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Husband's tribute to former Castleton woman
A HUSBAND has paid a heartfelt tribute to his Castleton born wife who died in a tragic coach accident in Jordan.
Carolyne Stanforth (58) was working on a UN-run training programme in Amman, Jordan, for senior Iraqi government officials when the bus she was travelling in overturned on a road near the Dead Sea late on 29 July.
She led a distinguished international career over the past 30 years, working as a senior technical advisor and project manager in almost forty countries.
Her clients included the UN, World Bank, DfID, Asian Development Bank and the European Commission.
Her husband, Stephen Milner spoke of his wife's positive approach to life and work, her intellectual curiosity and her ability to transcend nationalities, religions and cultures with ease.
He said: "Carolyne had a unique blend of integrity and intelligence and an unassuming style that made people feel immediately at ease.
"It didn't matter where she went in the world, or whom she met, people always warmed to Carolyne."
Despite her accomplishments, Carolyne never lost touch with her Yorkshire home.
She had strong ties with her mother Stella, who resides in Castleton, and her sister Kath and their family who live in and around Guisborough. She had also stayed close to many school friends from the Esk Valley area.
Ms Stanforth, attended Castleton Primary followed by Whitby Grammar School before going onto complete business studies at the University of Newcastle.
Her first international experience followed soon after, joining Voluntary Services Oversees (VSO) as a volunteer, she unwittingly landed in the small undeveloped Caribbean island of Montserrat.
It was here that Carolyne first found her drive and ambition to work with those less fortunate then herself.
On returning to the UK, Dr Stanforth worked first with Nestle, then Low and Bonar, Dundee, the latter giving her the opportunity to visit Kenya, a country she fell in love with.
She completed an MBA at the London Business School before returning to Kenya to join in 1981 Price Waterhouse as a consultant in their main East African office of Nairobi.
Over the next 15 years her work and own curiosity took her the length and breadth of Africa, to the former Soviet Union, the Balkans, Eastern/ Central Europe, even landing her on the steppes of outer Mongolia.
Her dedication and work performance was rewarded as she progressed through the levels of senior management to become a director - at that time less than 10% of management was filled by women.
In several of the moving testaments read at last week's funeral it was clear that Ms Stanforth was a role-model and mentor to many of the men and women who worked with and for her.
In 2000, her career took her to Sri Lanka.
Here she spent the next five years leading a large IT development project, linking systems across multiple Ministries and Government Departments. The intellectual challenges of this project led Carolyne back to study, enrolling in a Ph.D at Manchester University's Centre for Development Informatics, using the Sri Lanka case as the topic to her thesis.
Not content with just academic interests, Carolyne together with two close colleagues, went on to open her own consulting company.
Specialising in public sector projects in developing countries, Carolyne continued to work through her small firm on projects from Albania and Kosovo to Papua New Guinea, Uganda and most recently to Indonesia.
Earlier this year Carolyne successfully defended her dissertation and earned her doctorate. The lead assessor opened her remarks by commenting "of all the dissertations I have read, this is the one that gave me the most enjoyment, it was a pleasure to read".
Carolyne's funeral took place last Friday at St Hilda's Church in Danby and was attended by friends and family, many of whom travelled from across the UK, Europe and as far afield as the Solomon Islands.
The service gave tribute to her full and meaningful life, her partnership with husband Stephen, and her desire to support those less fortunate than herself.
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Weather for Whitby
Wednesday 08 February 2012
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