Carolyn McNabb

for Carolyn Farmer McNabb

Carolyn Farmer McNabb, of Springfield, Virginia, passed away unexpectedly on January 20, 2022, at INOVA Fairfax Hospital, after a hard-fought battle against advanced breast cancer.

Carolyn was born on July 03, 1959, in Tampa, Florida. She is survived and lovingly remembered by her husband Mark W. McNabb and her daughter Elisabeth C. McNabb, both of Springfield, VA; by her brother Jim McLawhorn of Tampa FL; by two sisters in law, two brothers in law, and numerous family members, friends who became family, and fellow autism parents.

She attended the University of Florida between 1977 and 1981, where she met her future husband and several lifelong friends. Carolyn signed on as a military wife when she wed Mark on February 12, 1983. She completed a Bachelor’s degree in Accounting at the University of West Florida in 1986, also earning a place in their academic honor society. She worked in the retail, industrial and government sectors, and served as an Auditor for the State of Ohio government.

In 1995 she left the wage-earning workforce to take on a very demanding job: motherhood. In 2000, she became an Autism Mom, after Elisabeth was diagnosed with autism and Intellectual Disability.

Carolyn was an avid reader, but she had to draw on her early undergraduate studies in biology and organic chemistry to help her understand and navigate the complex medical jargon of scientific research into the causes of and treatments for autism. She also joined several autism groups in order to team with, learn from & help other autism families. Working with the caring and knowledgeable people in the autism community was instrumental in helping her better understand and use both educational and medical tools in the struggle against the most debilitating effects of her daughter’s autism & comorbidities. She never gave up on finding a path to a better future for her daughter.

In lieu of flowers, please consider a donation in her memory to: Talking About Curing Autism , TACA (also known as The Autism Community in Action ) at https://tacanow.org/ways-to-help/donate/ , OR Age of Autism at https://www.ageofautism.com/donate.html

A celebration of Carolyn’s life is being planned, tentatively for later spring 2022. Please contact her husband Mark or check back at this website periodically, for updates. Until then, please consider offering a written and or a visual remembrance of Carolyn, here at this website. May GOD Bless You.