Carolyn Sylvia Peake

July 3, 1943 – August 1, 2025

Carolyn Sylvia Peake, 82, of Ashland, Oregon passed away on August 1, 2025. She was born on July 3, 1943 to Neil and Frances Day.  

Carolyn could recite Shakespeare before she could read. By age eleven, Carolyn  started taking classes and performing in shows at the Civic Theater in Portland, Oregon. Favorite roles included; Juliet in “Romeo and Juliet,” Juliette in “Romanoff and  Juliette,” and Alma in “Summer in Smoke.” 

Carolyn received her B.A. in Theatre, then her Masters in Library Science, from the University of Oregon, and became a Children’s Librarian. Her first job was working in a bookmobile where she got her pseudonym, “The Story Lady,” in rural Lake County, California. She returned to Oregon, working in Corvallis, Downtown Portland, Gregory Heights, and finally in 1979, Lake Oswego, where she eventually became the Assistant Director. 

During the 1980s, Carolyn was president of the Oregon Library Association and served on its executive board for many years. 

Peake retired and moved to Ashland in 2000, became an OSF member and served on  the Tudor Guild for 15 years and for two terms as its president. She embraced the town of Ashland with gusto. She took water aerobics, continued her work for local library reform, was the co-chair of the AAUW’s OSF Play Reading Group, and was a group leader on the reading committee of the Ashland New Plays Festival. 

Carolyn was diagnosed with Alzheimer’s disease in 2017. Up until six months ago, while she might not recognize her daughters, she could still recite Juliet’s part in the balcony scene of “Romeo and Juliet.”  

Now, “the rest is silence.” 

Carolyn is survived by her daughters; Katelyn Gleason Klapper of Fort Collins, Colorado  and Moira Elizabeth Gleason of Ashland, Oregon, and her grandchildren; Meghan Wilson, Conlan Klapper, and Erin Klapper.