The Most Excellent
Carolina Isakson Proctor
Isakson in 1987
First Lady of Colombia
In role
August 7, 1986 – August 7, 1990
PresidentVirgilio Barco Vargas
Preceded byRosa Helena Álvarez
Succeeded byAna Milena Muñoz
First Lady of Bogotá
In office
January 1, 1966 – December 31, 1969
GovernorVirgilio Barco Vargas
Preceded byEmma Villegas Puyana
Succeeded byMargarita Vanegas
Personal details
Born
Mary Caroline Isakson

(1930-01-06)January 6, 1930
York, Pennsylvania, U.S.
DiedJanuary 24, 2012(2012-01-24) (aged 82)
Bogotá, D.C., Colombia
Resting placeCentral Cemetery of Bogotá
CitizenshipColombian
NationalityColombian-American
Political partyLiberal
Spouse
​
​
(m. 1950; died 1997)​
Children
Alma materStanford University (BA, 1949)

Carolina Isakson Proctor (born Mary Caroline Isakson; January 6, 1930 – January 14, 2012) was an American artist and First Lady of Colombia from 1986 to 1990. She married Colombia's future president Virgilio Barco in 1950.[1][2][3]

During her husband's administration, she helped to create, and then directed, a national anti-poverty program, "Bienestar," which was established in February 1987 to provide food and day care for Colombian's poorest children.[4][5]

Personal life

Born as Mary Caroline Isakson on January 6, 1930 in York, Pennsylvania, Carolina Isakson Proctor, was a daughter of Carl Oscar Isakson and Mary Alice (née Proctor).[6][7][8] At the time of her birth, her father, a Swedish American Engineer,[9] was employed as an oil field worker in Tampico, Mexico. Shortly before her birth, her mother returned to the United States, according to a 1988 interview with The Philadelphia Inquirer:[10]

"I have to tell you that I left York at 6 weeks old.... My mother came back to the States to have me and stayed with some friends in York."

When Mary Caroline Isakson was seven years old, her father relocated their family to Cúcuta, North Santander, to facilitate his work with the Colombian Petroleum Company.[7][11]

She subsequently earned a bachelor's degree in Latin American Studies at Stanford University and a master's degree in Spanish Literature at Boston University,[12] and met Virgilio Barco Vargas through his sister, her best friend and former classmate. Married to Virgilio on July 1, 1950 in Cúcuta, she was twenty years old at the time.[9] Virgilio and Carolina had four children: María Carolina, Julia, Diana, and Virgilio, who were all educated, or worked in, the United States.[13]

First Lady of Colombia

While serving as First Lady of Colombia, she helped to create "Bienestar," an anti-poverty program focused on improving the quality of life for Colombian children. Following the program's launch in February 1987, she was appointed as its director. Program personnel identified individual women in communities across Colombia who were each capable of caring for up to fifteen children, aged six months to seven years, in the women's respective homes. After working with each of those women to ensure that they had appropriate kitchen and bathroom facilities in their homes, and providing them with day care training, the program then paid the women salaries to care for the groups of children they were assigned, freeing up the mothers of those children to obtain employment, which, in turn, increased the standards of living of the families whose children were enrolled in the program. By March 1988, 120,000 children were receiving food via the program with planners hoping to increase that number to one million by 1990.[14][15]

She also served as president of the board of directors of the Colombian Institute for Family Well-Being.[16][17]

Death

Preceded in death by her parents and husband, she died on January 24, 2012 in Bogotá, D.C., Colombia.

See also

References

  1. ↑ Ríos Peñaloza, Gilma (1 August 1996). "Primeras Damas del Siglo XX" [First Ladies of the 20th Century]. Credencial Historia (in Spanish). Bogotá: Colombia, Bank of the Republic (80). ISSN 0121-3296. OCLC 39236834. Retrieved 6 November 2012.
  2. ↑ "Colombian leader vows to end strife." Indiana, Pennsylvania: The Indiana Gazette, August 8, 1986, p. 12 (subscription required).
  3. ↑ Oppenheimer, Andres. "Barco takes Colombian presidency; hints at less-active foreign policy." Philadelphia, Pennsylvania: The Philadelphia Inquirer, August 8, 1986, p. 3 (subscription required).
  4. ↑ Heller, Karen. "For a Latin first lady, it all began in York." Philadelphia, Pennsylvania: The Philadelphia Inquirer, March 28, 1988, p. 45 (subscription required).
  5. ↑ Geyer, Georgie. "Day-care is changing society." Gettysburg, Pennsylvania: The Gettysburg Times, September 4, 1987, p. 4 (subscription required).
  6. ↑ "Carolina Isakson" (in Spanish). Bogotá. 2012. Retrieved 12 November 2012.
  7. 1 2 Nieto Calderón, Lucy (30 January 2012). "Carolina Isakson de Barco, pionera del programa 'Madres comunitarias'" [Carolina Isakson de Barco, pioneer of the 'community mothers' program]. El Tiempo (in Spanish). Bogotá. ISSN 0121-9987. OCLC 28894254. Retrieved 12 November 2012.
  8. ↑ "Colombian leader vows to end strife," The Indiana Gazette, August 8, 1986.
  9. 1 2 "Carolina Isakson de Barco". Semana (in Spanish). Bogotá (1552). 28 January 2012. ISSN 0124-5473. OCLC 7475329. Archived from the original on 25 March 2012. Retrieved 12 November 2012.
  10. ↑ Heller, "For a Latin first lady, it all began in York," The Philadelphia Inquirer, March 28, 1988.
  11. ↑ Heller, "For a Latin first lady, it all began in York," The Philadelphia Inquirer, March 28, 1988.
  12. ↑ Heller, "For a Latin first lady, it all began in York," The Philadelphia Inquirer, March 28, 1988.
  13. ↑ Oppenheimer, "Barco takes Colombian presidency; hints at less-active foreign policy," The Philadelphia Inquirer, August 8, 1986.
  14. ↑ Heller, "For a Latin first lady, it all began in York," The Philadelphia Inquirer, March 28, 1988.
  15. ↑ Geyer, "Day-care is changing society," The Gettysburg Times, September 4, 1987.
  16. ↑ Heller, "For a Latin first lady, it all began in York," The Philadelphia Inquirer, March 28, 1988.
  17. ↑ Geyer, "Day-care is changing society," The Gettysburg Times, September 4, 1987.
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