Karmelle Duvon Chaise

SHARON - Her loving family and friends celebrate the extraordinary life of Karmelle Natanya Chaise, who left this life Saturday, April 6, 2013.

Born June 3, 1969 in San Jose, CA, Karmelle was a remarkable soul who impacted the lives of everyone she met with her boundless love, keen mind and nurturing spirit. Her unwavering determination to help orphaned children has saved countless infants in Ukraine and continues to transform the lives of young people through her foundation, OrphanBaby. In her professional life, Karmelle was an expert in sustainable building. Thanks to her work in green construction, future generations will continue to benefit from the many earth-friendly buildings she helped to design. Karmelle was a poet, researcher, educator, and counselor to presidents of foreign countries and many others. Her impact on the world was tremendous, and it will continue to be felt for years to come.

Karmelle's loss is felt deeply in the hearts of her father, Barnabas Duvon; children Avonlea and Eden Chaise; younger sisters Ester, Hannah, and Sarah; niece, Farren; extended family Keith Chaise and Pam and Russ Shipp; and her many loving friends and colleagues.

Karmelle was one of a kind. Her family and friends are honored to have been a part of the tremendous journey of this courageous, loving and remarkable woman. No one who met her will ever be the same, and Karmelle will be loved always. She is not gone, but has transformed with wings to fly.

A celebration of Karmelle's life will be held Wednesday, April 10 at 7 p.m. at Cornerstone Family Worship Center, 1090 Black Hwy., York, SC 29745.

Memorials may be made to OrphanBaby at www.orphanbaby.org.

Condolences may be left for the family at www.whitesellfuneralhome.net

Eulogy by Keith Chaise:

My name is Keith Chaise. I was married to Karmelle for 17 years. I married her when she was 23 on the first day of spring, a start of new beginnings and adventures. She passed the beginning of spring at 43... the start of a new beginning for her, and I'm sure the start of many more adventures.

Karmelle is the equivalent of 'the unsung hero' of our day! Karmelle was a doer. Any of you who really knew Karmelle know that she liked to talk. But she didn't just talk about philosophy or high-morals, or grandiose ideology... she talked about 'how' she could take those high ideals and implement them in real ways in to our world. And you know what? Our world is so much better off for her!

This beautiful girl came from her mother already more mature than I will ever be. At two years old she was Christmas shopping with her father at the mall. An elderly woman came up to her and asked if she was looking forward to getting presents from Santa Clause. Karmelle looked directly into that woman's eyes while pointing her long finger and in a scold-full tone told her "there is no such thing as Santa Clause".

I got to know Karmelle when she was a young teenager. The youth group from our church was going to Manteca Water Slides and I got to drive her and several other friends on this trip. She was really fun to talk with while we drove there. Later that day I spotted her on one of the beaches in her skimpy bikini... and I was 'impressed'. We talked and laughed for the better part of the day. And 9 years later we started dating. From that time on, I've been driving her to beaches.

I'm not really a fantastic conversationalist. But you don't have to be when you're with Karmelle. I'll bet the majority of you here today have had two plus hour long conversations with her on the phone. She's talking God's ear off right now. She had incredible insight and always offered constructive advice to help people reach their potential. We traveled to Grenada one time to do research for establishing an eco-resort there. A twenty-something native girl from Trinidad who worked at the Catholic Retreat Center we stayed at was drawn to Karmelle. By the time we left that island, that girl had signed up for University and was on her way to becoming a medical doctor.

Karmelle felt as if she was always behind schedule... I guess now we know why. In her unbelievably short life, she lived at least 10 times the life of a normal human. I don't know of anyone who could get a months worth of high quality work completed in a mere 40 hours. And, that 40 hours of work only took her 3 days.

Karmelle hand picked our two children. We visited an orphanage in Ukraine to adopt. At the end of the second day we were there she saw the back of Eden's head as a caregiver was carrying him down the hall. She jabbed me in my side and with wild eyed excitement told me "he's the one". Next day we arrived at the orphanage 2 hours before the gates were open, rushed up to the waiting area and staked our claim. Karmelle then set her sights on getting her girl, but the orphanage insisted that they had no adoptable girls. We returned each day and asked to see a girl. As we were getting dressed to go in on day 5, Karmelle turned to me and said "today we are going to find Avonlea, I just know it"... and we did.

Karmelle was an outstanding student in college. She loved education. She graduated Suma Cum Loda. She loved to read the classics and was especially interested in utopian literature. And that's why both of our children have utopian names, names of perfect places that don't exist. Eden, after the Garden of Eden. And Avonlea after the classic novels about Anne of Avonlea which was a fictitious and picturesque country town on Prince Edward Island close to Nova Scotia.

Karmelle believes that she has now reconnected with her source... and this makes her very happy. She almost left us once before in 2003. Karmelle found herself spinning her car in circles at high speed on an icy Massachusetts freeway. She told me that she could feel her spirit pulling away from her body. She thought about the kids, and she thought about me, and she knew we would be all right. What she was headed toward was truly wonderful and had a magnetic pull on her. Well, the car ended up in a ditch and was nearly destroyed, but she escaped unscathed. She said it took awhile to gather her spirit back in to her body... and initially, she was disappointed that she had to stay here a while longer.