Biography: Carolyn Broome Selman was born at the Women’s Hospital, a Division of St. Lukes on July 12, 1955. Her parents, Selina Thomas and William Broome, welcomed into the world the youngest of their four little girls with baby Carolyn joining, Selina, Constance, and Patricia. Immediately, she was given what her sisters considered royalty status, garnering all the attention and special treatment given to the youngest in the home. Her siblings would say that to some degree, she was spoiled.
Interestingly, Carolyn would live her entire life in Manhattan, a borough she would admit, although crowded and busy, felt incredibly special. She loved and often openly boasted about living in a community with streets lined with grandiose century-old brownstones. Carolyn attended Washington Irving High School in Manhattan. Upon graduation, young and uncertain, she explored several career pathways. In the end, Carolyn spent most of her working years in Corporate Security. Just prior to her sudden death, she spoke often and with excitement of her impending retirement and a greater opportunity it would bring to spend quality time with her grandchildren.
On October 3, 1975, Carolyn would tell you that she received her greatest gift from God, the birth of her daughter Ingrid, who she affection ally called Inky. Carolyn consumed herself with motherhood, devoting most of her time and energy to raising her daughter. She took meticulous care in maintaining a nurturing home and providing her little girl with the best. She made those sacrifices needed to enroll her only child in Catholic School, prepare lunches before going to work, find the time to drop in at the school during the day to monitor her progress and to intervene on her behalf if she felt it was necessary. For certain, she was an around the clock, seven days a week Mom.
Anyone who has known Carolyn Selman will agree that she will be remembered and revered for her unequivocal and unconditional love for her daughter and two grandchildren. It was parenting where she found absolute pleasure and satisfaction in life. She never relied on a large circle of friends, nor was she ever compelled to be the social butterfly. Life for this mother was caring for her children and making them happy. Their time together, big holidays, birthdays, school events, or any occasion to celebrate, were the highlights of her life. For certain, Ingrid was more than her child, she was also her mother’s best friend. Those memories of the days when they would go to Woolworth and eat butter pecan ice cream at the counter, simply sharing and talking about life, will be forever cherished.
Today Carolyn says goodbye to her daughter Ingrid; grandson, Jeremiah; granddaughter, Tamiya, sisters Constance and Patricia; nieces Mercedes, Jeanine, and Makeba, nephews William, Phillip, and Malachi; and many cousins and friends.
Understanding her extraordinarily strong devotion to her family and motherhood, her daughter would want her Mom, now at peace in her heavenly home, to know that: My mother kept a garden, a garden of the heart, she planted all the good things that gave my life its start. I am my mother’s garden; I am her legacy – and I hope today she feels the love reflected back from me.
Written in Love, The Family
