Obituary of Alan Carlos

Niskayuna - Alan Al James Carlos, age 63, of Niskayuna (Schenectady), New York, died unexpectedly on Monday, 19 August 2013, of a heart attack, while resting alone. Born in 1950, Alan was the only son of merchant marine Gordon Kenneth Carlos (1924-1968), of Jamaica, Queens, New York, and Hazel May Carlos nee Jarrard (1926-2005), of Schenectady, former public health nurse and Executive Director of the Visiting Nurse Service of Schenectady. Alan was raised in the First Unitarian Society of Schenectady (Unitarian-Universalist). He attended Zoller Elementary School, Oneida Jr. High School, and in 1968 graduated from Linton High School. He loved being a Boy Scout, and never forgot the friends he made there. He attended Paul Smith's College, situated in the Adirondack Mountains, near Saranac Lake, where he studied forestry. He wanted to be a cartographer or forest ranger. After college, he worked for the State of New York in Colonie, from which he recently retired. He found renewal in the outdoors, amongst trees and waters of the Adirondack Mountains, and on the Massachusetts coast. He loved lighthouses and dachshunds. Stoic, silent, ascetic. Humble, fiercely independent, taciturn. These describe Alan. From age 14, Alan had a haunting, other-worldly air about him; he spent his life as a walker-between-worlds, neither dead nor alive. He would have done well living in a beehive stone hut in Ireland on Skellig Michael (monastery), or working as an 1800s lighthouse keeper. When Alan's little sister read Anne of Green Gables by Lucy Maud Montgomery, the Matthew Cuthbert character reminded her of Alan. Among the people precious to Alan, who died before him, were: the love of his life and best-friend, Joan L. Harvey (1941-2013), of Niskayuna; grandfather Isaac Jarrard (1892-1969), electrician, of Rotterdam; great-aunt Lillian Hazel Wooden nee Barber (1894-1987), nurse, of Poughkeepsie (Dutchess County); and aunt Evelyn Dee nee Jarrard (1931-2011), social worker and former Roman Catholic nun, of Clifton Park (Saratoga County). Alan's sister said, If Alan and I had stuck together as Hansel and Gretel did, we would have been okay. We didn't, and we weren't. His mother was not among those he held dear. Alan's friends mourn his passing, especially Gary Stanton, as does his little sister, family historian, Laura Shulman nee Carlos, of Gilroy, Northern California. Alan was unmarried, and had no kids. He will be cremated. There will be no formal memorial. Memorial contributions may be made in Alan's name to purebredsplus.org cat-rescue organization in Northern California. Arrangements have been made through Daly Funeral Home, 242 McClellan Street, Schenectady, New York.