EAST BERNE — Carolyn J. (née Sisson) Haley was a soft-spoken, fun-loving woman devoted to her children and grandchildren.

“She was a kid at heart,” said her daughter, Sandra Willsey. “She just loved doing things with the kids and grandkids.”

She died on Friday, Jan. 10, 2025, at her daughter’s home, after a long battle with Parkinson’s disease. She was 82.

Born April 2, 1942, Mrs. Haley was one of six children of Mildred Quick and Leland Sisson.

Mrs. Haley grew up in Westerlo in the same neighborhood as John “Jack” Haley.

“They went to school together,” said Ms. Willsey of her parents, and had the same circle of friends. “My father was throwing snowballs at my Mom,” she said, “and they ended up dating.”

The couple married on April 11, 1959. “She was 17 and he was 19 when they got married,” said Ms. Willsey.

Their union ended only with his death in 2010. “They were married for 59 years and nine-and-a-half days,” said their daughter.

Her parents’ marriage served as a model for her own, said Ms. Willsey. She described one of her mother’s favorite T-shirts. It said, “If you want to see what true love is, just look at us.”

“My aunt is making a pillow out of the T-shirt for me,” Ms. Willsey said. “My husband and I have the same type of marriage.”

Mrs. Haley was not only supportive of her own children, but welcoming of neighborhood children too.

“Our house was the hangout house for all the kids,” recalled Ms. Willsey. “We’d sleep out on blankets on the lawn … They took a bunch of us fishing. It didn’t matter who.”

She went on, “My Dad was strict sometimes but my mother was very fun-loving. They loved their kids. They would do anything for their grandkids.”

When her father lay on his deathbed, Ms. Willsey said, he asked his wife, “Why are you here?”

She answered, “This is where I belong.”

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Carolyn J. Haley is survived by her daughter and her son-in-law, Sandra and William Willsey, her granddaughters, Denise and Cassandra Willsey; her son and daughter-in-law, Robert and Laura Haley, her grandsons Zack and Greg and his wife, Sarah, and her great-granddaughter, Hilaya; her daughter-in-law Nikki Haley; her granddaughter Jessie Haley and her financé Isaac Church.

She is also survived by her brothers- and sisters-in-law and numerous nieces and nephews.

Her parents, Mildred Quick and Leland Sisson, died before her, as did her stepfather, Edsel Quick; her sisters, Catherine Quick and Betty Jane Sisson, who died in infancy; her brothers, Kenneth, Clyde, and Leland “Sonny” Sisson; her son, Rodney Haley; and her grandson, Ben Haley.

As per her wishes, she was privately cremated and will be buried next to her husband in the South Berne Cemetery in the spring.

Memorial contributions may be made to Steve Caporizzo’s Pet Connection.

— Melissa Hale-Spencer