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Carleen Straus Hamilton, 81, teacher and poet

Carleen Straus Hamilton.
Carleen Straus Hamilton.Read more

Although Carleen Straus Hamilton's memory faded significantly over the years as Alzheimer's disease advanced, there were three words she remembered: I love you.

Every day she said "I love you" to those she saw, even when she could not remember the names of her children or any other words, said Mrs. Hamilton's son, Brandon.

On Sunday, Feb. 19, Mrs. Hamilton, 81, of Cherry Hill, died at the Alzheimer's facility at Spring Hills in Cherry Hill from complications caused by the disease.

No matter the pursuit -- as a schoolteacher, poet, dancer, mother, and wife -- Mrs. Hamilton brought with her that very love that stayed through the end of life, her son said.

"She was incredible. She was always good at expressing her love for her children," Brandon Hamilton said. "She was really one of a kind."

Through the years, Mrs. Hamilton exchanged love poems with her second husband. Her children have numerous binders with daily verses from both of them since 1974. She wrote hers on napkins that she tucked in with his lunch; he penned poems on lined paper he taped to a mirror. On their honeymoon, Mrs. Hamilton wrote:

"Oh how I glowed

and grew

to inconceivable brilliance in his loving fire.

And we were called Sun and Moon.

Complete life."

Mrs. Hamilton was raised in Saratoga Springs, N.Y. In 1957, she graduated from the State University of New York at Potsdam with a major in elementary education and a minor in music and theater. While living in New York, she offered interpretive modern dance classes at her home.

In New York, she married John Potter. The couple had four children -- Brandon, Brock, and Elyse Hamilton, and Tia MacCornack.

In 1974, after they divorced, she married George Hamilton, a widower who adopted her children. He was director of the Fels Planetarium at the Franklin Institute and died of a heart attack in 2013.

The Hamiltons  lived in Cherry Hill, where Mrs. Hamilton worked for the Cherry Hill School District for 27 years, retiring from her last position at Kingston Elementary School.

She had her students write poems to modern music and then organized performances during assembly.

"It was really very moving," Brandon Hamilton said.

Cherry Hill Superintendent Joseph Meloche remembered Mrs. Hamilton as a gifted educator who brought excitement and compassion to the classroom.

"She was true to her calling as an educator, as a guide, every day," Meloche said. "While I worked with her for only a short time during the sunset of her formal career, I am still touched by the joy she found in each day with her students."

Colleen Spaeth, a deacon at St. Bartholomew's Episcopal Church in Cherry Hill, said Mrs. Hamilton was "kind and caring" and the "purest spirit."

"She was life. She didn't just appreciate life, she was life," Spaeth said, recalling that Mrs. Hamilton performed interpretive dance to Scripture around the altar. "She made the Gospel come alive."

Spaeth said it was "kismet" when the Hamiltons met. He lived a "button-down" life that was black and white. After his marriage, he pierced an ear, wore colorful clothing, and embraced his wife's lifestyle. The two always sat in the front pew, holding hands, she recalled.

In addition to her children, Mrs. Hamilton is survived by stepchildren Roger and Alexander Hamilton, and seven grandchildren. She was preceded in death by  stepdaughter Marianne Hamilton.

A viewing was to be held from 6 to 8 p.m. Thursday, Feb. 23, at Kain-Murphy Funeral Home,  Haddonfield. A funeral service will be at 11 a.m. Friday, Feb. 24, at St. Bartholomew's Episcopal Church, 1989 Marlton Pike E., Cherry Hill. Interment will follow in the church's memorial garden.

Condolences may be sent to the family through the Kain-Murphy Funeral Home, 15 West End Ave., Haddonfield, N.J. 08033. Memorial contributions may be made to the Alzheimer's Association at www.inmemoryof-memorial.org, or mailed to In Memory Of, Box 5472, Charlottesville, Va. 22905.