Obituary of Carolene Emma Robertson

Age 73, passed away Tuesday, May 13, 2025, in the Palliative Care unit of the VG Site - QEII, Halifax. Born Carolene Emma Pulsifer on February 10, 1952 in Wolfville, she was the daughter of the late Howard M. and Doris C. (Bishop) Pulsifer. In 1970 the family legally changed their surname to Bishop after the death of her father.

Carolene grew up in the community of Greenwich near Wolfville where she attended the small local school before attending Horton District High School (except for a brief time when the family lived in Edmonston, NB). She went on to study at Acadia University (BA Hon., MA) and at the doctoral level in English at Queen’s University, Kingston, Ontario. While at Horton High, Carolene belonged to the Junior Glee Club and the eight voice madrigal ensemble under Rhea Mosher. At Acadia she studied voice with Marie McCarthy and piano with Felicita Kalejs; sang in the Acadia Chapel choir under the direction of organist F. Gmeiner; Acadia University choir conducted by Marie MacCarthy. She performed as well in Jack Sheriff’s Acadia Summer Playhouse musical productions.

For much of her career, Carolene worked in libraries: in the serials department at the Vaughan Memorial Library, Acadia; the Douglas Library, Queen’s; Nova Scotia Archives; and TUNS (Technical University of Nova Scotia) which was absorbed by Dalhousie to become known as the Sexton Technology Library. She was employed as well as the bookkeeper for Saint Mary’s Cathedral Basilica. Carolene also enjoyed a partnership with fellow Saint Mary’s choir member John Tupper in a catering business.

Carolene was fully involved in church life from an early age singing in the Greenwich United Church choir and teaching Sunday School. After being received into the Catholic Church she became a choir member, cantor and congregational leader with Saint Mary’s Cathedral, Kingston and similarly at the Basilica in Halifax. She worked with other dedicated volunteers at parish fairs and special receptions, and was president of the sodality of the Children of Mary. Carolene said that her special memory was as cantor and leader of song for the ceremonial reception at the Basilica of the major reliquary of St. Therese of Liseaux. For several years she was on the board of Jubal’s Lyre, a group dedicated to bringing special musical performances to the Basilica. She and her husband Allen were admitted into the Order of the Holy Sepulchre of Jerusalem which is one of two remaining orders of chivalry of the Catholic Church, so was known in the Order as Dame Carolene Robertson, LHS.

Seeking ways to give more to community, Carolene was among the early volunteers in Palliative Care which was founded at the old Infirmary in Halifax by the late Dr. Kenneth MacKinnon. Her involvement grew to include serving on the provincial board, editing the newsletter, speaking engagements on behalf of Palliative Care and making over 500 follow-up bereavement calls. To enhance her understanding of the movement she took a course in Palliative Care by correspondence from Huron College, Ontario. Life came full circle many years later when Carolene spent the last two weeks of her time among us in the Palliative Care unit on 7A in the Victoria General Hospital with a private room, window for sunshine and extraordinary care by all the staff.

The Pulsifer family had been active in the floral business for decades. Carolene’s childhood was one of greenhouses, transplants, flowers, floral arrangements and deliveries. The Friends of the Public Gardens (Halifax) offered life memberships for $150 to mark Canada’s 150th anniversary in 2017 and she did so to commemorate the family legacy and her own many hours of enjoyment in the Gardens. When Carolene could no longer visit the Gardens, Allen took photos and showed these to her on his lap-top computer including her two months in hospital.

Carolene was interested in a wide range of topics and issues among which were politics, vintage mystery and cook books and Egyptology. Her skills included fine needlepoint and cross-stitch work. She had been a member of the Canadian Club of Halifax, The Scots: The North British Society, Heritage Trust of Nova Scotia, life member of the Bishop Family Association and Friends of the Public Gardens. With her husband, Allen, she co-edited a volume of the Baptist Heritage series, Memoir of Mrs. Eliza Ann Chipman (1989) and in 2010 prepared a report, “Into the Future: A Virtual Vertical File for the Sexton Design & Technology Library.” She undertook extensive study toward a biography of Acadia’s first graduate, John Leander Bishop who in served as a field doctor for the Pennsylvania Volunteers in the American Civil War and was the noted author of a study of American manufactures.

Carolene is survived by her husband of 40 years, Allen B.; her sister, Joanna L. Bishop (Murray Covert), Wolfville; nephew, Murray (Jaimie) Bishop; great-nephew, Malcolm; brother-in-law, David W. Robertson, Hantsport; sister-in-law, Ann Marie (John) Campeau Decelles, Cornwall, ON; father-in-law, Arnold B. Robertson, Hantsport; aunt, Marlies Greene, Greenwich; godsons, Timothy Sanford, Toronto and Zac (Andrea) Weissent, Halifax; very special friends, Debbie Weissent, Halifax; Yvonne Landry, Halifax; Darlene Hetherington, Dartmouth; Brenda Dean, Winchester, ON and her granddaughter, Zyland LeDuc, Halifax; “AK” Kumar, Halifax; Andy Barrett, Victoria, BC; Sherry Griffith Mutton, Lindsay ON, who had been her bridesmaid; dear friend and neighbour, Joel Zemel.

Besides her parents, she was predeceased by brother, “Mac” (Malcolm) Bishop; mother-in-law, Phyllis Robertson and “adopted” infant, Corey Crewe.

The family thanks the doctors, nurses and aides of the Palliative Care unit of the VG Hospital for their compassionate and dedicated care; the medical staff of the Mentor Clinic (Halifax) for guidance and care during the time Carolene was a patient with them.

Arrangements for cremation have been entrusted to DeMont Family Funeral Home & Cremation Service, 419 Albert St., Windsor (902-798-8317). A funeral service will be held 3 p.m., Thursday, May 29, 2025 in St. Mary’s Cathedral Basilica, 5221 Spring Garden Rd., Halifax, The Very Reverend Craig Cameron officiating. Interment will take place 2 p.m. Saturday, May 31 in Riverbank Cemetery, Riverbank Dr., Hantsport, with a reception to immediately follow in the Wellwood Community Hall at the Hantsport Baptist Church, 6 Willow St., Hantsport. A Celebration of Life Reception will be held 5:00-6:30 p.m. Wednesday, June 18 in the St. Mary's Cathedral Basilica Church Hall (parking available in church lot half hour prior and half hour after reception). In lieu of flowers, donations in memory of Carolene may be made to the Palliative Care Team, Victoria General Hospital, 1276 South Park St., Halifax, NS B3H 2Y9; The Friends of the Public Gardens, PO Box 36013, 5665 Spring Garden Rd., Halifax, NS B3J 3S9 or to a charity of one’s choice. Messages of condolence may be sent to the family by visiting: www.demontfamilyfuneralhome.ca.

1 Corinthians 13:13: And now abideth faith, hope and charity, these three, but the greatest of these is charity (love)