Elaine Lawrence

Elaine Lawrence, 76, of Kingston, NY, passed away on Friday, April 26, 2024, in Kingston. She was born on November 1, 1947, in Troy, NY, and lived most of her life in Woodstock, NY, and Kingston. She was the daughter of the late Kenneth Sweet and Elinor Sorensen Sweet.

A graduate of Russell Sage College in Troy, NY, Elaine devoted nearly all of her working life assisting people with disabilities. Starting first as a vocational evaluator at Gateway Industries in Kingston, she subsequently embarked on a long career with the New York State Education Department. She worked at the New York State Office of Vocational Rehabilitation (now, Access VR) in the Poughkeepsie District Office. Serving as a vocational rehabilitation counselor, Elaine helped hundreds of Hudson Valley residents with physical, mental, emotional or substance abuse disabilities to enter or re-enter the job market by arranging vocational training programs and individual employment plans. She ultimately was promoted to the position of unit supervisor for the agency and was responsible for coordinating staff throughout Ulster County.

Elaine was a devoted, long-time member of St. John's Episcopal Church in Kingston, where she was a choir member and served on both the church's Social Concerns Committee and Outreach Committee. She also volunteered as a driver for the church's Angel Food East program.

Elaine loved decorating her Fairview Avenue home and maintaining the gardens and spaces around it. She was an avid reader and participated in a long-running book discussion club. She loved to travel, and her travels included a yearly summer trip to the Berkshire Mountains in Massachusetts, trips to coastal beach towns with friends, and regular trips to Western New York to visit her son and family members. She also kept active during her retirement, working as a part-time real estate agent in the Kingston and Woodstock offices of Win Morrison Realty.

She is survived by her son, Joshua Kenneth Lawrence and his fiancée, Julie Elizabeth Davis; her cousins Judith E. Luebke (and her husband Larry) of Grand Junction, CO, Peter S. Corcoran (and his wife Susan) of Dublin, OH, and Thomas J. Corcoran of Woodbridge, VA; her sister-in-law, Linda Bice of Rochester, NY; her niece, Allyson Bice, of Portland, OR, and her nephew, Lawrence Bice, of Rochester, NY.

Arrangements are entrusted to Keyser Funeral & Cremation Service, Inc., 326 Albany Avenue, Kingston, NY 12401. A memorial service for Elaine will take place at 12 p.m. on Saturday, May 18, 2024, at St. John's Episcopal Church, 207 Albany Avenue, Kingston, NY 12401, followed by a graveside service at the Tyringham Cemetery on Church Street in Tryinghamn, MA, where she will be laid to rest.

A tribute for Elaine may be found at www.KeyserFuneralService.com, where you may leave memories and expressions of sympathy for her family. For those who wish, contributions in Elaine's memory may be made to St. John's Episcopal Church in Kingston.