Carolyn "Connie" Lemaire, 85, passed away in Wake Robin on Wednesday, Jan. 25, 2012. She was born in Elgin, Ill. on March 31, 1926, the daughter of Edward and Harriet (Rayner) Southard. Connie attended Elgin schools where her musical career was established as a classical bass player. She then attended Illinois Wesleyan University on a music scholarship. After two years, she passed an audition with the Chicago Women's Symphony and had the thrill of playing on the stage of Chicago's Orchestra Hall for the orchestra's final season. After a year of flying as a stewardess for United Airlines, she went to the University of Wisconsin, again on a music scholarship. In Madison, she met and married her much loved husband, Dr. Henry Lemaire. After their honeymoon in London, they settled in New Jersey where she played in the local symphony orchestra and in Gilbert and Sullivan productions. After 12 years, she and Dr. Lemaire moved to Connecticut where Connie played chamber music with friends and had a freelance career accompanying choirs for the Messiah and other works requiring a small orchestra. In 1972, the bass was replaced by the cello. After a brief period of intensive learning, new chamber groups were found which occupied the rest of her life. In 1993 the couple moved to Wake Robin in Shelburne, where she lived the rest of her life. She is survived by her beloved sons, Tom and his wife, Elyse, and Brian and his wife, Debby; and three adored grandchildren, Beverly Stylianou of Stanford, Conn., and Eddie and John Lemaire of Arlington, Mass. She was predeceased by her beloved sister, Barbara; and her husband of 58 years, Henry. In lieu of flowers, Connie asked that contributions be made to Planned Parenthood of Vermont, 183 Talcott Rd., Williston, VT 05495.