JAY – As Josh Groban’s song “To Where You Are” played in the school cafeteria Friday, people gathered to celebrate the lives of Herman and Roberta Carlstrom wiped tears from their eyes.
The Carlstroms, Herman, 71, and Roberta, 65, of Jay, died together along with the family cat in a car crash July 2 in Skowhegan. They both retired from the Jay School Department, he, as a guidance counselor, she, as a second grade teacher.
“Who can say for certain, maybe you’re still here,” Groban’s recording played. “I feel you all around me. Your memory’s so clear. Deep in the stillness, I can hear you speak. You’re still an inspiration. Can it be, that you are my forever love and you are watching over me from up above.”
The couple touched the lives of hundreds of children and adults throughout the state through their gifts, of teaching, guidance, music, reading, literacy, photography, game skills and poetry.
Photos of the couple throughout their lives were featured on placards that flanked the double caskets.
Their children, Tina, Sonja and Eric, put together a pamphlet in memory of their parents, who celebrated 40 years of marriage on June 12. It had a cover photo of them gazing into each other’s eyes, dancing.
Each child had written a special piece that honored their parents for being their biggest source of support and comfort, for the guidance and knowledge they shared with them and for their love for each other and their family.
Eric Carlstrom spoke about his father, who taught him what generosity was and his mother who taught him ambition. He told a short story of how his father had fed some newborn birds that had fallen from their nest with an eyedropper and chopped up worms last month. He also referred to his family as “The Incredibles” who each were superheroes in their own right.
Friends, relatives and the Revs. Douglas Dunlap and Margaret Proctor gave some insight into the couple’s lives through special thoughts, funny stories, prayers or Roberta Carlstrom’s poems.
Dunlap referred to the couple as “gentle, gentle people” who were “people of faith, people of hope, people of love.”
A video showed the Carlstroms, who were college sweethearts, when they were young and older, with children and without, and in love with each other and their family.
A poem on the back of the service pamphlet was written by their mother, date unknown read:
“God’s Newest Angel – Although all your hearts are broken, as well as hopes and dreams so new. May God’s newest angel bring you warmth through the morning sun…And dry your teardrops as the dew.”
After the ceremony, Matthew Smith of Jay who had both Carlstroms in school, said they were both “very compassionate, very nurturing, very caring people.”
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