read voraciously. At her passing, her personal library exceeded a thousand books. She was a huge fan of Alfred Hitchcock movies, and frequently wished she could forget their plots so she could experience them all over again as if new.

Connie, the hub of the Ahlin family, is survived - and deeply missed - by her brothers Robert of Raleigh, North Carolina, and John of New York City; sister Margit of Boothbay Harbor, Maine; and sister in spirit Marvis Martin and goddaughter Kyra Hairston of New York City; as well as 7 cousins, 5 nephews and nieces, and 15 great nephews and nieces.

If you wish to make a donation to honor our beloved Connie, these are three of her favorites:

Wildlife Conservation Society (a/k/a The Bronx Zoo) www.wcs.org

Animal Care Centers of New York (from where she adopted many cats) www.nycacc.org

Juniper Wildlife Refuge www.juniperwildliferefuge.org

A Celebration of Life for Connie will be held on Saturday, May 24, 2025, at 11:00 a.m., at the Manhattan School of Music, 130 Claremont Avenue, New York, NY 10027. Contact sister Margit Ahlin (207.332.6107 or margitahlin@gmail.com) for additional information if needed. We hope to see you there.