BEVERLY -- Carol Haynes has spent her life caring for those at the beginning of life, and at its end.

Upon retiring from a decades-long career in early childhood education, she trained to become a hospice care volunteer. Months later, Frank Haynes, her husband of over 40 years, was diagnosed with cancer. She used the skills she learned in training to care for him in the final months of his life. As she did so, she attended daily Mass at St. John the Evangelist Parish in Beverly. Each Mass strengthened her for what the day would bring. Her faith, and the liturgical music she used to sing in St. John's choir, sustained her.

"We don't get to choose our path, and we didn't get to have that retirement type thing," she said, adding, "It was a very difficult time, but I wouldn't trade our years together for anything, and we were blessed with three kids and six grandkids."

Between the parish and the hospice, Haynes, 75, volunteers six days a week. She is a sacristan for the 12 p.m. Mass on Sundays and cleans the church every Thursday. When The Pilot visited her on Aug. 20, she had refilled the holy water fonts and was planning a run to Trader Joe's to buy new orchids for the altar. A parishioner at St. John's since 1980, she established the first-grade CCD program, helped run children's liturgies, and became a Eucharistic minister. For her service to the parish, Haynes was one of 101 people to receive Cheverus Awards last year. Named for Boston's first bishop, the annual awards honor those in the Archdiocese of Boston who have given long-time service to the Church.

Her first thought upon hearing she had won the award was, "I am not worthy."

"Why me?" She thought. "There are millions of people who volunteer like me."

She attended the award ceremony at the Cathedral of the Holy Cross and received the Cheverus medal from Archbishop Richard G. Henning.

"It was moving, so moving," she said. "I really felt like I was in the presence of Christ."

Haynes was one of five siblings born in Pawtucket, Rhode Island.

"We were raised Catholic, and we were raised to be volunteers," she said.

She spent 12 years in Catholic school before entering Rhode Island College to study education. After graduating, she taught early childhood education, particularly students with special needs and behavioral issues.

"It opened my world," she said. "They just need to be understood."

When she moved to Beverly with her husband and children, she became the first kindergarten teacher at St. John the Evangelist School (now the Saints Academy).

"It was very sweet, and to have the privilege of opening the kindergarten was quite something at the time," she recalled.

She is grateful to the mentors she had at St. John's, including Father George Butera, Deacon Tomas Sanchez, and Msgr. William Cuddy.

"They led me to deeper parts of my faith and more service, to open myself up with not just being a teacher," she said.

When she became a Eucharistic minister, Msgr. Cuddy invited her to bring Communion to the homebound.

"I never turned back," she said. "It is the passion I have right now, to visit our homebound, spend time with them, bring the Eucharist to them."

The people she brings Communion to were once volunteers like her. She talks to them about Scripture and whatever else is on their minds. In her, they have a companion who will pay attention and listen to them. She never expected to care for the elderly after a life of teaching children, but now looks forward to every visit.

"They have great stories, and we have a great rapport," she said.

When she visits them, as well as those in hospice, she feels grateful for her life, despite its hardships.

"I have learned to accept the paths, and I am open to the paths that the Lord has chosen for me, and that's my passion," she said.