Carolyn (Judd) Felton

Carolyn (Judd) Felton was born in Pittsburgh, PA on February 4, 1946, to Charlie and Helen Judd. They moved to California, where she grew up and graduated from Carlmont High School in Belmont. She then graduated from Washington State University with a bachelor’s degree in social studies and later earned additional teaching and education credentials.

In 1976, she married Wayne Felton and they lived in California’s Bay Area, where their two children were born. They moved to New Canaan, CT in 1986 before relocating to Charlotte, NC in 2000. In 2022, she moved to Washington, DC, after Wayne died, and lived at Chevy Chase House near her grandchildren.

She had a lifetime passion for education and the arts, and held a variety of leadership positions in related organizations. She was the vice-chair of the New Canaan Board of Education from 1991-1995 and the president of the Connecticut Association for the Gifted from 1997-1999. After moving to Charlotte, she co-founded the Metrolina Regional Scholars’ Academy in 1999, a charter school currently ranked by U.S. News and World Report as the top elementary school in Charlotte. She also served as the Director of the Academy of Fine Arts, president of the Charlotte Opera Guild, and on the board of the Blumenthal Performing Arts Center Education Institute. Carolyn believed deeply in the power of education and the arts to shape young lives, and she devoted much of her life to supporting both in the communities she called home.

She was an avid lifetime bridge player and loved cooking and eating at small local restaurants, particularly Indian and Mexican cuisines. She also became a talented photographer, specializing in photos of flowers.

Carolyn is survived by her children, Andrew Felton and his wife, Alice Wang, of Washington, DC, and Julia Felton and her husband, Tom Kelly, of Detroit, MI; grandchildren, Aurora and Adrian Felton and Charlie and Stella Kelly. She is also survived by her sisters, Kathryn Judd Kurtz and Martha Judd Aggazzotti, and her brother, Kelley Judd, as well as her beloved pet Cavanese dog, Clara.

A celebration of life will be held at a later date. In lieu of flowers, memorial donations may be to The Michael J. Fox Foundation for Parkinson’s Research.